Inability to Open Workbooks Without Excel Open

[hstockbridge5]

Hi,

The only way I can open an existing Excel file is through the
application itself. I cannot open a workbook using Windows Explorer,
through Start -> Documents, and so forth. When I try using these
methods, I am presented with a blank Excel window, without any visible
information.

Any ideas of how to proceed?

Thanks in advance,

Henry

 

[Anne Troy]

http://www.officearticles.com/excel/troubleshooting_microsoft_excel.htm
************
Anne Troy
VBA Project Manager
www.OfficeArticles.com

 

[Dave Peterson]

Sometimes one of these works:

Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)

--- or ---

Close Excel and
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /unregserver
then
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /regserver

The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
factory defaults.

 

[hstockbridge5]

Anne and Dave,

Thanks for the tips.

Good The Ignore Other Applications was checked. Now workbooks
open normally.
Bad news. In an existing workbook, a cell that references another cell
in another worksheet (same workbook) never calculates. As an example,
the value in the cell reads ='Program Details'!B2, not the value on the
sheet/cell. Ctrl + ` does not fix the problem. Tools - Options -
Calculation reads AUTOMATIC. Is it possible my workbook is corrupt?
Any ideas?

Thanks again.

Henry

 

[Dave Peterson]

My bet is that the cell got formatted as text somehow -- it might not have been
you.

Select that offending cell
format|cells|Number tab|General (or some number--just not Text)
then hit F2 followed by enter.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Ps. If you have lots of cells to do.

Select all the cells in the range
format|cells|Number tab|General
edit|Replace
what: = (equal sign)
with: = (same equal sign)
replace all

Excel will see this as a change and notice that it's a formula.

 

[hstockbridge5]

Dave,

You were right on the money. Thanks for your help.

Henry