I installed Office 2013 (365 subscription-based) on a Windows 8 computer that had Office 2010 installed previously. After the install I also uninstalled the old version. Everything runs perfectly well except Excel, which on running (both normal and safe mode) delivers an error: "We're sorry, but Excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Excel will need to be closed as a result.".

The options presented (except close) are to repair it (online or offline). I tried both repair options, none worked. 

Last step: I uninstalled completely the Office 365 and re-installed it again from office.com/setup. Same final result.

The only possibility now to use Excel is through web apps, which is pretty limited. Please, any solution other then re-installing the entire Windows from scratch?!

Thanks!

Hi,

Then start Windows in clean boot to check whether the issue is caused by some third party services.

Thanks for the quick reply, I just tried that... Excel would not start at all in that moment... is there a service that I should allow it to run? I disabled all of them for the clean boot. 

I found the issue: the excel.exe was configured to run in compatibility mode for windows 7... I have windows 8. In order to correct it: excel.exe -> right click -> properties -> compatibility -> make sure the "run this program in compatibility mode for" is unchecked if you have windows 8 installed. :)

• Marked as answer by Jaynet ZhangMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, July 09, 2013 9:46 AM

I found the issue: the excel.exe was configured to run in compatibility mode for windows 7... I have windows 8. In order to correct it: excel.exe -> right click -> properties -> compatibility -> make sure the "run this program in compatibility mode for" is unchecked if you have windows 8 installed. :)

• Marked as answer by Jaynet ZhangMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, July 09, 2013 9:46 AM

I found the issue: the excel.exe was configured to run in compatibility mode for windows 7... I have windows 8. In order to correct it: excel.exe -> right click -> properties -> compatibility -> make sure the "run this program in compatibility mode for" is unchecked if you have windows 8 installed. :)

• Marked as answer by Jaynet ZhangMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, July 09, 2013 9:46 AM

Do you have bins (http://www.1upindustries.com/bins) installed? If yes, uninstall it... I know it sounds stupid, but it seems there is an incompatibility with it.

Nope.

You are the best! I wasted TONS of time this weekend uninstalling/reinstalling Office, messing with video drivers (apparently some NVidea graphics drivers can cause issues w/Excel), etc. Not sure how my compatibility setting got changed in the first place, but bottom line is, your fix did it!

Thanks very much, GREATLY appreciated!

I had similar issues but due to some reasons 'compatibility' tab was non-existent in my properties tab. I thus did the following-  Right Click on Excel.exe-->Trouble Shoot Compatibility-->Troubleshoot Program-->Check the program worked in earlier version-->Check windows 8-->test it--->(if it works, you are done!). Uptil, my excel seems to be working fine.

When I right click properties, there is no option of 'compatibility'. I am now on Windows 10.

Ran in to the same thing on my desktop, however my laptop does have the compatibility option. Both are on Windows 10. Checking the Window 7 compatibility option on my laptop produces the same error that appears on the desktop, so unchecking that option is the fix. Why don't I have that option on my desktop?!

I had a user that put Windows 10 on her PC and once she installed Office 13 / 365 she ran into the same issue.

The above mentioned solution worked for her as well on windows 10.

Thanks

Nathan