Word excel not opening

Our solutions work for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Office 365

by Milan Stanojevic

Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he… read more

Updated on October 31, 2022

Windows 10 users have reported an issue regarding Microsoft Office versions 2010 and 2013, where products like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint will not open and return no error or prompt.

In the reports submitted by Windows 10 users, Microsoft’s Office suite worked fine for a period of time, and for no apparent reason, the shortcuts of the different Office components stopped launching the program.

Microsoft Office didn’t return any error or give any prompt when this issue presented itself. But, by following the steps below, let’s hope that you will be able to solve your problems.

Why is my Office 365 not opening?

Sometimes the applications might encounter bugs, and this can result in We’re getting things ready Office error while trying to run certain apps.

Few users reported that MS Office shortcuts are missing from the Start Menu thus making them unable to run any of these apps.

Issues with your Microsoft account can also lead to various problems, one of them being There are problems with your account Office error.

How do I fix Microsoft Office not opening?

In this article

• Why is my Office 365 not opening?
• How do I fix Microsoft Office not opening?
• 1. Use Task Manager
• 2. Go to the source
• 3. Use Safe Mode
• 4. Use a Microsoft Office alternative
• 5. Repair or Reinstall
• 6. Install Windows updates
• 7. Uninstall Windows updates
• 8. Disable Add-Ins
• 9. Make sure Office is activated
• 10. Remove Word Registry Keys
• 11. Remove old printer drivers

1. Use Task Manager

If you’ve tried to open Microsoft Office Word (for example) from your Windows 10 computer or laptop and it didn’t do anything, try opening the Task Manager.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc or right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager and take a look either through the opened apps or under the Details tab, where you will find it as WINWORD.EXE.

If you see the process there, this means that Windows 10 thinks the program is open and will not do anything about it. In this case, try to create a new document and right-click it, and select Edit.

In some cases, this method has proven useful and might help you in a tight spot.

2. Go to the source

If your Microsoft Office shortcuts don’t do anything when you try to launch them, then there might be an issue of communication between the shortcut itself and the actual executable it should open.

Depending on what Office version you’ve installed, you should find them in one of these locations:

• C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice14
• C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice14

Try launching the tool you need from here, if it works, then your shortcut was to blame. Create a new shortcut for the Office components you use and replace the faulty ones.

3. Use Safe Mode

Starting an Office product in Safe Mode is pretty simple, as it was in previous Windows versions.

Just open the Run utility (Windows key + R) and type in the name of the product you want to follow by /safe.

For example, if you wish to open Microsoft Excel in Safe Mode, type in excel /safe.

5. Repair or Reinstall

1. Press the Windows key and type apps in the search box, then click the Apps & features result.

2. Here, type office inside the search bar, then click the Microsoft Office result.

3. Click on Advanced options.

4. Scroll down, then click the Repair button. By using this option, your app’s data won’t be deleted, but the app’s files will be checked for any damage or corruption.

5. Alternatively, you can use the Reset button in case repairing the app didn’t work. In this case, your app data will be lost as well.

The built-in Reset option for Microsoft Office will uninstall and reinstall the application, thus fixing the Microsoft Office not opening issue.

You can choose to fully reset the app or merely repair it, thus preserving your app data for later use. Choose the appropriate option according to your needs.

6. Install Windows updates

Microsoft regularly releases updates for Microsoft Office (and other in-house features and programs) through Windows Update.

So, if your current version of Office is disrupted in some way, there’s a chance a new update will fix it. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be an Office update.

Maybe some other features installed on your computer are interfering with Office, preventing you from accessing it. In both cases, installing fresh updates can resolve the problem.

To install the latest updates on your computer, simply go to Settings > Update & Security, and check for updates.

If you’re having issues opening the Setting app, take a look at this article to solve the issue.

7. Uninstall Windows updates

1. Go to Settings. Now, go to Updates & Security, followed by Windows Update.
2. Go to Update history > Uninstall updates.
3. Now, find the latest Office update installed on your computer (you can sort updates by date), right-click it, and go to Uninstall.
4. Restart your computer.

Now, let’s do the total opposite of the previous solution. If the problem started to manifest after you’ve updated your Office suite, then you can easily uninstall the latest updates and see if this fixes your problem.

8. Disable Add-Ins

1. Open the troublesome app.
2. Go to File > Options.
3. Click Add-Ins, and then disable all add-ins.
4. Restart the program, and run it without any add-ins enabled.

Sometimes, damaged add-ins may block your Word/Excel/PowerPoint from opening any document.

Since you can’t know for sure which add-in causes the problem, we recommend uninstalling all of them and then installing one by one again.

Read more about this topic

• FIX: Microsoft Publisher won’t open on Windows 10
• The file couldn’t open in Protected View [Excel, Word]
• Outlook keeps asking for your password? Here’s the fix

That way, you’ll be able to find out which one causes problems. The task is time-consuming, but you don’t really have too many choices.

9. Make sure Office is activated

If your copy of Microsoft Office Suite is not genuine, you won’t be able to open any Office app. Technically, you’ll be able to open any program normally, but you can’t do anything with it.

You can’t create new documents, or open and edit existing documents. It’s just an empty shell. So, make sure your Office is properly activated, and try to run in once again.

10. Remove Word Registry Keys

1. Go to Search, type regedit, and open Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to one of the following paths:
   • Word 2002: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice10.0WordData
   • Microsoft Word 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice11.0WordData
   • Word 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0WordData
   • Word 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice14.0WordData
   • Microsoft Word 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0Word
   • Word 2016: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0Word
3. Now, just click on the Data key, and delete it.
4. Restart your computer.

If you specifically have problems with opening Word, we’ll try to delete some registry keys. Hopefully, the program will work after that.

11. Remove old printer drivers

And finally, some users have also reported that having old printer drivers installed on your Windows 10 PC prevents Microsoft Office from working. You have to remove your old printer drivers and install up-to-date ones.

Alternatively, you can use dedicated uninstaller software to automatically remove old printer drivers from your PC.

Third-party uninstaller software can scan your PC for any leftover files related to your specific app and permanently remove them.

After you finish removing your old drivers, check to see if the problem persists.

That’s about it. We certainly hope at least one of these solutions helped you resolve the problem with Microsoft Office.

Keep in mind that this problem mainly occurs with Microsoft Word. However, we’ve detailed solutions that apply to all Office programs, nevertheless:

• Microsoft Word not opening
  • There are times when trying to open any Word document leads to the same result: you just cannot get passed the opening blue box.
• Word documents not opening
  • Users often complain that double-clicking a Word document (.doc or .docx) is useless. They cannot open a Word file or the file icon is blank.
• Microsoft Office won’t open on Windows 10
  • Even more, you may face the unfortunate situation of having Office completely unable to open. Apply the above solutions and confirm the one that’s successful in your case.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, just let us know in the comments down below.

When you try to open an Excel workbook, a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation with Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, the following errors may occur:

• The file doesn’t open in the expected application. For instance, an Excel workbook doesn’t open in Excel 2019; instead, it opens in another app or an older version of Excel.

• An error indicating a file association problem may occur. For instance, you may get an error similar to “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. please install a program or if one is already installed create an associate in the default programs control panel«

  -or-

  “This action is only valid for products that are currently installed”

Run a Quick Repair to fix the file association problem

1. Click the Start button

   Note: If you’re using Windows 7, just click Start > Control Panel then you can skip to step 3, below.

2. Type and choose «Control Panel»

3. Choose Programs > Programs and Features.

4. Next, select the Office product you want to repair and then choose Change.

5. Choose the Quick Repair option and then choose Repair.

For more information about the repair option in Office, go to Repair an Office application.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue try manually associating the files to the correct app.

1. Click the Start button

   Note: If you’re using Windows 7, just click Start > Control Panel then you can skip to step 3, below.

2. Type and choose «Control Panel»

3. Click Default Programs (if you don’t see Default Programs, type it into the search box at the top right corner of the window and press enter)

4. Choose Set your default programs

5. Select the Office app that isn’t opening correctly and choose Set this program as default.

6. Click OK

Tip: You may want to repeat this process for the other Office apps while you’re here.

If you have multiple versions of Microsoft Office…

Consider uninstalling the versions you don’t need. To do that:

1. Click the Start button

   Note: If you’re using Windows 7, just click Start > Control Panel then you can skip to step 3, below.

2. Type and choose «Control Panel»

3. Choose Uninstall a Program and select the version of Office you want to remove.

4. Click Uninstall.

5. Restart your computer.

Having too many versions of Office on your computer can cause issues, including files opening in the wrong version of Office.

Tip: In some cases you’ll get your best result by uninstalling ALL versions of Office, then reinstalling just the version you want.

If all else fails..

You should still be able to open your file by opening the application first, then opening the file from there. To do that:

1. Start the program needed to access your document; Word, Excel or PowerPoint

2. When the program opens, click File > Open, find your file in the file navigator and open it.

Still have a question about Office?

Visit the Microsoft Answers Community to see questions and answers posted by others or get answers to your own questions.

We’re listening!

This article was last updated by Ben on May 9th, 2019 in response to your feedback. If you found it helpful, and especially if you didn’t, please use the feedback controls below and leave us some constructive feedback so we can continue to make it better.

See Also

Recover your Office files

Open a document after a file corruption error

When working with Excel spreadsheets, most people are either short on time or have a deadline to meet.

And it could be a nightmare if, at that point in time, Microsoft Excel decides not to open (arghhhhh!).

Unfortunately, this unexpected behavior is quite common where Excel refuses to open one of your important Excel files, or fails to open the Excel application altogether.

So, if you are suffering from the ‘Microsoft-Excel-won’t-open’ syndrome, this article is just what you need.

In this tutorial, I will cover the reasons why Excel refuses to open and the possible solutions that can help you in this situation.

So let’s get started!

Possible Reasons Why Microsoft Excel Won’t Open

Since Excel is a tool that has to work seamlessly with other applications and operating systems, there are many things that can go wrong with it.

And of course, there is always a possibility that the Excel application in itself is the problem.

Below are some possible reasons due to which Microsoft Excel won’t open on your system:

1. There is a problematic add-in that is not allowing you to open Excel files. If this is the case, most likely you will be able to open the Excel applications, but not a specific Excel file (or a new Excel file)
2. There is a possibility that your Excel application is corrupt and needs to be repaired before you can start opening Excel files again
3. Your Excel application is not able to communicate with other applications and the operating system. This has a simple fix where you can simply enable the setting and your files would start working again (covered later in this tutorial)
4. The file Association is broken which means that when you try and open an Excel file, it doesn’t know what software to use to open the file. This again has an easy fix, where you can simply reset the file associations. A lot of people who have upgraded their Excel or operating system often face this issue
5. The file that you want to open is corrupt. This often happens when someone else shares the file with you or when you copy the file to a network drive or an external drive and transfer it to your system. There’s not much you can do in this case, except to make sure that you create backups of your files in the future

How to Fix Excel Files Not Opening

Now, let’s have a look at some of the methods that you can use to fix the issue of Excel files not opening.

I’m listing these fixes in an order in which these are most likely to work.

Uncheck the Ignore DDE box

The most common and easiest fix is to make sure that the correct setting is enabled for the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

DDE is how Excel interacts with other applications.

By default, the DDE setting is disabled, but in case it gets enabled by any chance, then it could lead to your Excel files not opening on your system.

When this happens, you will be able to open your Excel application from the start menu, but you won’t be able to open individual Excel files.

Below are the steps to fix this DDE issue:

1. Open the Excel file from the Start menu
2. Click the File Tab
3. Click on Options
4. In the Excel Options dialog box that opens up, click on the ‘Advanced’ option on the left pane
5. Scroll down to the General section
6. Make sure the ‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)’ setting is disabled.
7. Close the Excel Options dialog box

If this setting was enabled earlier and you have disabled it using the above steps, this was most likely the issue and it should get sorted now.

In case this method doesn’t work, keep reading!

Turn OFF Add-ins

A lot of people use third-party add-ins in Excel that allow them to enhance the functionality and be able to use many features that are not there in Excel by default.

One of the add-ins that I used to use in my full-time day job days was ‘ThinkCell’, which allowed us to create beautiful charts that were not possible with Excel itself.

And sometimes these add-ins end up being the problem where you not able to open your Excel files.

It has an easy fix – disabling the add-in.

Below the steps that you can use to disable an add-in in Excel:

1. Open the Excel file from the Start menu
2. Click the File Tab
3. Click on Options
4. In the Excel Options dialog box, click on the Add-ins option in the left-pane
5. At the bottom of the dialog box, click on the Manage drop-down
6. Click on COM Add-ins
7. Click on Go
8. In the COM Add-ins dialog box that opens, disable all the add-ins
9. Click Ok

Now try and open an Excel file that wasn’t opening earlier. If the item was the issue, the file should open now.

Many a time, it’s a one-off issue and the add-in will work perfectly even if you enable it now. In case you enable the add-in and you still face the same problem, you can be sure that the add-in is corrupt I need to be permanently disabled.

Repair Microsoft Office

Another possible reason that causes Excel files to not open could be that your Microsoft Office application is corrupt and need to be repaired or reinstalled.

But since reinstalling is a little more work, let’s try the repair option first.

Follow the steps below to repair the Microsoft Office application on your system:

1. Hold the Windows key and press the R key. This will open the ‘Run’ dialog box
2. Enter the following text in the run box – ‘appwiz.cpl’. This will open the programs and features dialog box
3. Locate Microsoft Office in the list
4. Right-click on the Microsoft Office option and click on Change (in case you see the repair option right here, click on it)
5. In the dialog box that shows up, click on the Quick Repair option
6. Click on the Repair button

Follow through with the steps that show up and within a few minutes, it will repair your Microsoft Office application.

If a corrupt Microsoft Office application was the issue, it should be fixed with the above steps.

But in case you’re still not able to open Excel files, let’s try more fixes.

Reset Excel File Associations

File Association is what makes sure that when you open an Excel file, it uses the Excel application to open that file.

And sometimes, these file associations go wrong and when you click on an Excel file, it would not know that it needs to use the Excel application to open it.

The fix – resetting file associations

Below are the steps on how you can do this:

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Click on Programs
3. Click on Default Programs
4. Click on ‘Set your default programs’
5. In the Default apps windows that opens, scroll down to the ‘Reset to the Microsoft recommended defaults’ and click on the Reset button.

If a mismatched file association was the issue that was not letting your Excel files open, this would fix it.

Note that since we have reset the default for all the applications on your system, in case you had manually made any changes and specified any specific file extension to be opened with a specific application, that would also be set to the default.

If you don’t want to reset the default for all the applications and only for the Excel files, click on the ‘choose default applications by file type’ option.

In the screen that shows up, locate the Excel files extensions (.xls, .xlsx, .xlsb, .csv, etc.) and set XLS the default application for these.

Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

Hardware graphic acceleration is something that helps your system perform better, especially when using Microsoft Office applications such as MS Excel or MS Word.

But many times, this may also lead to your Excel files not opening or your system or files crashing.

So, if everything else fails, it’s worth trying this method.

Hardware graphic acceleration is enabled by default and disabling it can solve the issue.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Open the Excel applications
2. Click on the File tab
3. Click on Options
4. In the Excel Options dialog box that opens up, click on the Advanced tab in the left pane
5. Scroll down to the ‘Display’ settings
6. Check the – ‘Display hardware graphic acceleration’ option
7. Click OK

If hardware graphic acceleration was the issue, your Excel files should start opening now.

When Everything Fails – Reach out to the Microsoft Support

And finally, there is only so much troubleshooting you can do.

If nothing else has worked for you so far, it’s best to reach out to Microsoft support and see if those guys can help you.

Many times, these issues could also arise from some recent update that Microsoft released which may have inadvertently caused this issue.

You can use the below link to contact Microsoft support:

https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/

Another thing you can try is posting your query on many active Microsoft forums, and the awesome folks of the Internet may come to your rescue.

I know that this is not an ideal solution, but it can help you get feedback and solutions from experts, which is helpful in almost all cases.

So these are the methods that you can use to troubleshoot when your Microsoft files won’t open.

In most cases, it should be sorted by simple setting changes such as disabling third-party add-ins or resetting file associations, and in some rare cases if you’re not able to identify the issue the best thing is to reach out to Microsoft support.

I hope you found this tutorial useful.

Other Excel tutorials you may also like:

• How to Automatically Open Specific Excel File on Startup
• Excel Formulas Not Working: Possible Reasons and How to FIX IT!
• 10 Tricks to Fix Slow Excel Spreadsheets (Speed-up Excel)
• #REF! Error in Excel – How to Fix the Reference Error!
• How to Recover Unsaved Excel Files [All Options + Precautions]
• Arrow Keys not Working in Excel | Moving Pages Instead of Cells
• Excel Tabs/Sheets Not Showing – How to Fix?
• How to Mark an Excel Workbook as Final?

Если вы пытались открыть Microsoft Office Word (например) со своего компьютера с Windows 10 или ноутбука, и он ничего не сделал, попробуйте открыть Диспетчер задач (Ctrl + Shift + Esc или щелкните правой кнопкой мыши на панели задач и выберите Диспетчер задач.) и просмотрите либо открытые приложения, либо вкладку « Подробности », где вы найдете его как WINWORD.EXE.

Если вы видите процесс там, это означает, что Windows 10 думает, что программа открыта и не будет ничего с этим делать. В этом случае попробуйте создать новый документ, щелкните его правой кнопкой мыши и выберите «Изменить».

В некоторых случаях этот метод оказался полезным и может помочь вам в трудной ситуации.

Не удается открыть диспетчер задач? Не волнуйтесь, у нас есть правильное решение для вас.

Решение 2 — Перейти к источнику

Если ваши ярлыки Microsoft Office ничего не делают при попытке их запуска, возможно, существует проблема связи между самим ярлыком и фактическим исполняемым файлом, который он должен открыть.

В зависимости от того, почему вы установили версию офиса, вы можете найти их в одном из следующих мест:

• C: Программные файлы Microsoft OfficeOffice14
• C: программные файлы (x86) Microsoft OfficeOffice14

Попробуйте запустить нужный инструмент отсюда, если он работает, то виноват был ваш ярлык. Создайте новый ярлык для используемых компонентов Office и замените неисправные.

Решение 3 — Используйте безопасный режим

Запуск продукта Office в безопасном режиме довольно прост, как это было в Windows 7. Все, что вам нужно сделать, — это открыть утилиту « Выполнить » (клавиша Windows + R) и ввести имя продукта, который вы хотите использовать, после чего « / сейф ».

Например, если вы хотите открыть Microsoft Excel в безопасном режиме, введите « excel / safe ». Более подробную информацию об открытии продуктов Office в безопасном режиме можно найти здесь.

Решение 4 — Ремонт или переустановка

Наконец, если у вас нет другого решения, попробуйте использовать функцию восстановления. Вы можете получить к нему доступ, открыв Панель управления -> Программы и компоненты -> найдите Microsoft Office и выберите «Изменить» в верхнем меню.

В появившемся окне выберите «Восстановить» и следуйте указаниям мастера. Если это не решит вашу проблему, вы должны удалить Microsoft Office и выполнить новую установку.

Более подробную информацию об удалении и переустановке Microsoft Office можно найти здесь.

Если вы не можете открыть Панель управления в Windows 10, посмотрите это полезное руководство, чтобы найти решение.

Решение 5 — Установите обновления Windows

Microsoft регулярно выпускает обновления для Microsoft Office (и других внутренних функций и программ) через Центр обновления Windows. Таким образом, если ваша текущая версия Office каким-либо образом нарушена, есть вероятность, что новое обновление исправит это.

И это не обязательно должно быть обновление Office. Возможно, некоторые другие функции, установленные на вашем компьютере, мешают работе Office и не позволяют вам получить к нему доступ. В обоих случаях установка свежих обновлений может решить проблему.

Чтобы установить последние обновления на свой компьютер, просто перейдите в «Настройки»> «Обновления и безопасность» и проверьте наличие обновлений.

Если у вас возникли проблемы с открытием приложения Настройка, обратитесь к этой статье, чтобы решить эту проблему.

Решение 6 — Удалить обновления Windows

Теперь давайте сделаем полную противоположность предыдущему решению. Если проблема начала проявляться после обновления пакета Office, вы можете легко удалить последние обновления и посмотреть, решит ли это вашу проблему.

Чтобы удалить обновление, следуйте этим инструкциям:

1. Перейти к настройкам
2. Теперь перейдите в раздел «Обновления и безопасность» > « Центр обновления Windows».
3. Перейти к истории обновлений> Удалить обновления

   

4. Теперь найдите последнее обновление Office, установленное на вашем компьютере (вы можете отсортировать обновления по дате), щелкните его правой кнопкой мыши и перейдите к разделу «Удалить».
5. Перезагрузите компьютер

Решение 7 — Отключить надстройки

Иногда поврежденные надстройки могут блокировать открытие документов в Word / Excel / PowerPoint. Поскольку вы не можете точно знать, какая надстройка вызывает проблему, я рекомендую удалить их все, а затем снова установить одну за другой.

Таким образом, вы сможете узнать, какая из них вызывает проблемы. Задача отнимает много времени, но у вас не так уж много вариантов. Вот как надстройки в проблемном приложении Office:

1. Откройте хлопотное приложение
2. Перейдите в Файл> Параметры
3. Нажмите Надстройки, а затем отключите все надстройки.
4. Перезапустите программу и запустите ее без включенных надстроек.

Решение 8. Убедитесь, что Office активирован

Если ваша копия Microsoft Office Suite не является подлинной, вы не сможете открыть приложение Office. Технически, вы сможете нормально открыть любую программу, но ничего не сможете с ней сделать.

Вы не можете создавать новые документы или открывать и редактировать существующие документы. Это просто пустая оболочка. Итак, убедитесь, что ваш Office правильно активирован, и попробуйте запустить еще раз.

Решение 9 — Удалить ключи реестра Word

Если у вас возникли проблемы с открытием Word, мы постараемся удалить некоторые ключи реестра. Надеюсь, программа будет работать после этого. Вот что вам нужно сделать:

1. Перейдите в Поиск, введите regedit и откройте редактор реестра.
2. Перейдите к одному из следующих путей:
   • Word 2002: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoft Office10.0WordData
   • Word 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSПрограммное обеспечениеMicrosoft Office11.0WordData
   • Word 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSПрограммное обеспечениеMicrosoft Office12.0WordData
   • Word 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSПрограммное обеспечениеMicrosoftOffice14.0WordData
   • Word 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSПрограммное обеспечениеMicrosoftOffice15.0Word
   • Word 2016: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSпрограммное обеспечениеMicrosoftOffice16.0Word
3. Теперь просто нажмите на ключ данных и удалите его
4. Перезагрузите компьютер.

Решение 10. Удалите старые драйверы принтера.

И, наконец, некоторые пользователи также сообщают, что старые драйверы принтера, установленные на ПК с Windows 10, препятствуют работе Microsoft Office. Если это так, мы рекомендуем проверить эту статью для получения подробных инструкций о том, как удалить старые драйверы принтера.

Вот и все. Мы, безусловно, надеемся, что хотя бы одно из этих решений помогло вам решить проблему с Microsoft Office. Если у вас есть какие-либо комментарии, вопросы или предложения, просто сообщите нам об этом в комментариях ниже.