Share via

SharePoint Excel Documents Not Opening in Excel

Question

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 4:27 PM

Hi,

I've run into a very strange issue one of our users is having when trying to open a Microsoft Excel document from a SharePoint library.  When they go to open an Excel document (.xlsx) it opens in the web browser as opposed to opening in Excel as we want.  If they click the link to "Open in Excel" it gives us the message saying similar, "Cannot open this document as there is not a valid Microsoft Excel application installed".

I (IT Technician with an admin account) can open the file fine, when I click on it, it opens directly in Excel.

We run SharePoint 2010.  User's laptop has Windows 7 SP1 x64, Microsoft Office 2010 x86, Internet Explorer 10 (Can't change due to limitations of other software they use).

When the user logs in, opens up IE 10 and goes to their SharePoint site.  They click an .xls document it opens in Excel.  An .xlsx document opens in the web browser.

If I log in, open IE 10, go to that same SharePoint site and click on the same .xlsx document they tried, it opens in Excel.

I have created the user a new local and roaming profile thinking it might have been something to do with an antiquated IE setting dating back to when we used XP and IE <9.  Even with the new profile they still get the same error.  I even built a new laptop from scratch with a brand new install of Windows 7 SP1 x64, Office 2010 x86, and IE10 updated to the latest version.  Even with this, it doesn't work for them but it works for me and also another basic-test account with a roaming profile.

User definitely has correct permissions to the library as all of the documents were uploaded to the library by them.  We even tried a new document from scratch.  The library is set to open all documents in the "native"(?) app.  I've also followed many helpful threads similar to this issue (including http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833714/en-us) which didn't fix it.

I am at about 18 hours of trying and the only option left is to plead for help on here and bang my head against the wall!.

Many thanks in advance.

Phil W

All replies (3)

Wednesday, May 21, 2014 10:48 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote

Hi  Phil,

For troubleshooting your issue, please take steps as below:

  1. Go to c:\Users\login_user_name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\14.0\OfficeFileCache, clear those temp files.
  2. Internet Explorer --> Tools -->Internet Options -->Advanced tab -->click Restore defaults button -->Click "OK"
  3. Internet Explorer --> Tools -->Manage Add-ons --> disable NameCtrlClass  , SharePoint Opening Documents control (controls by selecting currently loaded add-ins from left pane dropdown menu) controls
  4. Close and re-open the Internet explorer.
  5. Go to your site ->Site Settings -> Site Collection features -> Activate “Open Documents in Client Applications by Default” feature.
  6. Check the documents functionality.

Best Regards,

Eric

Eric Tao
TechNet Community Support

Thursday, May 22, 2014 12:12 PM

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your post, it definitely helped although as is usually the case, I cannot be certain exactly what resolved it!  The following things were done on the user's original laptop:

  1. For starters, I was unaware of the files in point #1.  So I emptied the contents of that folder (I had to kill a background process MSOSYNC.exe*32 or OSPPSVC.EXE in order to delete all files).
  2. I reset all of Internet Explorer's settings, including the "Personal Settings" check box in Internet Options-->Advanced.
  3. I went to Internet Options --> Tools --> Manage Add-ons,  I checked the status of NameCtrlClass which was enabled so I changed it to disabled.  I then checked for SharePoint OpenDocuments Class under the 'Run without permission' section as it wasn't listed in the 'Currently loaded add-ons' list.  It was nowhere to be seen, although it was present when I checked the user's laptop before and it is also present on the "new test laptop" I set up.

From that point on I figured that the SharePoint add-ins were screwed up somehow.  They were there a few days ago and they were also on the "new test laptop" so something wasn't right.  As mentioned in my initial post I had already done a repair install of Microsoft Office Pro 2010 x86, so I can't see why that wouldn't have re-instated the SharePoint Add-ins.

I went to "Programs and Features" and selected Microsoft Office Pro 2010.  Clicked on "Change" and from the options on screen chose Add or Remove Features.  Expanded "Office Tools" and clicked on "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Support" and selected Not Available.

Once that had completed, I went back to the same thing again to re-add them but the option was still listed as installed (Run from My Computer).  I backed out of the installer and opened IE.  The SharePoint OpenDocuments Class Add-in(s) were there and listed as enabled.  I went to the SharePoint library where the documents weren't opening in their native app, clicked on one and it opened in Excel (hooray!).

I also installed a security update for IE10, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it?

Either way, thanks to Eric there is one very happy IT Techie and one very happy user.

Huge thanks, I hope this post may help someone as I hate it when someone doesn't bother to "resolve their own call" leaving readers unsure of the fix.  A very strange issue that I still don't fully understand!

Phil W.

Thursday, May 22, 2014 12:22 PM

Additionally, I thought I'd add that I followed your instructions on the "new test laptop" whilst I was logged in, just to get my head around what I had to do.  As we all know users hate to be away from their computers for long so it's best to be prepared.

As the documents opened fine from SharePoint for me, when I had completed the instructions, they acted identically to what the user was experiencing.  They were opening in the browser and when you clicked on the "Open in Excel" button it gave the error message about not having a valid Microsoft Office application installed.  Reverse the instructions and it worked again.

That definitely points to the add-ins being the issue, especially after recreating the user's local and roaming profiles.  But then getting them to use a new laptop (therefore new local profile again) that negates the add-ins being the issue.  Strange but thankfully its all fixed.