# Apparent Problem with DDE and Excel



## miles120 (Feb 23, 2009)

Hello,

My client is experiencing the common problem of not being able to open an Excel file by double-clicking it. If Excel is already started and a file has been previously opened, everything works fine.

This is an XP Pro workstation with SP3. Microsoft Office XP has SP2 installed. These are the suggested resolutions I've already tried:

1. Clean out the OutlookSecureTempFolder location and check its security settings;
2. Unregister Excel and register it again;
3. Uninstall and re-install office;
4. Change the DDE settings in the File Types dialog;
5. Confirm that the "Ignore other applications" box is unchecked in Tools/Options...

Any suggestions would be appreciated. This problem is local to the profile; other accounts on the workstation are not affected, and file location is not a factor.

Thanks again.


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## asidman (Nov 28, 2008)

Without going into all sorts of detailed solutions, if it is a problem with that user profile, why not try this:
1) Backup all the files and Settings using "File and settings transfer wizard (FSTW)" but choose to manually backup to a flash drive
2) Same as above, but just the files, not settings to a separate folder on the flash (you will see why soon)
NOTE: Backup any other files not in My Documents or the Desktop. FSTW only backs these up. If you use a mail application import the mail folder as well
3) Create a new profile and import the files & settings in with the FSTW.
4) If the problem still occurs, then we can safely say it is the user settings for that profile. Delete this profile in User accounts in the control panel and delete the applicable folder in C:\documents and settings\. Repeat step 3 but with the separate folder with files only.

This will basically create a fresh profile without any corrupted settings. If this works, delete the old profile as above in step 4


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