Excel wont open says it needs to repair now or close but nothing happens

Question

we're sorry but excel ran into an error that is preventing

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

1. Quit all Office applications.
2. Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
3. Locate Microsoft Office in the lists, click the three ellipses icon, and select Modify.
4. Select Online Repair. Reference:

Repair an Office application

Answer 2

If Excel is not opening and is displaying an error message indicating that it needs to repair, there are several steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:

1. Quit All Programs: Ensure that all other applications are closed before attempting to open Excel again.
2. Remove Excel Preferences: Sometimes, corrupted preferences can cause issues. You can remove the Excel preferences file by following these steps:
   • Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
   • Navigate to the Library folder in your home directory (hold down the OPTION key while selecting the Go menu to access it).
   • Open the Preferences folder and look for files named com.microsoft.Excel.plist and com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist. Move these files to the desktop and then try opening Excel again.
3. Repair Disk Permissions: If you're using macOS, you can use the Disk Utility to repair disk permissions, which may resolve the issue. To do this:
   • Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
   • Select your primary hard drive and choose the First Aid tab, then click Repair Disk Permissions.
4. Create a New User Account: If the problem persists, try creating a new user account on your Mac and see if Excel opens there. This can help determine if the issue is related to your user profile.
5. Reinstall Office: If none of the above methods work, consider uninstalling and then reinstalling Microsoft Office to resolve any underlying issues with the installation.

Following these steps should help you resolve the issue with Excel not opening due to an error requiring repair.