Excel for Mac will not open (pop-up "to open this type of file, Excel needs to convert it using an online service""

[tommulloy]

MS Excel user for years, but decided to go to a Mac last year. I've been using Mac's free spreadsheet app (Numbers). While it works, I miss the Excel's advanced features and ease of use, so I purchased Office 2016 Home & Student for Mac last week. Excel worked last night, but when I tried opening it this morning (just the program, no file) this pop-up appeared: "To open this type of file, Excel needs to convert it using an online service." Two choices, "don't allow" and "allow" Clicking don't allow does nothing, other than opening the exact same window. Clicking "allow" opens a window that tries to convert the file, resulting in a "can't open file" window ("something went wrong and your file cannot be opened. Please try again.)". Clicking okay starts the conversion again, with the same result. If I "x" out while the conversion is running Excel opens a file containing gibberish. The gibberish file won't close, so I have to click on the "apple" in top, left corner of the screen, then "force quit".

Sorry for the lengthy post and if I posted it in the wrong place. A search on Mr.Excel.com "Excel for Mac" didn't return anything helpful. In lieu of calling Microsoft, I thought I'd try this forum to see if anyone can provide a quick solution.

Thanks. Tom

 

[tommulloy]

UPDATE: Called Microsoft and learned that Excel was corrupted (Word worked okay). Tech uninstalled and successfully reinstalled Office for Mac.
Disappointed that Apple Numbers worked flawlessly for 8 months, yet Excel blew up in less than a week. Oh well, I'm just happy that Excel is up and running. tm