Excel opening in Edge after file associations are set - .xlsx missing

Question

Hello. I see lots of folks asking about why their Excel files were changed to open in Edge, but I have not found any of the answers to be helpful.

I am on Windows 11. When I look at "Apps / Default Apps / Choose defaults by file type", I find that all available Excel file extensions (.xls/.xlsb/.xlshtml/.xlsm/.xlsmhtml) are set to open with Excel. When I search for the .xlsx extension, I get the result, "We couldn't find anything to show here."

As a result, my .xlsx files are still associated with Edge, and I cannot find a way to associate them with Excel.

If I right-click on an .xlsx file and select "Show more options / Open with...", I get a pop-up that allows me to select Excel, but it only opens that file once in Excel. That is not an acceptable solution, as I should not have to go through so many steps to simply open an Excel file in Excel software.

Questions:

• Why isn't the .xlsx file extension showing in Windows 11 for me to assign the software to open it?
• To anyone from Microsoft reading this: WHY does Microsoft software CHANGE file associations without my permission to do so?
• Why has my "Search" box also changed to present results in Edge instead of in Chrome as it was set previously?

This is a maddeningly frustrating situation, and performing this sort of a configuration action should not be this difficult. In addition, people should not have to spend hours "fixing" things that a Windows update has changed without permission. Thank you in advance to anyone who might have a solution for me.

Answer 1

Hello, Ensign Garak.

This is Airy.C from Microsoft Community Support and I am willing to help you. 

We will answer your questions just as follows:

Q1 --> It seems like the problem results from Excel as it can not associate .xlsx file by default and just like you said, you can't even find Excel when you type .xlsx in "Apps / Default Apps / Choose defaults by file type".

For this problem to be solved, we recommend that you can try these methods:

Method 1:

• Type Windows logo key + R key to get into "RUN" box, then type "regedit" to get into Registry Editor. Find these projects then delete it:
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xlsx HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.xlsx HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xls HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.XLS

Disclaimer: Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. It can help fix some problems, however, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For further 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 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Support

• Get into Apps/Installed apps, then type "Office" in the search bar, in the showing up apps, choose "Modify" in the "..." option, this will help repair Excel. Or choose "Advanced Option" then find repair.

Method 2:

• Try Uninstall Office in your computer, then go to the Microsoft Account Manage Page:
• <account.microsoft.com>
• in "service&subscriptions" page, find your subscription or purchased office product and choose to download it.

Q2 --> We apologize for this action brings you frustration, it's not what we want. For development team who develops this, we recommend you to give feedback about this issue, it's in feedback hub app(type feedback in search bar and you will see it):

Q3 --> You can try to set Chrome as Default Browser:

• Also, in "Apps / Default Apps", search chrome at the bottom then set it as default browser then try to verify if the search box can present results in Chrome.

Meanwhile, we recommend you to ask your question about search box in Windows Product where you can get help from Windows Support who know search box better than us Office Support.

We really hope that these information can somewhat help you a little bit, please feel free to reply!

Best Regards,

Airy.C - MSFT