Excel opens but not the worksheet!

I am using the Microsoft Office 2003 with the Windows XP (Pro). I mostly use the Excel 2003 in the MS Office. I was working fine with all my Excel documents. Now I am having the strange problem. When I click on shortcut of Excel, the Excel opens but not the Worksheet.!! The area remains black (more like Grey), almost similar when we close out all worksheets but left Excel open. All I have to do is click on "Open" and get the sheets back up that way but this is not helpful when I have to open many sheets. i am finding that clicking on OK every-time is very tedious job. Does anyone know how to fix it..?? Please help me soon.!!

Have you tried to open the Excel File by going into the original folder? The shortcut gets corrupted very soon. I would like to suggest you that check the excel.exe situated in the original file. If that is working properly then you will have to delete the existing shortcut and then put the new shortcut. You can find your original file in the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE" (by default). If you are able to open this .exe file than you don't have to worry about. Just create the new shortcut for the Excel.

Several times the Excel opens but not the worksheet situation occurs when there is already a program of Excel is running. I would like to suggest you to close the Excel application and then get into the Task Manager. In Windows XP you can enter into the Task Manager just by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. Once you enter the task manager, click on the processes tab. Check whether any process of Excel is still running. If there is any process than close that process. You can do this by clicking on that process and then clicking on the End Process button located at the bottom. Now start the Excel application by clicking on the shortcut. Hope that this time it will open the worksheet too.

In Windows Explorer, when you double-click a Microsoft Excel workbook, you may receive the following error message when Excel does not open the file :
"Cannot find the file 'path' (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available".
In this case your Excel may actually open, but the file will not open. A second instance of Excel may start if the Excel is already running. This problem may occur if the Ignore other applications setting in Excel is selected. So uncheck that option and your problem will be solved.

I was having the same problem in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and I was able to isolate the problem. I have followed the steps :

• In Microsoft Office Excel 2003 or earlier versions of Excel click Options, on the Tools menu.
• Then click the General tab.
• Click to clear the Ignore other applications check box, and then click OK.

After doing this settings you should able to open workbooks by double-clicking them in Windows Explorer.

If you are having the Setup CD of MS Office then you can repair your excel application using that CD. Your data will remain safe. You can do this by going to the Add / Remove programs in the Control Panel. Then select the Microsoft Office program and click on the change. After clicking on the change, it will bring up a window with the 3 options. That will be uninstall, repair,...or something else. Select the repair option. It will ask to insert the Setup CD, and you will have to put it now. And the whole application will get repaired.