Windows 7: Excel files are not opening

I love the new taskbar and the "right click" on a pinned programme to access recent files & pinned files. However, while this feature works perfectly for Word, when I try to open an excel file from the taskbar, or even as an attachment to a received e-mail, I get the message " there was a problem sending the command to the program". The excel program itself opens if it is not already open, but the selected file doesn't. I can only open the file by going through "office button/open". If it is an e-mail attachment, I can only open it by saving it to one of my folders, and opening it via "office button/open". Additionally, once I attempt to open an excel file from the taskbar, the excel symbol on the taskbar displays a yellow/brown border instead of the normal border. I assume this is telling me something, but what is it trying to say? It is frustrating not being able to use what I think is a good feature. I have windows 7 ultimate & office 2007. Any suggestions?
Robert

I have the exact same problem and have been searching for and answer for several weeks. The Win 7 people say it is an Office problem, Office says it is a Win 7 problem. I didn't have this problem with Vista so I think it is a Windows 7 issue. HELP.

Hello Welcome to SF,

Open Excel, and click on the Microsoft Icon at the top left. In the window at the bottom is "Excel Options". Click it. Then select "Advanced" on the left side of the screen. When the display comes up, you need to scroll almost to the bottom. Under the blue "General" category, will be "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange " Make sure it is not checked. Then Test it and see whether it works

Hope this helps,
Captain

Captain Jack Sparrow… You are a genius! That works a treat! I wonder why they would have that default setting? There was another member, hxl7, who appears to be having a similar problem in an earlier post. I am trying to contact him. I assume that this will also work for you, MGH… Anyway, it is a beautiful autumn evening here in Melbourne Australia. Time for a celebratory beer ! Regards to all. Robert

Glad that you got it working ..!!! Thank You for Posting Back !!

- Captain

Thank you so much Capitan. It did solve my problem and now works like a charm. Such a simple answer...for someone that knows what they are doing. Shows I am still very much a novice.

Rattwater, It is a beautiful morning here in Taos NM and my first cup of coffee tastes much better...Thanks to all.

I also have a problem with excel files not opening. Saving in the standard excel format that comes with Windows 7, when I try to open the file up (.xslx) it gives me a nice error that reads "filename.xlsx is not a valid Win32 application". That is very annoying and the only way to open the files is to start excel, or use openoffice. It will let me open the files up with openoffice by right clicking than going to openwith scalc.exe.

I am no expert here, and I would rely on captain Jack for the correct answer, but it seems to me that you may well be a little confused between "windows 7", (your operating system), & " Microsoft Office", (your application program). The extension "xlsx" applies only to excel files generated through "Office 2007", not through "windows 7". If you're still using Microsoft Office 2003, and not Microsoft Office 2007, then your extension will be just xls. This could be the source of your problem, although I do not understand what you mean by "Saving in the standard excel format that comes with Windows 7". One of us is a little confused. Not sure whether it is you or me . Apologies if I have underestimated your knowledge.

Few Questions.

Check whether *.xlsx is associated with Excel 2007. Start > Default Programs You can find there.

Run Office Diagnostic see whether it corrects the Problem.

Make sure the application is not running under any kind of compatibility mode. Go to the directory where Excel is installed Right Click on it go to Properties and go to Compatibility Tab make sure Compatibility mode is unchecked.

Try the Excel file to Run as administrator and without that see whether that makes any difference

Also Run a complete Scan using Malwarebytes to rule out malware issues

Hope this helps,
Captain

I have the same problem, but I don't see the microsoft icon at the upper left of EXCEL, so I can't follow Captain Jack's advice. I have Office 2002. I did find an options category, but I couldn't find the option Jack identified. Please help.