Suppose you have a fancy new Windows 8 or 8.1 (“Blue”) laptop. You are digging the slick user interface of Dynamics CRM 2013 but need to export some data to Excel for some offline calculations.

But, snag! Excel isn’t one of the choices you can pick to export the data for some reason. You might pick Word since you don’t recognize the other ones. But then you’ll get some weird-looking code stuff; not pretty! So you try again.

Dang, it’s stuck opening in Word and now you can’t do what you need to do!

Here’s how to fix it so that it opens in Excel instead:

1. Either search for File Extension on your computer or go to Control Panel>Default Programs>Set Association 

   

2. Scroll down until you get to the .xml file extension.
3. Select it.
4. Click the Change program button.

5. In the window that opens, scroll down until you see Excel or, if it’s not in the list, click More options.

6. If Excel still is not in the list, scroll down again and click Look for another app on this PC.

7. An Open with dialog box will open; double click on Microsoft Office, Office15 (or whatever version of Office you happen to have), then EXCEL.EXE.

Congratulations! Now you can export from (or import data to) CRM in Excel from your Window 8 or 8.1 device. We invite you to explore our other educational materials or check out our multitude of other blogs posts!

Happy CRM'ing!