Excel app won't open spreadsheets

[OhioGuy59]

I'm using Office 365 on my phone, including the Excel app. The problem I'm having is when I try to open an Excel spreadsheet, the native Samsung app, not the Excel app, opens the spreadsheet. There is an option to open the spreadsheet using Excel (screenshot included) but I can't get Excel to open the spreadsheet automatically. When I go to settings, default apps, it won't let me choose Excel as the default app. What gives here? What do I need to do to fix this? Thanks

 

[puppykickr]

So it will open in Excel, just not automatically?

And have you deleted any defaults for both the Samsung app and Excel?

After that, hopefully when you select the file from your file manager the pop up asking you which app to use will appear.

If not, then your device is not recognizing Excel as an app that is capable to do so- but that does not mean that Excel cannot.

What it does mean is that the developer(s) of Excel need to be made aware of this, so that the app can be updated.

It is the devs responsibility to have the code in the app that will allow devices to know that the app is available to open certain kinds of files.

See if you can contact the dev(s), and give them the make, model, and Android version of the device.
You will also need the version number of the Excel app.
Let the dev(s) know exactly what is going on.

Alternatively, you could look for and find another app that aready does allow your device to see it as an app to open such files.

 

[OhioGuy59]

Thanks for your reply.
I have tried to select Excel as the default app, but for some reason the phone won't let me do that.
Honestly, I don't know which app my phone is using to open the Excel files. I can't find it on the phone. If I could figure that out, I would uninstall it (if possible) so that Excel would have to be the app to open those files.
Also, I have no idea who the Excel dev(s) are. That's above my pay grade. How would I even find that out?
Thanks

 

[Dannydet]

Open the office 365 app, then open the file from there

 

[puppykickr]

Where did you get the app?
There you should find the name of the developer(s) and or the company name.

Many devs now have channels just for this sort of thing on such places as Telegram, or even Facebook.

 

[OhioGuy59]

Open the office 365 app, then open the file from there

That is one option, but it's not the way I want to open the apps. When I click on the file name, it should open automatically using Excel, period. That's how I want it to run. While I understand your suggestion, I have to go through 3 extra steps just to get the file open.
Thanks

Where did you get the app?
There you should find the name of the developer(s) and or the company name.

Many devs now have channels just for this sort of thing on such places as Telegram, or even Facebook.

Where did I get the Excel app? From the Android app store. I'm not sure I understand your question, and with all due respect, it's not helping me get a solution to my problem. Thanks.

 

[mikedt]

On my Samsung Note20 Ultra using the stock Samsung My Files app., it gives a list of apps to open .XLS spreadsheet files. With Excel been the first choice. It surprises me a bit that it doesn't work like this on the S21, especially as these phones come with the Microsoft Office suite pre-installed, as MS has a partnership with Samsung.

If one taps Always then the .XLS files will always open automatically with the app you selected, e.g. Excel.

 

[puppykickr]

Where did I get the Excel app? From the Android app store. I'm not sure I understand your question, and with all due respect, it's not helping me get a solution to my problem. Thanks.

You must contact the developer of the Excel app.
In order to do that, you need to go back to where you got it, and look for that information there.

Is 'The Android App Store' a thing?
I have never heard of that appstore, quite possibly because there is more than one- therefore using the word 'The' in the name of it would be a misnomer.

Anyway, I will assume that you are using Google Play Store.
I do not use that appstore for various reasons.

But I will attempt to find it online, without the horrid app called Google Play Store.

So there is the contact information for the developer.
(Bottom right.)

Good luck with that, as most developers for apps like this seem to ignore most users, but you may be the exception.

You will need to provide the make, model, and Android version of your device, along with the version number of the Excel app.

Tell them exactly what your issue is, as you did here.

To be honest, if you can find an app to do this function from F-Droid, you would be much better off.
Even if you had the same issue, the vast majority of developers associated with F-Droid are much more responsive and helpful than those on the Play Store.

 

[Dannydet]

Native Samsung app?
You'll need to go into settings, apps, and disable the native Samsung app, which is overriding any other app to open it.
Then you should be able to click on the file, and choose the Excel app, always open option.

 

[OhioGuy59]

On my Samsung Note20 Ultra using the stock Samsung My Files app., it gives a list of apps to open .XLS spreadsheet files. With Excel been the first choice. It surprises me a bit that it doesn't work like this on the S21, especially as these phones come with the Microsoft Office suite pre-installed, as MS has a partnership with Samsung.

If one taps Always then the .XLS files will always open automatically with the app you selected, e.g. Excel.
View attachment 158853

Everything you said makes sense but for some reason I'm still not getting the options you're seeing. I'm trying to do a few things on my phone but I'm getting nowhere. Thanks for your input.

You must contact the developer of the Excel app.
In order to do that, you need to go back to where you got it, and look for that information there.

Is 'The Android App Store' a thing?
I have never heard of that appstore, quite possibly because there is more than one- therefore using the word 'The' in the name of it would be a misnomer.

Anyway, I will assume that you are using Google Play Store.
I do not use that appstore for various reasons.

But I will attempt to find it online, without the horrid app called Google Play Store.

View attachment 158854

So there is the contact information for the developer.
(Bottom right.)

Good luck with that, as most developers for apps like this seem to ignore most users, but you may be the exception.

You will need to provide the make, model, and Android version of your device, along with the version number of the Excel app.

Tell them exactly what your issue is, as you did here.

To be honest, if you can find an app to do this function from F-Droid, you would be much better off.
Even if you had the same issue, the vast majority of developers associated with F-Droid are much more responsive and helpful than those on the Play Store.

Thanks. I didn't respond earlier because I never got an email notification of your response. Yes, I meant Google Play Store. Being a Samsung phone, obviously I'm using Google Play. I appreciate your detailed response.

 

[mikedt]

Thanks. I didn't respond earlier because I never got an email notification of your response. Yes, I meant Google Play Store. Being a Samsung phone, obviously I'm using Google Play. I appreciate your detailed response.

I still don't know what you mean by "native Samsung app". Because my Galaxy Note20 Ultra actually came with MS Office pre-installed, and Excel is the default app for opening .XLS files on my phone. And it also syncs with my Office365 online account.

I wonder if Microsoft didn't partner with Samsung for the Galaxy S21 Ultra?

 

[OhioGuy59]

My phone is the Galaxy S21 5G, not the Ultra. From what I've seen, that doesn't make a difference in this case but I wanted to confirm that.
I've been told that my phone did come with MS Office pre-installed, as you said. Both Samsung and Sprint, my provider, have told me that.
Oddly, Samsung has provided very little help to me. Sprint was better but the problem is still there.
When I open my Excel files, the app that opens them is pretty crappy looking. The files don't open correctly, the layout is hard to follow, and what is normally a 3 or 4 page spreadsheet will be spread out over 15-20 pages. Really strange.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, at the bottom of the screen is an option to open the file with Excel, which opens it properly when I click on that option. I'm just trying to bypass that option and have the file open directly with Excel. Is that too much to ask? (I'm asking Sprint that question, not you).
What sounded like a good option was what Sprint told me to do...reset all my settings. Of course that didn't work either and it created more work for me cause I had to re-do a few settings, BUT I was willing to take the time to go through it.
So, I'm still at square one and I'm about to give up. I believe there is a way to fix this but I have more important things to do.
Thanks again.

 

[kate]

Honestly, I don't know which app my phone is using to open the Excel files.

Bring up your scrollable list of recently used apps, the app that opens your Excel files should have its name or icon at the top of the app.

Then delete that apps default setting to open excel files:
https://www.samsung.com/my/support/mobile-devices/how-to-change-default-navigation-app/

That's for navigation but the process is the same. With the default open setting removed open an Excel file and see if it asks you which app to open it with.

 

[OhioGuy59]

Bring up your scrollable list of recently used apps, the app that opens your Excel files should have its name or icon at the top of the app.

Then delete that apps default setting to open excel files:
https://www.samsung.com/my/support/mobile-devices/how-to-change-default-navigation-app/

That's for navigation but the process is the same. With the default open setting removed open an Excel file and see if it asks you which app to open it with.

Good answer but it still isn't working. When I brought up the list of recently used apps, the app name (whatever it is) wasn't even on the list. I'm giving up on this. Something is obviously screwed up here and it can't be fixed. Thanks.

 

[mikedt]

Good answer but it still isn't working. When I brought up the list of recently used apps, the app name (whatever it is) wasn't even on the list. I'm giving up on this. Something is obviously screwed up here and it can't be fixed. Thanks.

Your Note20 was supplied by Sprint? Maybe Sprint modified and customized it, and they've put some of their own things on it? Which is what I've read about US carrier version phones. Quite frankly it doesn't sound like how it should be working. Where I am(China) there's only one variant of the Note20 and Note20 Ultra.

 

[kate]

When I brought up the list of recently used apps, the app name (whatever it is) wasn't even on the list.

App name or it's icon should be shown. This is an image I found online of Samsungs recently used apps list:

Does it show an icon for that app? If it does you can scroll through your installed apps and find that icon.

 

[OhioGuy59]

App name or it's icon should be shown. This is an image I found online of Samsungs recently used apps list:
View attachment 158887

Does it show an icon for that app? If it does you can scroll through your installed apps and find that icon.

Nope, it doesn't show anything.

 

[OhioGuy59]

Your Note20 was supplied by Sprint? Maybe Sprint modified and customized it, and they've put some of their own things on it? Which is what I've read about US carrier version phones. Quite frankly it doesn't sound like how it should be working. Where I am(China) there's only one variant of the Note20 and Note20 Ultra.

S21, not Note.
Yes, it was provided by Sprint. Your answer makes sense. It seems they put their own stuff on the phone and I can't remove it.

 

[stevetaz]

Could Office have been auto disabled by the system? Settings > Apps > Scroll down to Office. Should be ablee to set as default from that scrren. If not, no idea what happened.

 

[AlexFox97]

I also had such a problem. I noticed that in general, all Microsoft products do not work particularly well on smartphones. Maybe the problem is that you are using an un-purchased version? Personally, I downloaded the hacked version from microsoft office professional plus 2021 product key and maybe you downloaded your version of the program from an unverified site? then an incorrect repack of the application may cause crashes. Until I found a good key, I had it. Therefore, be careful and choose only proven sites. It is best to buy original applications on the official website.