error while opening excel

Question

error while opening excel

Mohammad Mohsin Magray 0

we are sorry, but excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctl. excel will need to be closed as a result. would you like to repair now

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Run an Online Repair of Microsoft 365 or Office rather than relying only on the Repair Now button in the Excel error dialog.

1. Repair Microsoft 365 or Office

Close Excel and all other Office applications.

Windows 11: Right-click Start → Installed apps.
Windows 10: Right-click Start → Apps and Features.
Find Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office.
Select the three dots if shown, and then select Modify.
For the common Click-to-Run installation, select Online Repair → Repair.
If the installer instead displays an MSI-based repair screen, select Repair → Continue.
Complete the process, restart Windows if requested, and open Excel again.

Online Repair repairs the entire Office suite, even when only Excel is affected. It is more comprehensive than Quick Repair, which only detects and replaces corrupted files.^1^

2. If Excel still fails, test Safe Mode

Press Windows key + R.
Enter:

excel /safe

Select OK.

Safe Mode bypasses Excel and most COM add-ins, startup folders, and customized settings.^2^

If Excel opens successfully:

Select File → Options → Add-ins.
At the bottom, set Manage to COM Add-ins, then select Go.
Clear every checkbox and select OK.
Close Excel and open it normally.
If it now works, enable the add-ins one at a time, restarting Excel after each one, to identify the conflicting add-in.

If disabling COM add-ins does not help, repeat the process with Excel Add-ins selected in the Manage list.

3. If repair and Safe Mode both fail

Uninstall and reinstall Microsoft 365 or Office. Microsoft recommends its uninstall troubleshooter for Microsoft 365 and Office 2021, 2019, or 2016; it must be run on the affected Windows 10 or later computer. The troubleshooter currently cannot uninstall Office 2024.[^3^](https://support.microsoft.com/office/-something-went-wrong-error-when-you-try-to-start-a-microsoft-365-app-4b4471dd-cf86-4a37-910d-35a01a6c7d17#windows-10 ""Something went wrong" error when you try to start a Microsoft 365 app")

After removal:

Restart the computer.
Sign in to the Microsoft account associated with the Office purchase or Microsoft 365 subscription.
Reinstall the appropriate Office edition.
Open Excel before reinstalling any optional add-ins.

If Excel still fails after a clean reinstall, note whether Word or PowerPoint also displays the same error, along with the Windows and Office versions. That distinction determines whether further troubleshooting should focus on the entire Office installation or Excel-specific startup components.

References

Answer 2

Hi, this seems to be an ongoing bug with the Office apps for a couple of days which may be caused by an update, there are many people reporting this problem.

1

The 'Repair Now' button on that error popup dialog only performs a quick repair of the Office apps and that rarely resolves the problem with the Office apps, the best option is to perform a full online repair of your Office installation.

Before performing this process to ensure you do not loose the Office installation during the repair, please log into your Microsoft account on this link (https://account.microsoft.com/services/) and check to ensure your Office licence or Microsoft 365 subscription is listed correctly on your account.

Open the Settings App (gear icon on your Start Menu)

Go to Apps - Installed Apps or Apps and Features

Then, scroll down to find Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365.

Select that and choose Modify - Online Repair

That should fix any issues with your Office Installation.

2

If that does not resolve the problem, are you seeing any notification at the bottom right of your screen indicating Smart App Control security is blocking Office.