Office/Excel issues-possible fix (Technical)

I recently ran in to a problem with a computer that would not open excel documents correctly without giving an error. Then after the error was closed, the document was completely blank. Unless I opened Excel first and then opened the document... very strange.

Searching Microsoft's support was pointless, as well the many "fix it for me" links they provide.. a complete waste of time.   

Thankfully there are courageous people out there that aren't afraid to dig in and do some registry work and/or services and other issues that all correspond with Office products and this is what I found ended up working for me, thanks to IPX Dave!

Go into Excel Options > Advanced > General

Untick the box next to "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)"

Then Go into Excel Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > External Content

Enable both

Then Excel Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Options

Enable all macros, trust the VBA object

Then Excel Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > ActiveX Settings

Set to Enable or Prompt

Then Excel Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options

Untick the box next to "Check Microsoft Office Documents that are from or link to suspicious websites."

Sometimes it just takes a little research to find the right solutions! Hopefully postings like this will help spread the good word and good work!