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Excel isn't currently your default program message at startup

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Tuesday, August 11, 2015 5:03 PM

Hello,

After Office upgrade from 2010 to 2013, If the excel sheet is opened, received the below message at every time

"Excel isn't currently your default program message at startup"

It is resolved by "Microsoft office data connection, *.ODC" as default program. Please let me know how to resolve this issue and how do i find why this message occurs after upgraded to Office 2013. 

Regards,

Boopathi S

All replies (5)

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 5:39 AM âś…Answered | 3 votes

Hi Boopathi S,

Based on your description, it seems that file types maybe in conflict or associated with another application.

First I suggest you try this method and check if it works for you:
Please go to Control Panel- Programs- Default Programs- Set Default Programs, select Excel and then select Set this program as default. This will associate all files types listed under the excel program.

If it not works for you, please try to repair your Office program. You can refer to this link about how to repair Office:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b?CorrelationId=fdb7ecde-af8f-4d4c-9b09-e10cd965f981&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Any updates please let me know, I'm glad to help and follow up your reply.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Support

It's recommended to download and install Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT), which is developed by Microsoft Support teams. Once the tool is installed, you can run it at any time to scan for hundreds of known issues in Office programs. Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 5:06 PM

Hello Ami Zhang,

Control Panel- Programs- Default Programs- Set Default Programs, select Excel and then select Set this program as default is works. 

But why it is happening. How do i find it. Because it is happening for multiple machines at the same site.

Regards,

BoopathiS

Thursday, August 13, 2015 9:44 AM

Hi BoopathiS,

Because your Office upgrade from 2010 to 2013, the issue might be caused by the regedit key of associating file types didn't associate new Office program.

Normally, you can resolve this issue by repairing Office program.

Hope it's helpful.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Support

It's recommended to download and install Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT), which is developed by Microsoft Support teams. Once the tool is installed, you can run it at any time to scan for hundreds of known issues in Office programs. Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 12:46 PM

The solution above:

"Please go to Control Panel- Programs- Default Programs- Set Default Programs, select Excel and then select Set this program as default. This will associate all files types listed under the excel program."

has worked for me and now all the excel files get opened as well as when opening an online excel sheet from onedrive, and clicking on "EDIT IN EXCEL" my desktop excel launch without any issue.

Problem Solved.

Thanks Emi Zhang for the info.

Marc

Thursday, November 16, 2017 2:17 PM

Here is another solution that worked for me.  It solved the problem of a constant reminder that Excel was not the default application for spreadsheets when opening an XLS file.  All other solutions, like repairing Office did not work.

So, this did:

  • If you don't already have an XLS file, create one
  • Open REGEDIT to edit the registry (Caution, you can mess things up here if you are not careful!)
  • Find the registry entry Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xls and delete the XLS key.
  • Now, right-click the XLS file and choose, Open with... and choose EXCEL as the file, tick the box to ALWAYS use this application
  • This will re-create the XLS key in the registry.
  • Next time you open Excel, if your issue is like mine, it will be fixed.

An additional step that helped remove the message when just opening Excel itself:

  • Go to Control Panel | Programs | Default Programs | Set Default Programs
  • Choose Excel
  • Click, Set this program as default.