XLS fails to open in Excel

Orson · Post by **Orson** » 24 Oct 2006 20:34

I'm checking out version 5.20.0028, which I believe is a beta. I'm not a current user of XY, just evaluating.

It seems that double-clicking an XLS file will open Excel but not open the file in Excel. Is there a setting I can enter that will change this behavior, or is this a bug in XY?

Thanks for any info.

Orson

Post by **admin** » 25 Oct 2006 07:31

Orson wrote:I'm checking out version 5.20.0028, which I believe is a beta. I'm not a current user of XY, just evaluating.

It seems that double-clicking an XLS file will open Excel but not open the file in Excel. Is there a setting I can enter that will change this behavior, or is this a bug in XY?

Looks like a bug, but I cannot reproduce it.
However, later, after playing around with some settings I managed to temporarily reproduce it. Here's the place to play and how it looks in Germany when it works alright (but I'm sure there are other ways/settings that work alright as well -- DDE is a mysterious country):

UPDATE: Here the same from an English system (shot by John Hallgren):

Gandolf · Post by **Gandolf** » 25 Oct 2006 08:10

No problem with me either (XP, SP2).

One odd behaviour though. Preview an Excel file, switch to another Excel file and sometimes the message "Office file is currently ..." appears briefly, followed by no preview of the file. No other application is opened and it is not always the same file that has the problem. It's almost as if XY has not released Office after the previous file was previewed. It appears that the problem is easier to produce using the arrow keys, rather than the mouse, to select files.

Little bit more experimenting. It's more consistent with the sequence: File A, File B, File A.

If I have a file open in Excel then, as expected, it is locked permanently and cannot be previewed in XY. Likewise, if XY is previewing a file Excel cannot open it. So all that is working correctly.

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 25 Oct 2006 09:34

No problem here either...using beta 5.20.0038 and Office 2000 and W2K..
As Gandolf stated, one cannot have a file both in XY preview and Office...and on occasion, when one goes back to Excel, there is a blank worksheet with name Object open, but that's a known issue that is due to how XY must access XLS files...see http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=597

Orson · Post by **Orson** » 25 Oct 2006 18:53

Anyone with English-language interface who can suggest where to change settings to allow Excel XLS files to open when double-clicked in XY?

Thanks.

avsfan · Post by **avsfan** » 25 Oct 2006 21:23

Hi,

I don't remember having to change anything to get my Excel files to open when double-clicked in XY, but I'll give it a shot...

I believe the screen Don showed in German is just the advanced file association panel. One way to get to it is (from Windows Explorer), click "Tools->Folder Options" then click on the "File Types" tab. Then scroll down to "XLS" and select it. Then click on "Advanced" at the bottom of the "Details for 'XLS' extension" section of that window.

When the "Edit File Type" window opens, select "Open" from the list, and click "Edit." You should then see several fields (if I can get an image to attach, I'll do that, but for now I'll just use text, since it looks like I'd need to have the image on the web). The values I have for the fields are:

Action: &Open
Application used: "<pathToExcel>\EXCEL.exe" /e
Use DDE: <checked> (ON)
DDE Message: [open("%1")]
Application: Excel

Note that, unlike Don's setup, mine *does* have a line in the DDE message field, while Don't does not (though his has the "%1" as part of the Excel execution command, while mine does not).

Does this solve your problem?

Good luck! (and welcome to the world of XY! It sure makes *my* life a lot easier, and I hope it does for you as well!)

andy

PS: using XP Pro SP2, Office 2003 Pro. XY 5.20.0033

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 25 Oct 2006 21:31

Orson: I just sent you an email with screen print of the English vers of same screens...didn't want to take time to post it...
In the time I was creating it, avsfan described what goes with it so I won't duplicate it...

Post by **admin** » 26 Oct 2006 07:05

avsfan wrote:Action: &Open
Application used: "<pathToExcel>\EXCEL.exe" /e
Use DDE: <checked> (ON)
DDE Message: [open("%1")]
Application: Excel

Note that, unlike Don's setup, mine *does* have a line in the DDE message field, while Don't does not (though his has the "%1" as part of the Excel execution command, while mine does not).

Actually I had [open("%1")], too, before I played around with the different fields. Then somehow (through "%1" as part of the Excel execution command) I made it work without so I thought "less is more" and left it at that

avsfan · Post by **avsfan** » 26 Oct 2006 07:12

admin wrote:Actually I had [open("%1")], too, before I played around with the different fields. Then somehow (through "%1" as part of the Excel execution command) I made it work without so I thought "less is more" and left it at that

Indeed, I like your solution better since it's cleaner (though now he has two options to try!)

We'll see if either of them work for him!

andy

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 26 Oct 2006 07:42

Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:40:17 -0700
From: orson
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks very much. I tried the settings specified by your capture and
the
other respondent's notes. I still can get an XLS file to open in Excel.
I guess the good news is that this does not work in Windows Explorer
either! So I can't blame XY.

This was reply I got to email with screen print from my system showing English vers of what Don had posted in German...I think he meant to say "still can't get"...and at least appears that XY is not the only thing failing!

Post by **admin** » 26 Oct 2006 08:17

j_c_hallgren wrote:
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:40:17 -0700
From: orson
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks very much. I tried the settings specified by your capture and
the
other respondent's notes. I still can get an XLS file to open in Excel.
I guess the good news is that this does not work in Windows Explorer
either! So I can't blame XY.
This was reply I got to email with screen print from my system showing English vers of what Don had posted in German...I think he meant to say "still can't get"...and at least appears that XY is not the only thing failing!

I wasted 1 hour on this and it's not XY-specific?! Well, nobody forced me to become a programmer...

Anyway, thanks for taking over, JC!

Orson · Post by **Orson** » 26 Oct 2006 17:59

Sorry, Don, about taking up your time on this........ As little as a couple of weeks ago, I could double-click an XLS file in a file manager (Windows Explorer, Total Commander), and Excel would open the file.

In the last few days -- as I've been evaluating XY-- I noticed I couldn't do it inside XY, so I figured it was an XY issue. Then after trying the settings people suggested, I went back and found that it was Windows-wide, regardless of which file manager I'm using. Very odd.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Orson

Post by **j_c_hallgren** » 26 Oct 2006 21:27

One other idea to try would be to re-install Office/Excel...or the repair option that may be available...maybe there's a registry value that is wacked?

Post by **admin** » 28 Oct 2006 08:29

Orson wrote:Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Did they help?

Orson · Post by **Orson** » 30 Oct 2006 17:19

Running the "repair" routine on Microsoft Office did not fix the problem. However, I'm not too concerned for now. Other Office documents (doc, ppt) open by double-clicking. Thanks for asking.

XYplorer Beta Club

XLS fails to open in Excel

XLS fails to open in Excel

Re: XLS fails to open in Excel