Opening Excel Files From Windows Explorer
As I’m sure you know, you can double click on an Excel file in Windows Explorer to open it in Excel. Sometimes this causes a problem, however. Typically, the problem encountered is that the file doesn’t open, but Excel opens with a blank area where the workbook should be. If you encounter this problem, the first two things you should do are:
1. Tools>Options>General and uncheck Ignore Other Applicaitons.
2. Close Excel and from Windows use Start>Run. Type in
C:\MyPath\Excel.exe /unregserver
then do the same thing, but type
C:\MyPath\Excel.exe /regserver
Replace MyPath with the actual path to Excel.exe. Neither of these commands will start Excel, but they will rewrite the registry items associated with Excel. I’ve never had to type the path, I’ve just used
Excel.exe /regserver
but better safe than sorry. And thanks to Dave Peterson for the /unregserver tip. Sometimes just using /regserver will fix the problem, but there have been occasions when the /unregserver step was needed.
Sridhar:
I had problem with the excel file , when opening from windows 2000 explorer. This solution really helped me
25 May 2004, 12:51 pmThanks Dick Kusleika
Dick:
You’re welcome, Sridhar.
25 May 2004, 2:26 pmMarc Vallribera Ros:
Thanks! I was going crazy with this problem and this solution fixed it! Thanks a lot!
6 August 2004, 11:04 amHaris:
I tried this option, but still I receive a message “Cannot find the file “abc.xls” (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available.
20 September 2004, 2:55 amadnan:
Excel.xls file is on the server but its giving bank screen ???? can any one tell me..
there is no error
7 October 2004, 5:26 amjohn:
very nice….fixed an issue i was having. thanks for providing the regserver command.
19 October 2004, 3:55 pmKSF:
Thanks so much, this was driving me crazy… whenever I opened a file from windows explorer in excel it would rename the file and forget where it came from. This fixed it! Thanks!!!!
5 November 2004, 10:11 amsiva:
“Cannot find the file “file.xls” (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available
23 January 2005, 12:04 amDick Freeman:
Thank you very much.
This problem came up for me recently and was quite inefficient and annoying when you handle excel files all day.
The solution suggested here fixed it. It took me a few minutes to get the path configured correctly.
I believe there needs to be a space between the colon and the beginning of the path description. For example on my computer it was-
C: Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/unregserver.
24 February 2005, 8:05 pmDick:
Dick - It’s actually a forward slash, but for some reason my blogging software can’t escape a forward slash. It should be c:\Program Files… (we’ll see if that forward slash shows up)
25 February 2005, 7:56 amnatalie cooper:
That has been a constant source of irritation for some time now and life is too short! Thank you so much.
25 February 2005, 12:02 pmRajesh R. Maurya:
Thanks…:)
It worked well…
Rajesh
19 April 2005, 3:28 amJayakumar:
It was good r&d
I would like to have more info about the troubleshooting windows os and application s/w
Thanks
20 April 2005, 3:10 amjkpieterse:
For a bit more about troubleshooting Excel, see:
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/StartupProblems.htm
20 April 2005, 10:40 amKoshy Chacko:
Thank you. It was a irritating problem. It disappeared after I did uncheck.
23 April 2005, 5:00 pmJohn Ott:
Thanks, was waiting for my IT person to fix this. Just found your info and it works… Highly recommend
26 April 2005, 12:40 pmdave:
That is some good info!!!
29 July 2005, 7:39 amPedro:
Mine finally worked with just Run=>
“excel /unregserver” and then “excel /regserver”
with a space between excel and the slash
Thanks my smile is back above horizontal now
31 August 2005, 2:06 pmScotty:
Thanks and step 1 fixed this annoying problem.
Do you know hwta causes it? Thanks again.
1. Tools>Options>General and uncheck Ignore Other Applicaitons.
8 September 2005, 9:14 amKristian:
Nice! Worked for me too. I was looking for a fix to this for a co-worker.
19 September 2005, 12:49 amJuan lopez:
thanks for you helps … quick and simple yet straight to the point..
thanks
19 September 2005, 9:21 amPatrick Stacey:
This was an absolutely fantastic fix for me. I have tried the unregistering and registering of excel before and it didn’t work - the “ignore other applications” combined finally did it. I had been searching for solution for ages. Many thanks.
9 October 2005, 11:17 amGary Gilbert:
Thank you very much! Your fix worked. Its a shame microsoft does not have answers for these type problems.
13 October 2005, 12:57 pmMike Osborn:
Great tip… finally I’ve gotten this working.
24 October 2005, 8:30 amHad to plead with centralised IT support for an admin passport just to be able to place run on my start bar.
Now they’ve given me one - I’ve run riot and fixed numerous bugs.
Thanks for the help - very much appreciated!!!
pradeep:
hi,
when i am trying to open excel file on dubble click.
it taking so much time to open. but when i open same file from file menu—->open it open quickly.
i reinstalled ms office but i still facing same problem.
pls help me out of this problem
thanks
pradeep
4 November 2005, 5:31 amAnna:
I wish I found this before I went through the pain of uninstalling and reinstalling Office 2003. The “unregserver” tip worked famously. I’d be curious to know why and how this happens “all of a sudden.”
Thank you so much!!
10 November 2005, 8:43 amBob:
I have tried the /unregserver and /regserver but it still did not fix the problem. I have also examined the XLS file type which appears correct.
10 November 2005, 2:21 pmIf I add the {pathname}excel.exe in front of the xls file from a short cut it opens with out an error.
Rob:
Thanks!
28 December 2005, 1:39 pmWorked perfect!
Wells Fargo Tech:
Your fix worked GREAT. It saved me from rebuilding a profile. THANKS!!!!!
16 January 2006, 7:30 amR B:
Works great!
Unreg and regged the first time with no success.. Did Microsoft Office update to no avail.
Tried this in Options, and worked right away.
Using Office 2003
5 February 2006, 9:47 pmmswlogo:
This is somewhat related to th eproblem for some people and may explain a bit more.
I think I have figured out this stupid Excel thing.
Excel has this bast%^%^ized MDI SDI thing.
I think most people run Excel with it’s child Window Maximized (which makes it really confusing).
So when you click on another file it switches to that file, hides the other window but adds another icon on your task bar giving you the feeling you started another instance of excel (but it didn’t !!). I’ve been burned by this too many times and shutdown what I thought was one instance of excel turned out to be all of them. Word does not behave this way.
So there is an option to disable this feature called “Ignore Other Applications” (under Options-> General). If you look at the help on this it basically shuts of DDE. What DDE basically does is when you click on a file it checks to see if Excel is already running and if it is, it passes the file to that already running instance. The problem with turning this switch on is the file mappings that are already installed assume DDE is on and things break. So when you shut that option off you suddenly start getting errors that Excel cannot find the file.
To fix this go into your File Explorer (My Computer) and Choose Folder -> Options -> File Type. Find XLS and select it, then click advanced button. Now Select the “Open” Action and choose Edit button. Now this is the trick, shutoff DDE by unchecking it. Then edit the end of the action. The end should be something like this (note the “%1″) and note there must be a space between the /e and the first quote.
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE” /e “%1″
Now this allows you to create a SEPERATE instance of excel everytime you click on an Excel file. And when you close that excel instance it has no impact on any other. It also gets rid of the I can’t find the file problem. In some cases you will see a %1 without the quotes. That causes the problem that excel can’t find files when the path has spaces in it.
You may want to repeat this for other files types that maps to Excel. Like .CSV
If you have “ignore other applications” switch unchecked (default behavior) you get the funky SDI/MDI/Excel Instance behavior.
If you have “ignore other applications” switch checked, you get the more logical MDI/SDI/Excel Instance behavior but the file type mappings must be fixed as I described above.
This all assumes under WinXP.
27 February 2006, 11:58 amJon Peltier:
Why would you want a separate instance of Excel for each workbook you open? Is it just confusion over the View Windows in Taskbar setting? You’re better off unchecking View Windows in Taskbar, so you only see the instance of Excel, and not each workbook window. For the rare case in which you need another instance of Excel, simply start Excel from the Start menu.
IMO, the MDI/SDI/Whatever behavior in Excel is much better than that of Word. When 2000 came out, you couldn’t change the Windows in Taskbar behavior of Word, and that made me nuts. Also, Word forces one set of menus atop each document window, not on the application window, so when you arrange windows, you get two or more blocks of UI taking up vital visual work space.
28 February 2006, 10:31 amRST:
MSWlogo-
THANK-YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIP!!! I have been fighting with this stupid Excel to open a separate window each time I double-click on an .XLS file. To Jon Peltier above, I spend all day opening and closing Excel files and want to close one file but leave the other open, only to find I have closed them all because they appear in one window- and by the way lose the work I spent typing and pasting in data from the other files. You would think Microsoft would put an accessible switch in the options area to flip between SDI and MDI to accomodate everyone.
RST
17 March 2006, 9:00 amTommy:
Hey, thanks a lot.
Result!
Tommy
30 March 2006, 2:49 amMichael R:
Works for me. Great stuff. Thanks for making this knowledge available - been trying to fix the “Excel starts up empty” problem for months.
6 April 2006, 12:07 pmDevashish:
Hi Mr. Dick Kusleika,
Thank you for providing this solution as this really helped me and resolved the issue which I was facing since the last 2days.
Thank you once again!
Have a great time!
Cheers,
26 April 2006, 9:40 amDev.
Bashaman:
Very nice. Thanks a lot. I’ll remember this page!
10 May 2006, 5:35 amDan:
It worked!!! Thanks so much. This issue was annoying for so long. Key things to note–you need a space between the colon when you type C: \”mypath”\excel.exe/unregserver, where “mypath” is the exact location of your excel program (for me it was “\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\excel.exe”)
Thanks again!
26 June 2006, 10:18 pmAdrian Amato:
Great solution for muliple instances! Thanks.
3 July 2006, 2:43 pmRavi S:
your suggestion helped me in opening the excel file. good, keep it up. thanks Ravi
18 July 2006, 11:59 pmJacques Thollembeck:
I dishoped to find back this such more convenient setting. For info, I used to enjoy this feature with Excel 2000 in former times, until it suddenly went away. When installing Office 2003 a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to see it again, until it faded away, again without any explanation.
20 July 2006, 3:53 amThanks a lot for this great tip to run multiple Excel instances !
Katy:
Great tip, I used it for word too!
15 August 2006, 1:15 pmKaty
Kevin:
Works on Excel 2007 (Beta 2) as well (Ignore other applications is now listed in the advnaced section)
15 August 2006, 2:53 pmFelix:
Thanks , it works !
17 August 2006, 6:27 amKP:
it worked for me too guys try it out !!
thansk a lot
27 September 2006, 4:46 pmKenneth Hayes:
I have looked all over the web, and nothing else worked. So I just gave this a shot, and it worked. Thank you very much.
6 October 2006, 3:08 pmjohn steensen:
Thank you - this fixed the problem. The /unregserver piece was the part I was missing.
16 October 2006, 5:11 pmLemon:
Hi everybody,
Regards this issue, I had found out a strange phenomenon. Let say I have a pre-opened Excel E1 by using Microsoft Excel 2003 (blank document is also OK). And I open another Excel file E2 but using Internet Explorer 6.0 in this way:
1. Page “parent.htm”:
2. Page “child.htm”:
function test_onclick() {
window.open(”test.xls”,”_self”);
}
No matter what “test.xls” is. (It can be an empty Excel file).
16 October 2006, 10:45 pmNow when I open the “parent.htm” and clik on the non-Excel frame, the Excel file E1 WILL BE LOCKED (you can’t do anything except closing it).
Do you have any idea on this?
Thanks,
Chanh.
Alan:
The comment 31 from mswlogo is really good. Sometimes you have two monitors and you want to compare two EXCEL files. Then you will know how helpful this tip is. Thanks a lot!
17 October 2006, 6:01 pmplaqueta:
Thank you - this fixed the problem. The /unregserver piece was the part I was missing.
25 October 2006, 11:14 amThank you
Thank you
Thank you
jaf:
mswlogo
THANK YOU very much for the solution to the multiple instances problem.
27 October 2006, 7:42 amVery well introduced and explained.
Lars:
I cant uncheck the Use DDE box. That is, I uncheck it, click Ok, Ok, and Excel still opens in the same instance, I go back to the folder action settings, and it is back to having DDE checked!!!
27 October 2006, 4:48 pmDAVE J:
Great solution was stumped at this for a while.
Cheers
2 November 2006, 9:28 amJB:
Ahhhh..
whew.. yet another constitution saved from terminal insanity.
Y’next brew’s on me.
Cheers..
16 November 2006, 9:48 amRich:
Thank you for your post mswlogo! You helped me solve this problem for someone.
7 December 2006, 4:31 pmbrainsoft:
Thank-you so much! The Excel MDI experience has bothered me for years. The Excel UI is just not designed to properly accommodate a true MDI interface. Wait until you get a load of Excel2007, it’s even more akward than ever!
Now I can finally double click on two files directly and compare them side by side on my DUAL MONITORS, something that was always a pain to do before. (open one, go to start menu, find it there, open it, wait, file, open…. finally!)
Now, is there any way to get ride of the “Microsoft Excel” in the task bar buttons? I know what program it is, I can see the icon!
2 January 2007, 8:46 pmJ-Walk:
To get rid of the “Microsoft Excel” in the title bar (and show only the workbook name) execute this VBA statement:
application.Caption = ” ”
That’s a space between the quotes. Using empty quotes resets it to normal.
3 January 2007, 8:51 pmJan:
Re:Point 31
I like the way Excel works already. I stack up Excel applications when I need them and separate them so that if I want to link excel files or just Ctrl+F6 between them I keep them together and if I think one file is big slow and unstable and is at risk of crashing I open it up in an independant application so that I can kill separate “Excel’s” without trashing my other work.
I would hate for Excel to start to behave like Word.
4 January 2007, 4:24 amJon Peltier:
JK -
“I like the way Excel works already.” … “I would hate for Excel to start to behave like Word.”
Me too.
4 January 2007, 6:10 amAlex Koulintchenko:
Thank you so much for your hint! I was going crazy with this error!
19 January 2007, 8:30 pmJoe Chong:
Thank you so much. I have been looking for a way to open new instances of Excel every time I double click the files for a long time. I am not sure what the advantages of MDI in Excel are such that Microsoft made this the default behavior.
I have dual monitors and need to look at two spreadsheets on separate monitors. MDI just can’t manage this very well (esp when monitors are of different sizes).
28 February 2007, 11:17 amRoger Mikesell:
Appreciate the info! I was fine until inducing the problem by turning on the “ignore other applications” trying to help someone else. Turned it off again but the problem with split file names remained.
27 March 2007, 6:53 amJimmy Griffith:
I have a different problem opening with Windows Explorer. When opening a file from Windows Explorer when I have Excel already open with a file active, the active file is deleted and the new file loaded up. Excel doesn’t give any warning nor does it ask if you wish to save the file. I have replicated this on both my desktop (Windows XP Media) and laptop (Windows XP Home) using the same software–Office 2003. Have you heard of this problem? Any solutions?
Thanks,
Jimmy Griffith
13 April 2007, 5:16 pmJames Lewis:
Thanks for your help Dick Kusleika. The solution you suggested worked. Your instructions were very clear too. Thanks. James
16 April 2007, 9:18 amchandru:
Thanks a lot, this option is working fine for me.
20 April 2007, 11:31 pmWilson:
Thanks alot of this handy tip. It helped me solve a problem ive been having for a few days..
25 May 2007, 10:25 amAndreas:
Thanks a lot! It was very helpful this advise!
5 July 2007, 2:47 amforest:
Holly Molly - I can take my foil hat off, thought they (gov space people) finally had me that time.
4 August 2007, 6:26 pmAndré:
Thanks a lot. I can start excel files again via double click. However, it occured already after unchecking the Ignore other applications. Then comes the strange part…
6 August 2007, 10:55 pmWhen I now try to run C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\EXCEL.EXE /unregsever, I get the error Cannot find the file ‘C:\Program’ (or one of its components). It seems the RUN command does not recognize the space in “Program Files”… Any idea how to solve this problem? With excel I don’t have problems with dirs or files having blanks.
Miguel:
Thanks for the advise. It really helped me.
9 August 2007, 3:22 pmMatthew:
Thanks a ton for this! My new work laptop was choking on opening XLS, and this totally fixed it!
15 August 2007, 10:26 amjkpieterse:
Jimmy: If you look in the Window menu, isn’t your previous file still there?
Could there be an addin or a macro somewhere else that causes havoc?
Andre: You need to put the entire string in quotes except the startup parameters:
“c:\program files\..\..\Excel.exe” /unregserver
15 August 2007, 10:24 pmMacGuyver:
In regards to the Application.Caption = ” ” to shorten the names in the task bar, I get Invalid outside procedure. Is this due to missing admin rights?
16 August 2007, 7:07 amEs:
Although the registry method worked for me the results were temporary. Scotty’s advice led me to figure out where the problem was. I tried it and found it worked, but again only good for one more opening of my Excel file and suspiciously, the execution of a macro. I decided to turn the Excel macro recording on and took a look at what was recorded with Scotty’s method. It was Application.IgnoreRemoteRequests = False. Sure enough, I had a macro running that turned them true but did not turn them false so I just pasted the recorded macro on the end and problem solved. Not sure exactly why it worked but it probably has to do with what IgnoreRemoteRequests means. I used it to suppress the clipboard prompt that you often get in Office products but admittedly it was a bit of a hack-job. Just glad that I can now roll on. Great to have the help.
9 October 2007, 7:46 ammikeb:
I have similar issue with Excel 2007 opening Excel 2003 files. any path with a space Excel 2007 doesn’t like. I have some workstations that work fine. I have narrowed it down to a %1 on the end of the application path. The workstations the work correctly don’t have the %1. I find this under folder options, file types, xls, open, edit, application path. I have tried everything and can’t remove the %1. I delete it, try to open a xls document and it still fails. I go back an look and the %1 is there. I tried /unregserver and /regserver and still no fix. How do I permanently remove the %1?
12 October 2007, 7:39 ammikeb:
One thing we found to “fix” this issue is to go into File Types, XLS, Advanced and make “New” the default instead of “Open”
12 October 2007, 8:54 amEarlf:
Excel opens empty.
19 October 2007, 12:07 pmI couldn’t get rid of %1 either. I ran an Office 2007 repair and that fixed that but I cannot get /unregserver /regserver to work. I go to Run and type the path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE /unregserver but it says that it cannot find ‘C:\Program’ I put the whole path in Quotes, followed by the switch, and it just opens EXCEL. I follow up with the /regserver switch, after the quotes, and it opens EXCEL again but still opens empty until I click open-cancel or minimize, then it brings up the doc. Ignoring other applications doesn’t help either. What are you folks doing differently? thanks!
Earlf:
sorry. I read half way the messages then skipped to the “end of the book” and typed my comments to a post then I learned afterwards that others were having the same syntax issues. Sorry for the double post. Neverhteless, the problem remains. Thanks for any helpful comments that may be directed my way.
19 October 2007, 12:11 pmAlex:
well, “1%” works, but creates several instances of the program with many other problems. If /regserver do not work try http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165 “Problems in Windows Explorer or the Windows shell after you install security update MS06-015″.
5 January 2008, 9:08 amOnly reapplying the update help me finally get rid of the delays
Steve Watson:
Thanks this fixed a truly irratating problem with word too. Thanks again.
Steve
7 January 2008, 10:46 amAlex:
If you have Nokia telephone and the problem started after October 2007, than the most probable reason is Nokia PC Suite version 6.85.14.1 or 6.85.12.0 installed. At least I finally resolved the issue with long time opening files on Dell 620 with Toshiba BT, Win XP Prof SP2 by downgrading PC Suite to version 6.84.10.3.
Full thread is there -> http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=pcsuite&thread.id=22808
8 January 2008, 8:10 amsoulfrost:
mswlogo,
Your solution worked like a charm!!! Thanks dude!
14 February 2008, 4:18 pmDeb:
Cheers mate!
12 May 2008, 4:43 pmPritam:
HI
3 August 2008, 9:57 pmI had this problem and I tried to uninstall and re install my office several times, but the problem still remained.
Your method solved it in seconds
Thanks
Ross:
I had a problem with opening excel files which had a space in the path, not file name. The settings were all correct in folder settings, but only was fixed by the regserver.
Thanks!!
14 August 2008, 4:32 amSudhir Krishnan:
Thanks for this solution. I was facing too much problems as my files are interlinked and was not able to work on them.
28 August 2008, 8:55 amThanks once again
Sudhir