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How-To Geek Forums / Microsoft Office

Windows update prevents opening spreadsheets from shortcuts

(7 posts)
  • Started 10 months ago by Mickmac
  • Latest reply from moreeg
  • Topic Viewed 804 times

Mickmac
Mickmac
Posts: 145

Today I allowed some Windows updates and soon after I was unable to open any Excel spreadsheets from shortcuts in a folder. When I try to open the spreadsheet a message appears saying :

"There was a problem sending the command to the program."

And if I go into Excel and click on "File" - "Recent" and try to open a spreadsheet from the list of "Recent Workbooks" this message appears :

" C:/Users/Mick/Desktop/LDE INVOICE #0009.xlsx' could not be found. Check the spelling of the file name,
and verify that the file location is correct. If you are trying to open the file from your list of recently used files, make sure the file has not been renamed
moved or deleted."

What is Microsoft doing to me ? Why would an update cause this problem ? There were no problems before the updates happened.
I am using a genuine version of Office 2010 - Home and Student. Windows 7 Home is the OS.

Thanks, Mickmac

Posted 10 months ago #
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moreeg
moreeg
Posts: 842

Hi
See if this solves your problem.

Posted 10 months ago #
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Mickmac
Mickmac
Posts: 145

Hi moreeg, Tried that once before, did not fix the problem. I went to File - Options - Advanced and the section "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" was not selected and I still have the problem. Definitely has something to do with the update but not sure why. Last time it happened I had to resort to doing a System Restore but I should not have to do that every time I allow updates to happen.

Posted 10 months ago #
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gedstar
gedstar
Posts: 521

Found this, not sure if it will help

Hi,

Try the following steps:

Right click on Excel (.exe) > Properties > Compatibility > uncheck all the boxes

To access Excel (.exe), open the following location:

Windows 7 32bit: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

Windows 7 64bit: C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14

Posted 10 months ago #
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moreeg
moreeg
Posts: 842

Hi Mickmac

googling around I couldn't find any problems similar to yours so I would surmise from that that the most likely cause is specific to your set-up. Since this has happened to you twice already I'd say that it'd be important to find the root cause so that you can continue to receive updates without this problem reappearing.

2 things I would attempt (if you haven't already) is a reinstall of Microsoft office and/or finding the specific update that is causing the problem - download one at a time in clean boot mode. Restart, then see which one causes the problem - this may point you in the right direction as to the underlying cause.

Unless Gedstar's solution works in which case "never mind" (quoting Gilda Radner)

Posted 10 months ago #
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Mickmac
Mickmac
Posts: 145

Thanks gedstar and moreeg, I do appreciate your advice. Was going to ask if reinstalling Office would be the way to go. I still have the original disk that came with the program. I will not lose the spreadsheets that are on my computer will I ?

Posted 10 months ago #
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moreeg
moreeg
Posts: 842

Your spreadsheets will be safe but backups are always a good idea.

Posted 10 months ago #
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