Cannot Open Unassociated File with Office 95 Programs

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

When you try to open a file with a long filename (LFN) that has no association in an Office 95 program (Word or Microsoft Excel), the program opens but the selected document does not open.

For example, if you try to open a file named "Long File Name.<xxx>," you receive an error message for each name in the LFN. If you try to open the "Long File Name.<xxx>" file, you receive error messages similar to the following:

   Cannot find <path>\Long.xls or <path>\Long.doc
   Cannot find <path>\File.xls or <path>\File.doc
   Cannot find <path>\Name.xls or <path>\Name.doc

Notes

• This problem does not apply to PowerPoint 7.0 or WordPad.
• This problem occurs only with files whose filenames contain spaces.

CAUSE

Office 95 Setup does not modify the registry correctly for Word 7.0 and Microsoft Excel 7.0. This problem applies to both the integrated Office 95 versions and the standalone versions of Word 7.0 and Microsoft Excel 7.0.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, follow these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer.

2. On the View menu, click Options.

3. On the File Types tab, click Microsoft Excel Worksheet in the Registered File Types box, and then click Edit.

4. In the Actions box, click Open, and then click Edit.

5. In the Application Used To Perform Action box, append a space and "%1" (with the quotation marks) to the end of the line. For example, the corrected line might look like:

         C:\MSOffice\Excel\excel.exe "%1"
   

   NOTE: It is important that there be a space before "%1".

6. Click OK, and then click Close twice.

7. Repeat steps 3-7 for Microsoft Word Documents.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel version 7.0 and Microsoft Word version 7.0 for Windows 95. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.