[Solved] Cannot open .xls files

[Martin99]

Ah!!! I was logged out when I had written a page of text and hadn't saved or taken a screenshot.

Ah!!! Ah!! Ah!!! when I saved version 2 I was logged out and couldn't find my nearly finished message - the last recorded when I searched posts was in 2018.

Now to type for the third time from screenshots.

4 days I accepted a Windows 10 update and then logged off. I've been unwell for three days and yesterday evening, I tried to open a .xls file and got a box "Adobe Acrobat Reader could not open the "xxxvvvccc.xls" file because it is either not supported ….or damaged...…..". I then tried a backup of the file made on 2 August and just the same. The file created about 15 years ago by a colleague and passed to me about 6 years ago. Acrobat Reader - very strange. Adobe Acrobat Reader strange!!!

In Windows 10 I can't to nominate Open Office as a default program, as I can with Google Chrome and Acrobat Reader.

Today I took down 4.1.2 which has served me well for some and installed 4.1.6 - same problem. But with both versions I can open .doc files without problem.

.pdf files are opening in what I see is an alien program to me, as indeed did this Forum. It has a blue "e" as an icon and my son who has just gone, said it was Explorer - never seen before. Have I lost Google Chrome or Acrobat Reader from basics without clicking on a file - no as above- but if I do, they open in the "e" program, despite positively nominating them as defaults.

What has happened - what can I do?

[Zizi64]

what can I do?

Use the LibreOffice on the Windows 10.

[Martin99]

zizi64

Many thanks. However when I open Libre Office (which I have installed as it is the only spreadsheet used by the UK Income tax authorities), and then click on the same .xls file, I get exactly the same response with the box "Adobe Acrobat Reader could not open the "xxxvvvccc.xls" file because it is either not supported ….or damaged...…..".

Martin99

[RoryOF]

Right click on an .xls file and select to "Always open with LibreOffice" from the popup; or reinstall LibreOffice which should remake the File Associations.

[Zizi64]

when I open Libre Office (which I have installed as it is the only spreadsheet used by the UK Income tax authorities), and then click on the same .xls file, I get exactly the same response with the box "Adobe Acrobat Reader could not open the "xxxvvvccc.xls" file because it is either not supported ….or damaged...…..".

It is happened in the LibreOffice by using the "File - Open" menu item?

How you installed the LibreOffice? Did you choose the custom instalation method? You can associate the LibreOffice to the fileformats of the Microsoft Office (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, etc...) by this option during the installation. Then the MSO files will be opened with the LibreOffice after double clicking on the filename (or the icon) in a file browser.

[Martin99]

Bravo Rory. File opened.

zizi64 - I'll look at what you have written tomorrow.

But why have I wasted about 8 hours today on this?

Martin99

[robleyd]

Windows 10 upgrades have been reported to change file associations; i.e. to change the default applications that Windows uses to open various types of files. From your description, this appears to have happened in your case.

[Zizi64]

Windows 10 upgrades have been reported to change file associations;

My experience: The Win10 updates sometimes reset my custom settings to the default value. (At my workplace the LAN settings was modified by some Win10 updatings. There was a few cases, but not one only - I remember it...)
But the file associations related the LIBREOFFICE never have been modified.
I have not a clue, how can be the association of the LibreOffice "stronger" than the associations of the Apache OpenOffice. Or it is a "kidding of the Microsoft"????

We have not MS Office on any PC, therefore there is not any relevant application for editing the MS file types: maybe it is a reason, why seems the LO associations "more stable".