Unable to open Excel

[Dave Peterson]

So you can't even start excel in safe mode?

I think I'd uninstall and reinstall office--especially if MSWord were affected,
too.

 

[Diana F.]

I can open excel. I just cannot open any files once I'm in the program. At
least I haven't yet today. I have Office 2000 discs, but I'm not totally
sure they are the ones that came with this computer. Will that make any
difference? Do I have to remove the old programs first?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I'm confused. I thought you couldn't even open excel. If the problem is with a
single file or even a few files--but not all, then I don't think it's excel.
I'd say it was those workbook files that were bad.

Can you find someone who has excel to see if they can open your files?

And either I missed it or you didn't explain what the problem really was. Maybe
it's time to give some details of what happens, when it happens.

But if I had to reinstall office, I would probably uninstall everything first.
And I'm not sure if you have to activate xl2k.

I remember that xl97 would prompt you for a key, but you wouldn't have to
activate the program with MS.

I can open excel. I just cannot open any files once I'm in the program. At
least I haven't yet today. I have Office 2000 discs, but I'm not totally
sure they are the ones that came with this computer. Will that make any
difference? Do I have to remove the old programs first?

 

[Diana F.]

I have not been able to open any files, so I don't think the problem is with
the files. I think it is with the program. And I think your answer was
above my head since I don't know what you mean by activating the program.

 

[Dave Peterson]

With xl2002+, Microsoft would like you to register as the owner/installer of the
Office program. But registration is a voluntary choice.

But MS does require that you activate the Office software (2002+ for sure--not
positive about Office 2k). You can do it anonymously, but you have to do it.
They keep track of what hardward that license is used on.
Can you start excel (with a new workbook), make a change, save that workbook,
close that workbook and reopen it?

I have not been able to open any files, so I don't think the problem is with
the files. I think it is with the program. And I think your answer was
above my head since I don't know what you mean by activating the program.

 

[Diana F.]

I have used these discs before. I do not think they have to be activated.

No, wasn't able to open a new file either. As I was trying to save the
document as temp in my documents, it came back with message that said the
file already existed in C:\Documents\Diana\Local...\temp\wecerr.txt Weird,
huh?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I've never seen that message, but I searched google for "wecerr" and "wecerr
excel" and got lots of hits. Lots of them had to do with Frontpage. But
nothing jumped out at me for just plain old excel. You may want to do some
research there first.

And a couple more things to look at:

#1. Do you have enough diskspace available on your harddrive (C?

#2. If you've ever really meant to save anything in that temp folder move it to
a nice safe location right away. This temp folder isn't for your (the human
you) use. It's for programs to use when they need to (temporarily) save a file.

And the nice programs clean up after themselves when they're finished.

But often times, they don't. You should be able to throw those files away
without thinking about them. If there's a program that's currently using one,
you'll get an error message (file in use). And you may have to be more choosier
in your selection of files to delete.

But you could close every program that you can see and then go to the windows
temp folder.

I like to use:
Windows|Start button|Run
type:
%temp%
and hit enter.

Then delete as much as you can (move your "real" files first!).

Then back to excel and see what happens with a simple test.

I have used these discs before. I do not think they have to be activated.

No, wasn't able to open a new file either. As I was trying to save the
document as temp in my documents, it came back with message that said the
file already existed in C:\Documents\Diana\Local...\temp\wecerr.txt Weird,
huh?