your file association is messed go to control panel and then click add and remove programs click on office and hit uninstall then chose option to repair it will restore the association hope this help if it dose please click on accept answer so this thread close out 
Hi! I have a Dell Inspiron 1526 laptop.  I have Microsoft Office 2007 Home/Student Editon on it.  Until recently it has worked perfectly.  Oh, I also have Vista if that helps.  The problem seems to be that I am unable to open a work or excel document through an email for example or even through where I may have saved it.  When I try to open the file it gives me a list of programs that I can use to open the document.  Word nor excell is on that list.  I then click browse and am able to find it.  Yet when I find it and double click on it, I am sent right back to where I was before and the programs I need are still not on the list of available programs.   I can however, go into Excel and click on open then find my file and open it that way.  I just finished running all the updates available and that has not helped either. Any help would be greatly appreciated.   I hope this makes sense!   Thank you! Sarah
Excel and word not opening documents any more