[Fixed!] Excel File Not Opening on Double Click (8 Possible Solutions)

This article illustrates how to fix the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click with 8 possible solutions. The issue can be caused for many reasons. We’ll discuss every possible solution to solve the annoying situation. Let’s dive into the solutions to find and solve the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click.

Excel File Not Opening on Double Click: 8 Possible Solutions

In this section, we will explore 8 specific solutions that will help you with this problem.

Solution 1: Uncheck the “Ignore other applications that use DDE” Option

The dynamic data exchange (DDE) protocol is one of the methods for transferring data between applications. If the “Ignore other applications that use DDE” is selected in Excel’s configuration, then it’ll ignore all the messages sent by other applications via DDE. As a result, double-clicking an Excel file from the windows explorer doesn’t open it. To solve the problem, we need to uncheck the option with the following steps.

Go to the File tab from the Excel Ribbon.
Click the Options.
In the Excel Options window, select the Advanced tab.
Uncheck the “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)” option under the General section.
Finally hit OK to save the settings.

Solution 2: Open Excel in Safe Mode

It is possible that an add-in or extension is the reason behind not opening an Excel file with a double click. To identify that we can open the Excel file in safe mode. To do this-

From the start menu, choose the Run App.

In the Run dialogue box, type excel /safe to open the Excel in safe mode.

Note: We need to put a space before the slash.

Finally hit the OK button.

Hopefully, it’ll solve the issue and open the desired Excel file with a double click.

Solution 3: Choose Excel as Default App to Open Excel Files

We can check and assign MS Excel as the default application to open those Excel files. To do this, follow the steps below.

Go to the windows settings from the start menu.
Click on the Apps option.

From the Settings window, click on the Default apps tab.
Click on the “Choose default apps by file type” link.

Finally, choose Excel for the desired file extensions.

Solution 4: Force Excel to Reconstruct File Association Information

We need to fix the file association in windows if a file doesn’t open correctly after double-clicking or doesn’t open with the correct application. In this case, we can make Excel reconstruct the file association information. Let’s follow the simple steps below.

Open the Run App from the Start menu.

In the Run dialogue box, we need to put the full path of the Excel file that is followed by “/regserver”. To get the full path of the Excel file, we need to press Shift and right-click on the Excel file. For example, we have an Excel file in the Exceldemy folder in the D drive.

So, we need to put the “D:\Exceldemy\book1.xlsx” /regserver” in the Open input box of the Run dialogue box.

Finally, click OK.

Hopefully, the above approach will resolve the issue of not opening on double click.

Solution 5: Reset Windows Registry to Excel’s Factory Defaults

We can reset the windows registry for an application to its factory defaults. The “/regserver” switch will register the application newly and recreate the application-related registry entries. The command will also refresh the file associations.

To reset the windows registry for Excel, we need to open the Run App from the Start menu and put the command “excel /regserver” in the Open input box.

Click the OK button to execute the command so that it fixes the issue of not opening on double click.

Solution 6: Turn Off Excel Add-Ins

Turning off the Excel and COM add–in programs could also solve the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click. We’ll follow the approach of turning off each of the add-ins at a time to see which one actually conflicts. For information, these two add-ins are located in two different folders. Let’s follow the simple steps.

Go to the File tab from the Excel Ribbon.
Click the Options
In the Excel Options window, select the Add-ins tab.
From the Manage list, choose Excel or COM Add-ins.
Click the Go button.

Remove one add-in at a time and click OK.

After all the above steps, double click to restart the Excel file to see whether it opens or not. If the issue of not opening still remains, follow the above steps again to remove the other add-ins.

Solution 7: Check the “Disable hardware graphics acceleration”

We could try out another way to solve the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click i.e., enabling the “Disable hardware graphics acceleration” option. For this, do the following.

Go to the File tab from the Excel Ribbon.
Click the Options.
In the Excel Options window, select the Advanced tab.
Check the “Disable hardware graphics acceleration” option under the Display section.

Finally, click the OK button to save the settings.

Solution 8: Repair Microsoft Office

We could try to repair Microsoft office programs and then whether the issue still exists or not. Do the following to repair the Microsoft office.

Click on the Start icon.
Type Control Panel.
Select the Control Panel.

Select Microsoft 365.
Click on the Change button.
Select Online Repair and then again select the Repair option.

Things to Remember

The above solutions are the most reliable to solve the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click. In many cases, you need to restart the application or even the computer to see the changes.
In the 2nd solution, to open a file in safe mode, we need to write the command right in the Run dialogue box. There must be a space before the slash to execute the command.

Conclusion

Now, we know how to fix the issue of not opening an Excel file on double click with 8 different solutions. Hopefully, it would help you to use these methods more confidently. Any questions or suggestions don’t forget to put them in the comment box below.

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