Problem opening word and excel 97-2003 files after upgrade to Windows 10

Question

_{Tuesday, December 8, 2015 5:49 PM}

I have Office Home and Business 2013 installed Version 15.0.4771.1004

I recently upgraded my OS from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10

Since the upgrade I have found problems opening both Excel and Word documents in 97-2003 format, specifically where these have been downloaded from an application, or as an e-mail attachment.

I've tried various ways of opening file, double click from explorer, open from within the word or excel application and I've tried the repair options - nothing works and either nothing happens or the application hangs until I close with task manager.

I have copied the file to another PC running Windows 7 and Office 2010 and I can open the file just fine.

I did see a report which suggested this was a known problem fixed in Version ... anyway, I checked the version number and I am at a version level beyond the number quoted.

If I can't fix this I'm going to have to back out the Windows 10 uprgade (heaven help me)

All replies (2)

_{Wednesday, December 9, 2015 8:44 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Hi Jezzer,

Based on your description, did you get the message "Opening in Protect View" start when opening Office file?

First I suppose this issue might be caused by the incorrect File Association in Office, I suggest you try to reset file associations (Excel sample):

• Please go to Control Panel.
• Click Default Programs, and then click Set your default programs.
• Click Excel, and then click Choose default for this program.
• On the Set Program Associations screen, click Select All, and then click Save.

Then if you can try to disable Protect View (Excel sample):

Go to File- Options- Trust Center- Protected View- clear checked options

Please try these methods and check if they work for you.

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

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Support

Please mark the reply as an answer if you find it is helpful.

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_{Tuesday, February 23, 2016 4:47 PM}

Worked really well thax.

Very easy to follow.

Cheers