Trying to add Excel to Open With list of program options

[jjefferson]

Windows 7, Office 2010

Recently upgraded from Office 2007 to 2010. We have a number of files on our system that are Excel files, but they do not have the XLS or XLSX extents (a process that makes a backup copy appends a timestamp to the copy when moving, so they are named something like filename.xls_201203021154).

When Office 2007 was installed, from Windows Explorer we could right-click the file, go to Open With, and Excel showed up as one of the options. After the 2010 upgrade, it no longer is provided as one of the options. However, Word 2010 is shown in the list, along with many other things we've installed like Adobe Reader).

I don't know why Excel disappeared from these options. The files open just fine from within Excel's file open dialog. So, at least I have this workaround but I would like to reactivate the convenience of being able to open them from Windows Explorer.

So, is there something I can do get Excel to show up in the list of programs when "Open With" is selected? As you can see, the extent of the file is going to vary on every file so I can't create a file association.

I thought it might be some sort of extra protection that MS was imposing, but Word does show up in the list so not sure what is going on there.

Thanks!

 

[foxup]

Hi,

I believe this can help you:

1. Open the Control Panel (Icons view), and double click on the Default Programs icon.
2. Click on the Associate a file type or protocol with a program link.
3. Under the left Name column, select a file extension type or protocol that you want to change what program will open it by default, then click on the Change Program button.

Let me know !


Thanks,
FOXUP!

 

[jjefferson]

Sorry, Foxup; no dice. I must not have been clear enough in my initial description of the issue.

There is no common file extention. They all end in something like .xls_YYYYMMDDhhmm, and that is going to be different with every single file in the folder. So file association will not work in this case.

What I don't understand is why, when I try to use "open with" for these files, things like Adobe Reader and Word 2010 and other programs show up in the list of available choices? That is where I would like to tell the system to offer me Excel as a choice.

Thanks anyway!

 

[Andrzejek]

I would run a simple program (a macro in Excel maybe...?) to rename my files from:

filename.xls_201203021154
to
filename.xls_201203021154.xlsx

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[jjefferson]

Thanks Andy. This is one of those things (the backup naming convention) that is deeply embedded in a ton of our SSIS processes, and thousands of files have been created. Just not practical to change that now as there is insufficient free time.

Since this used to NOT be a problem in Office 2007 and we didn't have to resort to self-coding, I'm not inclined to take that path now. I'll just continue to start Excel first and open from there, but it will continue to bug me why this changed.

Thanks for the thoughts, though.