Office 97 works well on Windows 10. The shortcut to EXCEL is configured with Compatibility > Settings > Run this program as an administrator set. You do not need to set Compatibility mode.

While Excel itself works fine, when I double-click any .XLS file in Windows Explorer, the Excel application is launched with an empty screen (or sometimes with a new, empty workbook). The .XLS file is NOT loaded.

There are two workarounds:

WORKAROUND 1: Open the file manually from within Excel. This is what I do for most spreadsheets and its not a major chore.

WORKAROUND 2: This only works for spreadsheets you open regularly.

• Create a shortcut to the spreadsheet
• Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties from the context menu
• Leave "Start in" pointing to the folder where the .XLS resides
• Change "Target" to "" "\"
• Example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office\EXCEL.EXE" "C:\Important\MyContacts.xls"

Is there any way to resolve this issue?

11

1 Answer

The solution is two-fold:

1) Install office outside the %ProgramFiles% or %ProgramFiles(x86)% folders. For example: C:\Apps\Office.

2) Don't run Excel in Administrator Mode (see below)

• Navigate to the installation folder for Excel (eg. C:\Apps\Office)
• Right-click excel.exe, then Properties
• On the Compatibility tab, untick Run this program in comptability mode and Run this program as administrator

Now Office 97 works fine.

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