Problems with Office

[jean]

When I bought my computer, Office was already installed. I've used it without problems, until the other day someone sent me an Excel file as an email attachment, and I can't open it because, I'm told, I 'don't have Office'!

I do, of course - but I have no record of an activation code or password. Any suggestions?

[MrGongGong]

Have you tried opening excel then opening the downloaded file?

Open office is free and will open it
and you can have that as well as Microsoft office

[jean]

I tried that - I even tried opening another Excel file I had, hoping it would act as a lure, but it didn't work.

I will try open office.

[Dave2002]

Which version of Excel do you have? What is the extension of the file you have been sent? Are you using a PC, Mac or other?

[jean]

It's a PC, and I have Office 2007, including Excel. I haven't used Excel much but I have one saved document in that format that I was sent as an attachment some months ago, and I was able to open it, no questions asked.

The file I've been sent now is 66kb.

[french frank]

The file doesn't have the extension .xlsx rather than xls? My laptop still has Vista and I have to remember to convert all my document files from .docx to .doc or it won't open them.

[jean]

I used to have the docx problem with my old computer - but the computer would tell me that I had an old version of Word, not that I didn't have it at all!

This file is xls.

[french frank]

Can only suggest some sort of corruption in the emailing. It's not recognising your program.

[Dave2002]

Can only suggest some sort of corruption in the emailing. It's not recognising your program.

Sonds plausible.

Jean - Can you create an xls file yoursel and email it back to yourself to check that it works? Also maybe other Excel types, xslx etc. There might be a test site with files which you can download and test, too, though I'm not immediately aware of any. Try searching for demo Excel files.

If that's OK get your sender to resend. I hope the file was something you wanted and were expecting. It's dangerous out in the wild woods!

[umslopogaas]

Dont know if this is relevant, but I had a problem with email recently. A fried sent me an attachment as a PDF, but the email programme converted the file extension to DAT, and I couldnt open it. The advice was that I should be able to open it in the programme in which it was originally created (which I think was Adobe). We got round the problem eventually, though I cant remember how.

[doversoul1]

You could contact the sender and explain the situation. Sometime this is a problem with the sender’s system or they are using something that isn’t suitable for your system, in which case they may be able to resend the file.

[umslopogaas]

Thanks DS, I think that is what we did.

[johnb]

jean,

I would save the file to an appropriate folder (is you haven't already done that).

Then I would find the file in Windows Explorer and check the file extension (i.e. the characters to the right of the last "." in the filename).

Having said that, you might not see the file extension as Windows installations have the file extension (also known as the file type) hidden for common files. (Yes it is a silly idea.) To show the file extensions for all files (if the file extension isn't showing):

These instructions are for Windows 7, so might need tweaking for other versions of Windows.

Open Windows Explorer
Check to see if the Menu Bar containing "Files ---- Edit ---- View ---- Tools ---- Help" is showing.
If it isn't showing you can turn it on by clicking on Organize, then Layout and then tick "Menu Bar"
Click on the Tools in the Menu Bar, then Folder options
Click on the View tab
There should be a "Hide extensions for known file types" option - untick the option (if it is ticked).

[doversoul1]

jean,
I would save the file to an appropriate folder (is you haven't already done that).

Can you save an attached file without opening it?

[jean]

It's all very strange.

The attachment was something I was expecting, so it's not a scam. And there doesn't seem to be a problem with the original email because if I forward it to someone else, they can open it - but if they then disguise it with a new title and send it back to me, I get the same message - You don't have Office - and I can neither open nor save it. I can open it on my phone, though.

The only other Excel file I've ever downloaded is still there on my computer. Just to make doubly sure, I found the original email it was attached to and opened the attachment again - no problem. Then I opened a new blank Excel document, gave it a title and sent it to myself as an attachment. Again, no problem.

I'll just have to get someone else to print this thing for me, and try again with the original sender when she gets back from holiday. Thanks for all your suggestions.