Setting Excel as Default Program

Question

I need to set Microsoft Excel as my default app for excel files.  However when I try and set it up in Settings, Default Apps it does not show up as an option.  All my other Microsoft 2016 apps are able to be allocated but not Excel.

Not sure what to do.

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

I suggest you to follow the below mentioned steps and check if issue persist.

• Right click on any Excel file (.xls).
• Click or tap Open with option, and then click choose another app.
• Select Excel 2016 under Use this app and click checkbox to enable Always use this app to open .xls files.
• Click ok.

I hope the above information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Thanks for this reply - however it doesn't address the main issue.  It also only deals with one file type (.xls) and presumably would need to be undertaken for each for the various filetypes supported by Excel. I don't see how it is any quicker/easier than just individually changing each file type through Control Panel either.

The key issue the OP was raising was that in Windows 10 there is an option to set defaults on an app-by-app basis (as opposed to a filetype-by-filetype basis) and for some reason Excel 2016 doesn't appear in the list - yet Word, Powerpoint, Onenote, etc. all do.  This is what Microsoft need to fix!

Thanks :)

Answer 3

Excel 2016 is shown under my default programs

Interesting - it wasn't in my case, nor in the OP's.  Clearly a bit of an inconsistency that MS need to sort out!

Answer 4

Hello,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

You may follow the below mentioned steps.

1. Close all Excel windows
2. Press Windows key + R, type regedit in Run box.
3. Go to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xls, right click on .xls and click Delete.
4. Click on Yes. Close Registry Editor. 

Disclaimer:

To do so: Important the above method or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

Once you complete the above mentioned steps repair Office suite using the following link and verify the status.

https://support.office.com/en-US/Article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b

Hope this information helps. Post back with updated issue details for further help.

Thank you.

Answer 5

Excel 2016 is shown under my default programs