On my new win11 laptop microsoft hijacked my spreadsheets to Excel and locked them. Can I recover them?
If you are using the in-built Windows Defender then:
- Click Start menu > Settings > Privacy & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > manage ransomware protection > Allow an app through Controlled folder access
- OK the UAC dialogue
- Click Add an allowed app > Recently blocked apps
- In the dialogue click on soffice.bin (C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program). LibreOffice will be added to the apps allowed to write to Documents folder.
If you use a third party anti-virus then you will need to add LibreOffice or soffice.bin to its allowed list
Most likely a Windows update has merely changed the default file association from LibreOffice to MS Office. Windows uses these associations to determine the default application to open the files, and displays a corresponding icon. It doesn’t change the actual files in any way.
In File Manager, right click on a spreadsheet file and choose Open With; select LibreOffice Calc as the application to use and select Always use this application (or similar wording).
I’d also recommend to show the extensions of your file names:
Thank you! I did the first step and it worked, will it continue to work after the next update?
On the second step I ran into a problem with the Virus & Threat Protection page I don’t find a Manage Ransomware Protection choice. When I did a search on that title in “get help” I got a screen with a choice Protect PC From Ransomware which took me to a section describing Microsoft security and hints that the absence of the ransomeware choice has something to do with the cloud. Thoughts?
Not if the next update changes the association back to MS Office; in that case you need to make the change I described again. Repeat as necessary while MS continues to play its little game.
Thank you.