Excel files open slow from Windows Explorer
I ran into a problem with Excel taking a long time to open a file from Windows Explorer. If Excel is started first and a file is opened from within Excel, the file opens immediately. This problem is unusual, but does exist on some machines. Double-clicking an Excel file to open it from within Windows Explorer, or from Outlook (Excel attachment) can take 30 seconds or more, even if its a small file size.
The first place to begin when troubleshooting this issue is the Microsoft Support article at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211494. If this doesn’t resolve the problem, then try the steps below.
To fix the issue in Windows XP try the following:
- Open “Windows Explorer” (explorer.exe)
- Select “Tools” | “Folder Options…”
- Click on the “File Types” tab
- Select the ”XLS” file extension (Excel 97-2003 Worksheet)
- Click “Advanced”
- Select “Open" from the ‘Actions’ list
- Click “Edit…”
- In the “Application used to perform action:” field*, change the text to:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"
To add the XLSX file type (Excel 2007 Worksheet), repeat steps 4-8.
*Note: The double quotes are required around the path and the %1.
I have not seen this as a problem with Windows Vista. However, it could possibly be affected.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:12 am
Worked like a charm — thanks…Brent
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I can’t believe that worked! thank you so much!
February 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Thanks for this suggestion but it did not work for me. I am happy that it did work for some. I tried this fix and found that the files opened much slower than they did previously and that the Excel files contained no data after the fix; blank pages! I had to do a “system restore” to go back to being able to open my files to see my spread sheets. What actually resolved my “slow open” issue was un-ticking JavaScript in FireFox and also un-ticking “debugging” in IE. I had tried every fix imaginable until I happened upon the browser fix. These settings can be found in the tools menus of each browser. It’s amazing how ones browser can affect Windows programs, even when they are not in use. Whether my solution is an actual fix is debatable but it did the trick for me for the time being.
Hank
WinXP Pro
Office 2007
February 28th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Wow !!! Works great so far.
I’ll hv to check out my other macro loaded file.
Thanks.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Thanks, this lead me in the right direction, but wasn’t the full answer. From the link i learned that Explorer makes a DDE call, and from above that i can check how windows calls a file extension.
In my case it was the DDE-parameter in [point 8] that was the problem, clearing that made it instant. I had some “[DDE]%1″ before
/Y
December 17th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I also tried messing with the file type stuff to no avail. I also tried some of the “Ignore other applications” suggestions in other threads (Tools -> Options -> general Tab in Excel). That made no difference either.
I then tried the disable java script in firefox, and that made no difference. Then I tried turning off debugging in IE. THAT WORKED!!! excel docs (when I double click on them) now open practically instantaneously. I then went back and turned on the javascript in firefox, and the XLS docs still open quickly, so I only needed to turn off the debugging in IE.
I’m running XP home, with Office 2003. (I have NO idea why this made any difference, considering I rarely have IE up and running)
The debugging stuff under IE that I disabled is: Tools -> Internet Options, then under the Advanced tab, uncheck “Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)” and “Disable Script Debugging (Other)” and that was it. Thanks for the tip Hank!
January 11th, 2010 at 9:42 am
How do you do this in Vista?
March 9th, 2010 at 11:25 am
This solved my problem when many other solutions did not. The trick was the quotation marks around %1. Thank you!
December 12th, 2010 at 12:14 am
awesome. many other solutions did not work, but this did. thanks.
April 23rd, 2011 at 1:18 am
I suspect that it is problem with windows explorer.
because if you try to open excel file in sage mode.it opens instantly.
but takes long time throught windows explorer.
it means explorer get corrupted.try to repair the explorer with opearating system Installation CD.
July 25th, 2011 at 3:00 am
Really an excellent solution for this issue where only Explorer is slow to open Office files (while other ways such as Recent Documents work fine).
Thank you!
August 10th, 2011 at 5:39 am
The IE debugging tip worked for me too. Amazing, I’d been looking for an answer to this for months! Thank you so much.
August 12th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
I started experiencing this recent on an XP Pro Office 2003 system.
Interestingly it worked fine the first time after a restart.
In the end I unchecked DDE and followed Hank’s advice (8 above) by adding “%1″ to the end of the &OPEN descriptions for DOC and XLS.
At another website they have tied this to a recent Microsoft patch and recommend: “Uninstall Excel update #KB2541025 then restart.”
Hoping for an easy solution I first tried un-checking “Enable Java Script” in FireFox and un-chekcing “Disable Script Debugging (both IE and Other). Did not solve my problem. And once I un-checked DDE on DOC and XLS I reverted both FireFox and Internet Options (and things continue to run fast).
August 26th, 2011 at 8:30 am
Hi All,
The adding of the “%1″ and uncheck of the use DDE did the trick to open the excel files ‘lightning fast’ again from explorer!
Thanks for the great hint!