Excel files opening in Notepad [Fix]

When you discover that your Excel files are opening in Notepad, then learn this submit to discover ways to repair the difficulty. The default habits of a doc or file is to open in the applying with which it has been created. Nonetheless, just a few customers have been experiencing points opening Excel files on their Home windows 11/10 PC. Once they attempt to open such a file (.csv, .xlsx, .xlx, and many others.), it opens in Notepad as a substitute of opening in Microsoft Excel.

This occurs when the file affiliation has been corrupted or the consumer doesn’t have Microsoft Excel put in on his pc. This additionally occurs when Excel is just not set because the default program for these file sorts. Below these circumstances, Home windows tries to open the file with its personal built-in options. These options usually are not in a position to learn or show the content material of the file, and therefore go away the customers with some gibberish textual content, which they don’t perceive.

Repair Excel files opening in Notepad

If Excel files are opening in Notepad in your Home windows 11/10 PC, use these options to repair the difficulty:

1. Examine the file extension.
2. Use the Open With possibility.
3. Select a default software for Excel file sort.

Allow us to see these in element.

1] Examine the file extension

Examine the file extension to ensure the file you’re attempting to open is a kind of Excel file. Typically whereas renaming files we unintentionally mess up with the file title extensions. Taking this under consideration, if you happen to’ve mistakenly modified csv to css, Home windows could use Notepad to learn the file.

Whenever you attempt to open an Excel file, be sure that the file’s icon matches the file sort. If it doesn’t, allow the File title extension possibility in File Explorer and test the extension of the file. It ought to belong to the Excel household and must be one thing like .xls, .xlsx, .csv, and many others.

1. Press the Win+E keys to open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the folder the place the file is positioned.
3. Click on on the View menu on prime of the File Explorer window.
4. Choose Present > File title extensions.
5. Examine if the extension of the file is spelled accurately and is preceded by a ‘dot’ image. If not, rename the file and proper the file extension.
6. Now double-click to open the file and see if the difficulty is mounted.

Learn: How you can Set or Change File Associations & Extensions in Home windows 11

2] Use the Open With possibility

One other try you can also make to open the file in Excel when Notepad is attempting to learn it’s to make use of the Open With possibility. This feature means that you can open a file utilizing a desired software.

Navigate to the file in File Explorer and right-click on it. Click on on the Open With possibility. A window will seem.

Choose Excel from the checklist of applications that seems. If Excel is just not listed there, click on on the Select one other app possibility. Then choose Excel from the checklist of apps that seems.

When you nonetheless don’t see Excel, click on on the Select an app in your PC hyperlink on the backside and navigate to the situation the place Excel is put in (by default, it must be put in at C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficerootOffice16, although it could differ relying on the model of Workplace or Excel put in on or PC). Choose EXCEL.exe and click on on the Open button.

Click on on the All the time button to ensure the chosen file sort will at all times open with Excel.

Learn: How you can change File Sort on Home windows 11

3] Select a default software for Excel file sort

Home windows permits us to decide on a default software to open particular file sorts. For instance, we could select to open a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat or in Microsoft Edge – it’s as much as us. The identical applies to Excel file sorts. If Excel is just not set because the default software to open the Excel file sorts (.xls, .xlm, .cvs, and many others.), the file could open in one other software.

1. Press Win+I key combos to open Home windows Settings.
2. Click on on Apps in the left panel.
3. Then click on on Default apps in the proper panel.
4. On the Default apps screens, sort the extension title of the problematic file in the search bar on prime and press the Enter key. The applying related to the file sort will present on prime.
5. Click on on the applying to see an inventory of all supported functions to open the file sort with.
6. Choose Excel from the checklist. When you can’t discover Excel in the checklist, add it from this system’s set up listing, as defined above.
7. Click on on the Set default button.
8. Now shut the Settings window and take a look at opening the file once more. The difficulty ought to have been resolved.

Learn: How you can reset all Apps and File Associations to default in Home windows

NOTE: The next file extensions are usually set because the default for Excel in Home windows:

csv, dqy, iqy, odc, ods, oqy, rqy, slk, xla, xlam, xlk, xll, xlm, xls, xlsb, xlshtml, xlsm, xlsx, xlt, hlthtml, xltm, xltx, xlw.

TIP: When you discover that you just can’t open a specific file sort, then our File Affiliation Fixer could possibly simply aid you repair, restore and restore the damaged file associations.

Why are my Excel files opening in Notepad?

Excel comes as a part of the Microsoft Office suite and needs to be installed externally on a Windows PC. If a user has not installed Office or Excel on his computer or has uninstalled it for any reason – or if the file extensions have become corrupted, Windows will read the Excel files using Notepad. This is because all Excel files are essentially text documents and Notepad is Windows built-in text viewer app.

Read: Virus has changed all file extensions

How do I change the default from Notepad to Excel?

Click on the Start menu icon and go to Settings > Apps > Default apps. Type ‘notepad’ in the Search apps search bar (the second search bar on the screen). Notepad will show on top. Click on it. On the next screen, look for the file extension for which you want to change the default from Notepad to Excel. Click on the Notepad option for that extension and change the default app to Excel.

Learn Subsequent: Excel not opening on Home windows pc.