However, sometimes Excel may show a blank document when you open a spreadsheet.

This may happen if theres something wrong with Excel prefs or if youre trying to open a corrupted spreadsheet.

Either way, the solutions below will help you fix the problem.

Excel file properties

This way, you avoid troubleshooting a problem that doesnt exist.

Open another spreadsheet and see if Excel works as usual.

In this case, you should re-download the file or ask the file owner to check the Excel file.

Unhide Excel sheets

If the file works fine for other people, take a look at its properties.

Right-poke the spreadsheet and selectProperties.

In theGeneraltab, peek if the file is set to open with Excel.

Excel add-ins

If not, clickChangeand choose Microsoft Excel from the list.

So if Excel displays a blank document, unhiding its sheets might fix the problem.

kick off the problematic Excel file and clickMinimizefrom the windows top-right corner.

Microsoft Excel settings.

Then, wait a few seconds and nudge the Excel icon on your taskbar to re-initiate the file.

Disable Add-Ins

Until now, weve tried to fix the blank Excel files issue without changing Excel controls.

But if nothing worked, its time we move on to more complicated solutions.

Ignore DDE in Excel

However, a corrupt or outdated add-in might stop Excel from showing a docs content.

In this case, you should turn off Excel add-ins.

In reality, it doesnt make a big difference, and it usually affects Excel’s overall performance.

update now option in Excel

IfExcel is often freezing or crashing, you should turn off hardware acceleration.

To prevent it, you should disable DDE for other apps.

In Excel, go toFile > Options > Advanced.

Repair Microsoft Office.

There, head toGeneral,uncheckIgnore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE),and clickOK.

While Excel should update itself automatically, you’ve got the option to manually install any pending updates.

To do so, launch Excel and go toFile > Account.

Then, click onUpdate Optionsand selectUpdate Now.

Fix Blank Spreadsheets

Hopefully, these solutions have helped in making your Excel spreadsheets visible again.

Usually, when this happens, youre dealing with an incomplete download or incorrect file format.

With Excel working again, it’s possible for you to learn about how to organize your spreadsheets efficiently.