Windows 10 puts you in control of which of your apps act as the default for file types.

The easiest way to fix this:

Press the Windows key/select the Windows Icon in the start bar

Type “Default” – and search should then suggest: “Default Programs”, select it

Wait for the applet to start and then select the “Set your default programs” choice

Find Excel 2016 in the list, select it, and then select “->Set this program as default”

Excel will now open your workbook files!

BUT WAIT…

The process above has one major limitation. Sometimes the program you want isn’t already listed in the drop-down menu and if it’s not a Windows Store app, you’re stuck. In that case, we can go back to a classic Windows tool: Control Panel.

Right-click the Start button and select Control Panel.

Go to Programs > Default Programs and click “Make a file type always open in a specific program.”

A different window opens that lists all the different file types.

Scroll down and select the one you want to change and then click the Change Program button.

You’ll get another list of programs that can open that file type.

If your program isn’t listed there, you can scroll down and click the More Apps link. If your program still isn’t there, scroll down AGAIN (yes, it’s ridiculous…) and click Look for Another App on this PC.

Now a dialog box will open up that lets you browse to the .exe file on your computer for the program you want.

Select it and click the Open button to set it as the new default.

NOTE: When the Browse dialog opens, it will automatically start at the Program Files folder on your computer. Depending on the application you want, you may have to go up a level to the Program Files (x86) folder and find your .exe file under that path.

Setting different programs for opening and editing files

A T4L reader commented below that in Windows XP (aka Microsoft’s Best Operating System Ever) you could set different programs for opening a file vs. editing it. You can’t do it easily in Windows 10, but I did find one article that shows how to change the program for the Edit menu for one application by editing a registry entry. I haven’t tested it myself and you always have to be careful when making changes to the registry, but if you need to do this, you can check it out to see if it will work for your purposes: