Password Protected Excel Spreadsheet opens blank

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Neil - 26 Sep 2007 20:14 GMT

Enter the correct password but the spreadsheet is blank and grey in color,
does not display anything. Opening it in Read Only Mode.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks in advance

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Dave Peterson - 26 Sep 2007 20:37 GMT

Are you sure the workbook is opening?

If you do file|print preview, do you see anything?

If yes, then maybe the viewable area is just off the screen.
Window|arrange|tiled (and resize manually)
(excel 2003 menus)

> Enter the correct password but the spreadsheet is blank and grey in color,
> does not display anything. Opening it in Read Only Mode.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> thanks in advance

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Dave Peterson

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Gord Dibben - 26 Sep 2007 20:44 GMT

Try the usual fix(es) for this problem.

Tools>Options>General uncheck "Ignore other Applications"
Exit Excel and try again

If this doesn't work try to re-register Excel

Close Excel first and On the Windows Taskbar

1) Start>Run "excel.exe /unregserver"(no quotes)>OK.
2) Start>Run "excel.exe /regserver"(no quotes)>OK.

See the space between exe and /regserver

You might have to designate a full path to excel.exe.
In that case Start>Run "C:\yourpath\excel.exe /regserver"(no quotes)>OK.

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

>Enter the correct password but the spreadsheet is blank and grey in color,
>does not display anything. Opening it in Read Only Mode.
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>thanks in advance

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Neil - 27 Sep 2007 04:18 GMT

Gord & Dave,

Thanks for your reply. Actually the file resides on a network share and it
is password protected. I enter the password and it shows at the bottom
opening the file 12345.xls and then it goes into Ready state.

I tried reregistering as per your instructions but still no change. The file
is actually on a NAS (FILE SERVER).

Again I thank you for your help, hope the above information adds some more
insight.

> Try the usual fix(es) for this problem.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> >
> >thanks in advance

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Dave Peterson - 27 Sep 2007 13:51 GMT

And when you did File|Print preview, what happened?

> Gord & Dave,
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> > >
> > >thanks in advance

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Dave Peterson

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Neil - 27 Sep 2007 16:58 GMT

Print option is greyed out, cannot choose it to preview.

> And when you did File|Print preview, what happened?
>
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> > > >
> > > >thanks in advance

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Dave Peterson - 27 Sep 2007 18:27 GMT

Did you try the other suggestion from Gord?

Can you open the file by opening excel first and then File|Open?

You may want to give more details on how you're trying to open the workbook.

> Print option is greyed out, cannot choose it to preview.
>
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> >
> > Dave Peterson

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Dave Peterson

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Neil - 27 Sep 2007 22:54 GMT

I tried opening the spreadsheet directly from the network location. I also
tried opening the spreadsheet by opening Excel on my machine and then
choosing File / Open. It opens and asks for the password. I enter the
password and open it in Read Only mode and it shows it is Opening
filename.xls and then it goes into Ready mode and does not open up the file.
The screen is empty. But, we restored a file from the backup and that opened
properly.

The file size is same as the one which was restored infact little more as
there was data that was entered for the last 2 days. So, I have requested
them to add the 2 days data but as you know administration wants only that
file, which I am not sure what cause the file not to open. But, it might be
corrupt.

Any other solutions?

> Did you try the other suggestion from Gord?
>
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
> > >
> > > Dave Peterson

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Dave Peterson - 27 Sep 2007 23:26 GMT

If the file isn't really opening, then maybe starting excel in safe mode:

close excel
windows start button|Run
excel /safe

And file|open your workbook.

If it works there, then maybe there's a "helpful" macro that is closing the
workbook???

> I tried opening the spreadsheet directly from the network location. I also
> tried opening the spreadsheet by opening Excel on my machine and then
[quoted text clipped - 67 lines]
> >
> > Dave Peterson

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