How to fix Excel 2016 Opening Blank Workbook Issue
Summary: One of the most commonly encountered errors in Microsoft Excel is the “blank workbook” error. After saving a completed workbook one day, you might open it the next day to find Excel is taking you to a blank workbook in its place. Read this blog to under what causes such behavior. Also, find solutions on ‘how to fix Excel 2016 opening blank workbook?’ issue. You can also use an Excel file repair tool to quickly restore your Excel workbook with complete data.
Microsoft Excel workbooks are a favourite among home and professional users since they offer the chance to save a lot of information in an organized manner within the same file. However, if an Excel worksheet becomes too stuffed with different kinds of data (like numbers, characters, formulae, charts, macros, etc.) it can become prone to damage and corruption.


Not being able to access saved Excel workbooks can be a big problem, especially if such workbooks contain critical information. One particular error where users cannot access their workbook data is the error with Excel opening blank workbook/spreadsheet. Although it may sound scary, the error can be caused by something as simple as a messed up Excel ‘Preferences’ setting or something more complicated like underlying corruption in the workbook. Regardless of what sparks it, you can fix it easily with a few simple tricks.
Solving the “Excel 2016 open blank workbook” issue
Here are the different solutions you can try out to fix the “Excel 2016 opening blank” issue. Move to the next solution if the previous one doesn’t work:
Solution 1: Uncheck the “Ignore DDE” option
When a user double-clicks an Excel workbook in Windows, a dynamic data exchange (DDE) message is sent to the Excel application to instruct it to open that workbook. If by mistake this DDE message is set to be “ignored” by Excel, the workbook you wish to open will not open on double-clicking. So check the value of this setting and uncheck the “ignore DDE” option as follows:
- In Microsoft Excel click on File -> Options



- Click on “Advanced” and then locate the General section


- Uncheck the box next to “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)”


- Click on OK
Solution 2: Disable hardware graphics acceleration for MS Excel Workbooks
If the graphics card of your computer is misbehaving due to messed up hardware acceleration, this can cause Excel workbooks to demonstrate unanticipated symptoms, especially if you are using graphics (like advanced charts) in your Excel sheets. To fix this, turn off hardware acceleration for MS Excel as follows:
- In Microsoft Excel click on File -> Options



- Click on Advanced and then locate the Display section


- Check the box next to “Disable hardware graphics acceleration”


- Click “OK”
Solution 3: Reset Excel workbook file associations
Verify if the file associations in the system are performing correctly and reset the ones pertaining to Excel to their default settings. To do this:
- Open Control Panel and go to Default Programs
- For Windows 10
- Click on the “Reset” button on the bottom right side
- For Windows 8
- Click on “Set your default programs”
- Select Excel and click “Choose default for this program”
- In the Set Program Associations window, click on “Select All” and click the Save button
- For Windows Vista &7
- Click on “Set your default programs”
- Select Excel in the Programs list and then click on “Choose defaults for this program” option at the bottom
- In the Set Program Associations window, click on “Select All” and click the Save button
- For Windows 10
Solution 4: Repair MS Office installation
If the above tricks aren’t successful in resolving the issue, your MS Office installation might be damaged. In this case, repair it using the following steps:
- Open the Control Panel in Windows
- Click on the “Programs and Features” option
- Select “Microsoft Office” in the programs list and then click the “Repair” option
- If prompted, click on “Continue”
Note: This process can take a little time to complete. Do not interrupt it before it is completed.
Also read: Excel AutoRecover not Working, What is Next?
Solution 5: Repair Blank Excel Workbook with Excel Repair Software
In case the “Excel 2016 opening blank” issue still exists, the Excel workbook you’re trying to open might be severely damaged. In this case, repair the Excel workbook using reliable and competent software Stellar Repair for Excel. This advanced application makes for the best strategy to find and fix nasty Excel errors and restore all tables, charts, cell comments, images, formulas, sorts, and filters from it to a new working Excel workbook file. Free download the tool’s demo version to scan and preview recoverable data from the file.
Conclusion
Even the most popular software applications can experience occasional errors, but that doesn’t mean you need to stop working. Fix such errors with easy manual techniques if possible, and if they don’t help, place your trust in competent automated products to save the day & data from corrupt excel blank workbook.
Hi Priyanka
Excel 2013 opens blank workbook when opening file
Hi Satya,
The above methods will also work on MS Excel 2013. Try to fix it and let me know if you have any queries.
I have Office 2016 installed on four Windows 10 machines with only one having this issue. Option 4, doing the Internet-Repair did the trick (although I had to re-enter my license key and activate. Runs great. Thank you. Was sick of the blank Excel worksheet after double clicking on a known good .xlsx file. I had been able to open the worksheet by clicking File and then selecting a Recent file. But that was getting old fast. Thank you very much!!!
Thanks for sharing your feedback
The solution for me was to Unhide the workbook…
go to View tab , then under the Window group, click Unhide.
I’ve also seen comments of people having success by viewing the file in full screen, then exiting full screen and Excel kind of crashes and restarts itself.
Hi @Scott Rypstra, God bless you a thousand fold. You saved a soul. Thanks.
I work with the Big 4, and I have spent all day working on this document, only for it to crash just at the end. I simply followed the instruction, and that resolved it all.
Once again, thanks.
I solved this problem in a different way. After nothing above worked, I cloned my hard drive and starting digging through the registry.
I verified the DDE box was cleared but I found a registry entry under:
hkey_classes_root\excel.sheet.12\shell\open\command
Under Command there were TWO keys,
One was called (default) with the value: “”C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE” %1″ this one was correct.
The other was called command. The value under this was “xb’BV5!!!!!!!!!MKKSkEXCELFiles>VijqBof(Y8’w!FId1gLQ /dde” I changed the /dde to %1 and excel opened with no issue.
This value wasn’t on two other computers I checked but I left it there just in case it was needed.
Thanks for your valuable contribution!
I’m using Microsoft Office 2016 when I double clicked on xlsx (Excel) file. It always opens a blank workbook. To fix this issue, I have tried methods like Uncheck Ignore DDE, Reset excel workbook file associations, Repair MS Office. After applying all these methods, nothing happened.
Then I use competent software Stellar Repair for Excel and easily open excel file.
Thank you for sharing your experience as it help others to use Stellar software.
To know more about Excel errors visit Excel blog:
https://www.stellarinfo.com/blog/category/file-repair/
I have saved 500 client record in excel file like address, phone no, GST no and many more fields. But when I double clicked on the Excel icon it shows a blank workbook. I tried all manual methods for fixing this issue but still facing the same issue. Please suggest the solution.
Solution 4 worked for me, using a Quick Repair option! Thanks for this info.
Great!
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I have saved all customer data like customer phone number, email id, name, address & other fields in MS Excel 2016. But today when I opened this file it shows an error message “blank workbook”.
I’m so worried about my data. I have not taken backup also. Now, how I can recover my customer data in Excel 2016.
Please help..
Run a free demo of Stellar Excel Repair.
Now, it is working again!
My excel workbook was better under Windows XP. I always miss the old days of Windows XP era.
Like you, millions of customer still miss the era of Windows XP.