Where does Excel store program/config files on the computer?

**GRose85** · 08-12-2008, 01:05 PM

I do in-house desktop support for a company, and have been upgrading users in the building from Office 2003 Professional to Office 2007 Enterprise (Dell OptiPlex machines running Windows XP). Two users are having a problem where workbooks do not open immediately - Excel opens, but no workbook is displayed. In order to get the workbook to show up, the users have to click some button on the Excel ribbon - though the exact button required is not the same for both users. I've tried un-installing the Office suite and then re-installing, but have had no success.

I'm thinking there may be a corrupt program file somewhere on the computer, but I don't know where it would be. We had a similar problem recently with users who were unable to open Word documents without opening the program first and then using the Open menu. This was fixed by rebuilding the user's Windows profile, where there are apparently some MS Office files stored in C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data. This fix did not work for Excel, however, so I'm wondering if there are some other mystery files hidden away on the computer somewhere that need to be deleted for Excel to reinstall properly. If anyone has any info about this, I'd sure like to hear it. Thanks!

**Richard Schollar** · 08-12-2008, 01:51 PM

Hi

In xl2003 I would advise checking Tools>Options>General tab and making sure "Ignore other applications" was unchecked. Now, in xl2007 this option does still exist but it is described slightly differently: go Office button>Excel Options>Advanced button>scroll down until General section and make sure "Ignore other applications that use DDE" is unchecked.

Richard