If you open excel, then use File|Open does it work?

I'm guessing that you're trying to open the file by doubleclicking on it in
windows explorer.

If that's true...

Sometimes one of these works:

Tools|Options|General|Ignore other applications (uncheck it)

--- or ---

Close Excel and
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /unregserver
then
Windows Start Button|Run
excel /regserver

The /unregserver & /regserver stuff resets the windows registry to excel's
factory defaults.

DHrei wrote:

Set save as in Excel 2003 to an older version (97) so others could open it,
now I can't open any .xls files anymore. Always get: 'c:\documents.xls' could
not be found - is it because no matter where I try to open a file it always
looks for 'c:\documents.xls' ?

--

Dave Peterson