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Excel XLT file association errors.

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3 replies

by nhansen

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On a several laptops, when attempting to open an XLT file by double-clicking, they get a series of errors as it tries to open each word in the file name as an individual XLS file. All they can do is click OK. When it finally finally tries the last word it attempts as as XLT file.
eg."Test data spreadsheet.xlt" would generate "Cannot open Test.xls" then "Cannot open Data.xls", and finally "Cannot open spreadsheet.XLT".

I have checked the file associations and ensured that Excel is properly selected. I have verified that the DDE Message for the Open command is correct. The machine has been reghosted, and the roaming profile for one user has been recreated. This user can open it on another laptop where it is working fine without errors.

If Excel is open and they use File>Open, then select the path and file, it opens without error. Long file names do not appear to be the issue.

If I copy the file locally from the network and rename it removing the XLT extension, it loses it's icon, shows the same errors, but then opens properly. Any ideas?

3 replies

by kfontes

Try through My Computer or Windows Explorer to
1. Select the file;
2. Right click on the selected file ( it is important that you right click after you had selected it)
3. Choose Open with...
4. Check the checkbox Always use this program to open these files.
5. Select Excel from the list of applications, if you don't find it there, browse to Excel.exe

If it works it is because you DDE association was not right, and you just recreated it.

Good luck.

by nhansen

Thanks for the answer, but I have been through that already. The file association was NOT correct initially and was associated with Notepad.exe believe it or not. However I changed the file association to Excel immediately. This appears to go way beyond that. Again, removing the XLT extension from the file name, causes it to lose it's icon (because there is really NO file association at that point) but then it WILL open correctly in Excel by double-clicking. That is fine except theusers want to see the XLT icon! Any other ideas? Thanks again.

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