Excel 2016 states .xls files are corrupt

[TAPtech]

I haven't run into this one before:

Have a new Lenovo X1 Yoga with Win10 Pro deployed at a clients site. They have Office 2016 Desktop installed via O365 subscription. When opening spreadsheets in Excel, if they are in the .xls format, a window pops up stating that the document is corrupt. It is able to "recover" some of the document but the majority of it is gone. The same file opens up fine on other systems with the same software. If I convert the .xls file to a .xlsx, then the offending computer will open it up just fine.

Steps I've tried:
-Online repair of Office.
-Disable any COM Add-ins (there were none though)
-Updated drivers using Lenovo utility
-Went to trust center and disabled all the options for protected view
-Windows i up to date with patches

Not sure what to try next.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Replace RAM memory for kicks???

 

[FremontPC]

Was that a Win10 upgrade (from 8.1, etc)? I wonder if the antivirus is stepping on something.

Is it any different if you use the File.... Open function and specify .XLS?

 

[TAPtech]

RAM is soldered onboard and there are no other signs of memory issues. Doesn't matter if I double click the file from the network location, drag it onto the desktop and open, or open from File->Open.

 

[Kirby]

This is apparently a common program. I found a couple of possible solutions to the problem. One is to disable Protected Mode:

1. Open Excel 2016. Click on File > Options.

2. On the side tab click on Trust Center > click on Trust Center Settings which is in the right window.

3. It opens a new window Trust Center.

4. Click on Protected View on the left side panel.

5. Uncheck all the three options:

1. Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet.
   
   
2. Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.
   
   
3. Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.
   
   
4. Click Ok and Ok again.

The other is on a file-by-file basis:

I experienced this issue on Windows 10 after downloading an attached excel file from Outlook.

The solution I found was to right click the excel file > Properties and to unblock the file first. Rather than disabling any of the trust settings in Excel.

This allowed me to open it in Excel.

Those second instructions don't seem really clear, but it's a place to start.

 

[TAPtech]

Thank you for the reply. I've already tried those steps, to no avail.

Apparently this is happening on another ThinkPad laptop as well, a T450. I've tried it on a Lenovo TINY and it opens up just fine! It's very odd. All of these machines are Win10 Pro and up to date, latest drivers, and latest Office 2016 installed. Same LAN.

 

[TAPtech]

So I lied about up to date drivers. The X1 Yoga had a new WiFi driver, about a week old. Installed that, rebooted, and it works! I'll check in with the T450 on Monday when it is available.

 

[HCHTech]

The X1 Yoga had a new WiFi driver

Well, that was unexpected. I'd say "I hate Office 2016" because of all of the various issues, but then I add up the revenue fixing or attempting to fix them all has brought me and have to rethink. I guess "I love Office 2016" would be more appropriate. I'll add "except for my own machines - Office 2013 for them - definitely Office 2013.