The message I get is "Workbook is either deleted or not currently accessible." This happened after I updated Excel on Jan.12/23. When I updated Excel, I did delete the older version. When I bought my new MacBook Air M2 (14.1.2) in fall of 2022, I bought a new Microsoft Office Home and Student 2021 suite. That was the "older" version I updated from. I can create and open new Excel files. Files created before the update will not open.
MacBook Air, macOS 14.1
I suggest you download and install the current LibreOffice Suite (7.6.4). There is a native Apple Silicon installer for M1-M3 Macs. LibreOffice is a clone of MS Office and can open your Excel files that Excel 16.81 resists (for some reason).
Right-click on the problematic Excel spreadsheet and open with LibreOffice. Then Save as… Excel 2007-365 (.xlsx) to a different filename, and then right-click on it and open with Excel.
I just tried to open a Word .doc file created with Word 6 in 1995 and here is what Word 16.81 had to say about that:
And LibreOffice Writer 7.6.4 opened it.
I expect the same behavior from Excel 16.81 for Excel 6 spreadsheets.
I suggest you download and install the current LibreOffice Suite (7.6.4). There is a native Apple Silicon installer for M1-M3 Macs. LibreOffice is a clone of MS Office and can open your Excel files that Excel 16.81 resists (for some reason).
Right-click on the problematic Excel spreadsheet and open with LibreOffice. Then Save as… Excel 2007-365 (.xlsx) to a different filename, and then right-click on it and open with Excel.
I just tried to open a Word .doc file created with Word 6 in 1995 and here is what Word 16.81 had to say about that:
And LibreOffice Writer 7.6.4 opened it.
I expect the same behavior from Excel 16.81 for Excel 6 spreadsheets.
A new version of Excel should always be able to open any older Excel file which is not otherwise damaged in some way. You need to work with Microsoft on this issue.
Old Excel files do not open.
