I have a 2010-2011 student version of SolidWorks on my personal computer. Additionally I have Excel 2000. I am currently enrolled in a class that is using the SolidWorks 2010 Bible as the textbook for the class that has tutorials on a CD. I am in the chapter that dicusses configurations and creating configurations with an Excel design table. When I attempt to open the design tables in the tutorials, SolidWorks says that the table can not be opened in Excel 2000. Does SolidWorks not work with this version of Excel?
SW does work with this version of Excel but chances are there that the table you trying to open are in higher version. Try installing the Microsoft Office Compatibility mode and then test if you can open the files outside SolidWorks or not.