Are you sure that it's a shortcut to the excel file?

If it's the excel file itself (not a shortcut), you may want to try this:

If you rightclick on that file in windows explorer, do you see Open in bold or
New in bold?

If you see Open in bold, then the first thing I'd try is to reregister excel.

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

Then test it out.

If that doesn't work...

Close excel
start windows explorer
tools|folder options|file types tab
scroll down to the xls extension (microsoft excel worksheet)
click the advanced button
click on the Open item in the Actions box
click set as default
(ok your way out)

==============
You may want to traverse to the folder that holds the actual file and double
check its default action.

==========
If the file is really a template (*.xlt), then open that file and do a File|Save
As and choose a normal workbook.

Pat wrote:

That worked!!! I don't know how it got to be a template except that the guy
who uses this is a computer illeterate and the worksheet is a mess. Is there
a way to make it not a template?

Thanks so much
--
Pat

"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

The file is a template, so the behavior you're seeing is by design.

Open the file with File/Open instead.

In article ,
Pat wrote:

Whe I open a file from a shortcut on the desktop, it opens a copy of the file
with a 1 after the original file name. Is there something I am missing in the
set up? Just as an aside, we are using Execl 2000. All I want to do is open
the original.


--

Dave Peterson