Question Windows won't let me restore Office file associations

[FeuerFrei]

// half question / half complaint //

We've been happily entrenched in the MS Office 2010 suite, and absolutely refuse to upgrade to subscription/cloud/online account-based software (software is not a service).

But Office 365 came preinstalled on this pc, by Dell, and remains dormant - unused and unwelcome. Unfortunately, not long ago, it trampled on all my MS Office-related file associations ... forcibly switching them FROM 2010 Office apps TO "2016" apps. Whenever I doubleclick a spreadsheet ... it won't open in 2010 Excel. Instead, some weird-looking spreadsheet program opens - I presume it's Microsoft's cloud-based software. (ugh)

I'm trying to switch file associations back to their original 2010 applications. Seems straightforward. But ...

>>>>>> Every time I reset the .docx (e.g.) file-type association to an executable in Program Files > Microsoft Office > Office 14 directory ... Winword.exe (Word 2010, to be exact) it doesn't seem to take effect. File-type REMAINS associated with "Word 2016", ... which doesn't exist on the pc. AND DOCUMENTS CONTINUE to open in said Word program (I always cancel the load at the splash screen. I'm guessing it's actually Word 365 ).

Is there a way around this stalemate???????
Knowing Microsoft, it's likely my only solution is uninstalling Office 365. Good riddance.
If I uninstall Office 365 will all my related files revert to their previous (Office 2010) associations ??

I just want my MS Office files to auto-open in their respective 2010 apps like they used to.


Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
MS Office 2010 Suite

 

[corkyg]

I would have uninstalled 365 first off. I run Win 7 and Office 2010 is more than adequate. I don't know what 365 would do now, but I would back up all my Office files on an external drive and then uninstall 365. I am not a big cloud believer.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Mkay. I'm set to run a backup today or tomorrow. Should be an opportune moment.

 

[mikeymikec]

+1 Uninstall 365. If Windows remains stubborn after that, I'd repair-install MSO2010. If it still gives problems, I might either try installing LibreOffice and setting that as the default office document editor then try setting MSO2010 to the default or reinstall 2010, or a mix of both.

 

[Ketchup]

I agree it's stupid they install a software that will take over if you install a real one yourself, but an uninstall of the pre-installed version should take care of it.

 

[Iron Woode]

The easiest solution is to uninstall Office365 and re-install Office 2010.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Uninstalling it is the MS solution for resolving conflict.