Problem opening Excel 2010 files

Question

I have Excel 2010 installed on my Windows 7 laptop.  Just installed it.  Problem is after I save an old Excel 97-2003 Excel file within Excel 2010 (which converts it to the new Excel 2010 format), I can only open the saved file with Excel 2010 running.  For example, without Excel 2010 running, if I go to my library folder with my Excel worksheets and double click on the saved file, it will not open.  I get an error message that says ".xlsx is not a valid Win32 application".  On the other hand, from within Excel, I can go to the same folder and open the saved file ok.  Any ideas why this is happening?

Answer 1

Revised guidelines

1. Right click the file and select Open with.
2. Click Browse button (towards bottom right)
3. Navigate back to root directory c:\      (Double click Local Disk (C:) in left column. This is required because defaults to folder Program files which is for 64 bit applications.)
4. Double click Program files (x86)       This is the folder for 32bit programs.
5. Double click Microsoft Office folder
6. Double click Office14 folder
7. Scroll down until you see EXCEL.EXE and select it
8. Click Open button
9. Check the box "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file"
10. Click OK.

Answer 2

Thanks for the help OssieMac.

I followed your revised guidelines and it worked in getting the Excel.exe file listed as the one to open with.  However, when I double click on the .xlsx file in my library it still will not open.  The double click seems to do nothing.

If I open my Excel program, I am able to open the .xlsx file from within the Excel program.  However, when I do open a .xlsx file from within Excel, it does not show up as a recent file in the pinned file list.

My .xls files open ok from my library, and they open with the Excel.exe file.

Well, at least I was able to get the correct "open with" file associated with opening my .xlsx files.  Some progress.  Any more ideas?  Thanks for your help.  Jack

Answer 3

Thanks OssieMac.  I tried both your suggestions without any luck.  The file assoc. with opening my .xlsx files is "Microsoft Office 2010 component".  I don't think this is the right file to open with.  I think it should just be "Microsoft Excel".  For example, the file assoc. with opening Microsoft Word is "Microsoft Word" and it opens ok.  However, when I browse to find the correct file to open my Excel .xlsx files, and I double click on "Excel", it adds "Microsoft Office 2010 component" as file to open with (and this file is already there).  So, how do I find the correct Excel program file to associate with for opening my .xlsx files.  Any ideas? Thanks.  Jack.

Answer 4

Alternatively, you can repair MS Office 2010 to create right file associations.

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

Answer 5

1. Right click the file and select Open with.
2. If Microsoft Excel is displayed then ensure it is the selected program (Only click once to highlight)
3. Check the box "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file"
4. If Excel not displayed then click the little chevron icon at the right had end of the line against Other programs.
5. If Excel is displayed then highlight Excel and check the box  "Always use the selected program ......"
6. Click OK.

If above does not work

1. Go to Control panel.
2. Set View by to Large or Small icons (towards top right of Control panel dialog)
3. Select Default programs
4. Select Associate a file type or protocol with a program
5. Wait for the file types to load.
6. Scroll down to the .xl type file extensions and if Excel not the Current default then click the Change default button (top right) and follow prompts to fix. Do this for each of .xls, xlsx, .xlsm file extensions.