Corrupt files in excel

When Microsoft Excel detects a corrupted workbook upon opening, it automatically starts File Recovery mode and attempts to repair the workbook. If File Recovery mode doesn’t start, try using this manual process to recover your workbook:

1. Click File > Open.

2. Click the location and folder that contains the corrupted workbook.

3. In the Open dialog box, select the corrupted workbook.

4. Click the arrow next to the Open button, and then click Open and Repair.

   

5. To recover as much of the workbook data as possible, pick Repair.

   If Repair isn’t able to recover your data, pick Extract Data to extract values and formulas from the workbook.

If neither automatic nor manual repair works, there are some recovery methods that might help salvage your data. You can also take some preventive measures to avoid losing your work by automatically saving a backup copy of your workbook or creating a recovery file from time to time.

• Recover data from a corrupted workbook

• Automatically save a backup copy of a workbook

• Automatically create a recovery file at set intervals

Recover data from a corrupted workbook

Choose one of the following methods to help recover your data. If it’s not successful, try another method. You can also try third-party software solutions to try to recover workbook.

Important: If a disk error or network error prevents you from opening a workbook, move the workbook to a different hard disk drive or a local disk before trying any of the following recovery options.

Recover data when the workbook is open in Excel

• Revert the workbook to the last saved version    If a workbook becomes corrupted while you work but before you save your changes, you can revert your workbook to the last saved version:

  1. Click File > Open.

  2. Double-click the name of the workbook that you have open in Excel.

  3. Click Yes to reopen the workbook.

     The workbook opens without any changes you made that might have caused the workbook to become corrupted.

Recover data when you can’t open the workbook in Excel

• Set the calculation option in Excel to manual    Try changing the calculation setting from automatic to manual. Because the workbook won’t be recalculated, it may open.

  1. Click File > New.

  2. Under New, click Blank workbook.

  3. Click File > Options.

  4. In the Formulas category, under Calculation options, pick Manual, and then click OK.

  5. Click File > Open.

  6. Locate and then double-click the corrupted workbook to open it.

• Use external references to link to the corrupted workbook    To retrieve only data and not formulas or calculated values from the workbook, try using external references to link to the corrupted workbook.

  1. Click File > Open.

  2. Go to the folder that contains the corrupted workbook.

  3. Right-click the file name of the corrupted workbook, click Copy, and then click Cancel.

  4. Click File > New.

  5. Under New, click Blank workbook.

  6. In cell A1 of the new workbook, type =File Name!A1, where File Name is the name of the corrupted workbook that you copied in step 3, and then press Enter.

     Note:  You have to enter only the name of the workbook—you don’t have to type the file name extension.

  7. If the Update Values dialog box appears, select the corrupted workbook, and then click OK.

  8. If the Select Sheet dialog box appears, select the appropriate sheet, and then click OK.

  9. Select cell A1.

  10. Click Home > Copy, or press Ctrl+C.

  11. Select an area, starting in cell A1 that is approximately the same size as the range of cells that contain data in the corrupted workbook.

  12. Click Home > Paste, or press Ctrl+V.

  13. With the range of cells still selected, click Home > Copy again, or press Ctrl+C.

  14. Click Home > the arrow below Paste, and then under Paste Values, click Values.

      Pasting values removes the links to the corrupted workbook and leaves only the data.

• Use a macro to extract data from a corrupted workbook    If a chart is linked to the corrupted workbook, try using a macro to extract the source data of the chart.

  1. Copy the following macro code and paste it in a module sheet:

     Sub GetChartValues()

     Dim NumberOfRows As Integer

     Dim X As Object

     Counter = 2

     ‘ Calculate the number of rows of data.

     NumberOfRows = UBound(ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).Values)

     Worksheets(«ChartData»).Cells(1, 1) = «X Values»

     ‘ Write x-axis values to worksheet.

     With Worksheets(«ChartData»)

     .Range(.Cells(2, 1), _

     .Cells(NumberOfRows + 1, 1)) = _

     Application.Transpose(ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).XValues)

     End With

     ‘ Loop through all series in the chart and write their values to

     ‘ the worksheet.

     For Each X In ActiveChart.SeriesCollection

     Worksheets(«ChartData»).Cells(1, Counter) = X.Name

     With Worksheets(«ChartData»)

     .Range(.Cells(2, Counter), _

     .Cells(NumberOfRows + 1, Counter)) = _

     Application.Transpose(X.Values)

     End With

     Counter = Counter + 1

     Next

     End Sub

  2. Insert or delete a worksheet into your workbook right-click its sheet tab, and then rename it ChartData.

  3. Select the chart from which you want to extract the underlying data values.

     Note: The chart can be embedded on a worksheet or on a separate chart sheet.

  4. Run the macro.

  5. The data from the chart is put on the ChartData worksheet.

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Automatically save a backup copy of a workbook

With a backup copy of your workbook, you’ll always have access to your data if your workbook is deleted accidentally or if it becomes corrupted.

1. Click File > Save As.

2. Click Computer, and then click the Browse button.

   

3. In the Save As dialog box, click the arrow next to Tools, and then click General Options.

   

4. In the General Options dialog box, check the Always create backup box.

   

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Automatically create a recovery file at set intervals

A recovery file of your workbook also helps ensure you’ll have access to your data if your workbook is deleted accidentally or if it becomes corrupted.

1. Click File > Options.

2. In the Save category, under Save workbooks, check the Save AutoRecover information every box, and then enter a number of minutes. (The default is 10.)

   

3. In the AutoRecover file location box, enter the location where you want to save the recovery file.

4. Make sure that the Disable AutoRecover for this workbook only box is unchecked.

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The Excel is a crucial program for performing much work with documents in your office and at home. Many persons actively use it. However, while using the program various people meet different unexpected problems through many reasons. These reasons include an incorrect closing of the document, infection of the device with the virus, an error of file transferring, hanging up of your personal computer through many active applications working at this time, etc. Thus, the Excel file can be easily corrupted. The user can not open the required document — the information entered before will be not available anymore. In most cases, you can clear up the situation and avoid this problem yourself.



How to recovery corrupted files

First do it using the possibilities offered by your PC and Excel itself. Use the following offered ways and enjoy the best result.

Method # 1. Open the Excel program. Click first the “Open” file. Select the damaged workbook in the dialogue window. Expand the “Open” button which is placed at the bottom, at the right part of the page with the file name. Select the task “Open and Repair”.

The program displays a warning like:

Following the process, first pick “Restore” file. When the program fails doing it, push “Extract data” button. When a warning about the corrupted document appears you must accept it and open the document.

Method # 2. If the needed corrupted file is opened, you can resave it. Simply push “FILE” and “Save as”. Please, pick the option “Other formats”. You will see then the dialog box “Save Document”. Choose “Web Page” as the File Type.

Pick saving the whole book then.

Making these operations, please note – some functions may be lost. Further we find the data saved in HTML format. Use the right mouse button to click “Open with”. Choose the Excel option. Resave the opened file again, following these operations: “Save As” – “Excel Book”. Give a file a new name not to mix it ever with the corrupted one.

Method # 3. Use it when the corrupted document is opened. Open the book and pick “Select All Worksheets».

Use then “Move / Copy” button. When you see the new opened dialog window, select there “New book” and tick «Create a copy».

Push OK button then.

When you cannot open the corrupted file, follow one of these steps.

1. Close all the windows and exit the program to run it again then. Open the necessary document again — at lest try doing it;
2. Restart the device (PC);
3. Check the corrupted book for viruses;
4. Pick a different location when making a file copy.

If none of the methods mentioned above work, use a special recovery program.



Restoring unsaved Excel files

Excel files can be saved by default. Check the settings of these functions. Press “FILE”, then – “Excel Options” and pick “Save”.

Set the frequency of auto save. The default setting is 10 minutes. If you pick less time for the function, then if several files are simultaneously active, the computer will be hanging up. The directory address (where the data for auto recovery is located) is seen also. When the system immediately quits, the user cannot save the document quickly. Then when the program is launched next time, the options for the document recovery will be offered.

However, sometimes it the program loses data and does not offer any options for recovery. You can apply here another method:

• Close the book without saving it;
• Find the directory where the unsaved data is temporarily stored. Find there the document you need. Open it with a double click of the mouse, picking “Save as” option. Choose the name, the place of saving the file.

Restoring the deleted Excel data

When user has deleted the data while editing the workbook, you can restore it before saving it. Use the Cancel Action, pressing CTRL + Z. The other way doing it is to close the file without saving changes. If the document is saved and closed, it is almost impossible to restore it. Try searching the data in temporary files. When you find there a required document, change the extension .tmp to .xls / .xlsx.

Struggling with the Excel file corruption issue or does your Excel workbook gets inaccessible? Wondering what goes wrong with your Excel file? 

Then Relax..!! I am here to help you out!!!

In this article, check out the complete information about how to repair corrupted Excel file and recover Excel file data with ease.

Microsoft Excel files provide a mini-database for storing the inter-related and small data amount.

The data stored in Excel workbook is very sensitive and sometimes due to minor issues or online operations the files might get corrupted.

And as a result,  you start facing difficulty in opening the corrupted Excel files and recover Excel data.

So, in this article follow the complete ways to fix corrupt Excel file and recover corrupt Excel file entire data stored in it.

Well, there are several ways that surely help you to repair Excel files and open a corrupted Excel file.

But, before jumping on the solutions check out some of the common reasons why your Excel file gets corrupted.

Let’s Find Out…!

Repair Corrupted Excel File With Excel Recovery Tool

Make use of the professional recommended Excel Recovery Tool, this is the best ever Excel file repair tool and is able to repair corrupt, damaged, inaccessible data and fix various Excel errors just by scanning once. With this, you can also recover the entire data stored in Excel such as charts, worksheet properties cell comments, and other data.

This is a unique tool that is capable to repair multiple Excel files at one time and restore corrupt Excel data in a new blank file. So, apply the tool once and make your Excel file error-free without doing anything manually.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

Steps to Utilize Excel Recovery Tool:

Why Do Excel Files Corrupt?

Well, there are many reasons due to which your Excel workbook gets corrupted, damaged, or inaccessible. To know how does an Excel file get corrupted, take a quick glance over this image.

Now check out the common error messages that you may encounter when the Excel file gets corrupted or damaged.

How To Verify If Excel File Is Corrupted?

Time to time after the Excel file corruption many users start encountering various errors messages: Here check out some of the common ones:

• “Microsoft Excel has Stopped Working” Error Message
• MS Excel Crashing, Freezing, Not Responding error
• “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened” error message
• Excel Cannot Open The File ‘(Filename)’.Xlsx’ Error
• “Unable To Save Excel File 2007” Error
• Excel File Unexpected Error

Try the given methods one by one to repair corrupted Excel file and recover entire data stored in it.

2. Inbuilt Open and Repair Tool

This is the easiest way to repair corrupted Excel files, make use of the inbuilt utility available within the MS Excel application.

Follow the steps to make use of it:

• First click on “Open” in the File Menu
• Then from the list, select the corrupted Excel file
• Now, from the drop-down list of the “Open” tab, choose “Open and Repair”

• Lastly, click on the “Repair” button to repair Excel file.

However, in case, the file is severely damaged then the inbuilt utility is unable to repair corrupted Excel file, so this case makes use of the Excel file repair tool, to repair and recover corrupt Excel workbook data.

3. Data Extraction

Here try retrieving the Excel data by extracting it. You can do it by utilizing Macros. This method will help you to easily extract data on the corrupt spreadsheet.

For data extraction, follow the steps:

• Click on the “Open” tab on the File Menu
• And from the list, select the corrupt file
• From the drop-down list of the “Open” tab, > choose “Open and Repair” option

• And click on the “Extract” button to extract the data from the corrupt file.

In this way, you can extract data from corrupt Excel file and repair Excel file

4. If Excel File Gets Corrupted When It Is Open

In many cases, the workbook gets corrupted when the Excel file is open. Then, in this case, don’t save the file as this will only save whatever corrupts the Excel file with the entire updated changes.

So instead of saving it, go back to the last saved Excel version. This will help you to discard corrupt components. Possibly, you may be lost data but can be rebuilt easily.

For reverting previously saved version, follow the steps:

• Go to the File menu choose Open > then Office button > select Open.
• Now, use Look In control, find and identify the corrupted Excel file.
• Click on Open.

Hope after following the given steps you are able to repair corrupt Excel file 2007.

5. Turn Off Automatic Calculation

There are cases when an Excel file fails in opening the file by itself or by the Open and Repair option, then, in this case, try to set the calculation from automatic to manual and try again.

Follow steps to do so:

• Open a blank Excel workbook.
• And from the Tools > Options > click Calculation tab. In Excel 2007, click Office button > Excel Options > in the left panel choose Formulas.
• And in Calculation section > click Manual > OK.

Now try opening a corrupted Excel workbook. Excel may open the workbook also if it does not need to recalculate.

6. Utilize Microsoft Office Tools

If still, Excel can’t open the corrupted Excel workbook, then make use of the Microsoft Office Tool, to repair XLSX file.

Follow the steps to run it: 

• Select All Programs from the Start menu.
• And choose Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools.
• Then, choose Microsoft Office Application Recovery.
• Select Microsoft Office Excel, in a dialog box appears.

• Click on Recover Application. This process might take a couple of minutes.
• And, reply to the Send Report To Microsoft prompt.

The tool will close the Excel file and restart it, showing the list of restored Excel workbooks.

Check your corrupted Excel file and open it to verify it is repaired or not. But if still, you are unable to repair corrupt Excel workbook data then follow the other given solution.

7. Move The Excel File

Commonly, the corrupted workbook is not really corrupted, it just becomes inaccessible. The networks & servers mark Excel files as corrupt.

So if you stumble upon an apparently corrupt workbook that Excel can’t repair, then in this case simply move the corrupt files to another folder, server, or drive.

It is estimated now your Excel file corruption is fixed and you can recover corrupt Excel file data.

8. Open Corrupted Excel File In Word Or WordPad

This is another valuable way to repair Excel file, try opening the file in WordPad. In case this works, then the WordPad will convert entire data to text.

But this method won’t recover the formulas. Unlike various other data recovery solutions, WordPad restores the VBA procedures (macros). Just look for the retrieved text for Sub & Function to locate them.

Well, you can also open the corrupt .xls file in word file. However, the results would be limited and to make this method work you should try installing the Microsoft Office Excel Converter.

I hope this works for you to repair corrupted Excel file.

9. Utilize External References

In some cases, users can restore Excel data by referring to the actual cells. In this situation, you won’t recover formulas, formats, macros, charts, and other items.

But as it is said that “Something is Better than Nothing” so recovering some of the data is good than having nothing. For recovering data through referencing corrupt Excel workbook, follow the given steps:

• Open the new Excel workbook and go to cell A1 > formula in the form to reference A1 in corrupt Excel workbook: nameofcorruptedworkbook!A1. ( No need to include .xls in the filename.) and hit Enter
• If in case the corrupt Excel workbook is not in the same folder, Excel shows the Update Values: nameofcorruptedworkbook box. Utilize the Look In control to locate the corrupted Excel file. Choose file > click OK.
• When the select Sheet dialog box displays then select the proper sheet > OK. Excel will display the value in cell A1 of the corrupted file.

• Now choose cell A1 > drag it in many columns as desired to accommodate Excel data in the corrupted workbook. If Excel shows the Update Values: nameofcorruptedworkbook box, select the corrupted Excel file > OK.
• Repeat Step 4, copy row A down in many rows as essential to accommodate the data in the corrupted Excel workbook.
• Choose data > Copy from the menu.
• And choose Paste Special from menu > Select Values > Click OK.

If still, you are unable to repair corrupted Excel file, then follow the below-given solution.

10. Try SYLK (Symbolic) Format

This is another option to manually repair Excel file by converting it into SYLK or symbolic link format. It is one of the Microsoft-recommended solutions.

The solution is particularly helpful when the Excel workbook corruption is due to printer related issue or there was a problem during printing.

• Go to the File menu > select Save As and in Excel 2007 > Office button.
• Now from Save As Type control, select SYLK(Symbolic Link) (*.slk).

• Provide the sheets active a name, like corruptedworkbooknameSheet1. If the Excel workbook only has one sheet, this is useless > click Save.
• And when the workbook is having multiple file sheets, Excel asks if you need to continue as the selected format won’t support multiple sheets > OK.
• But if Excel prompts a warning message that Excel workbook may contain features that are not matched with the SYLK format, > then click Yes.

It is essential for you to understand that SYLK format just saves an active sheet. And, you won’t identify that format had stripped the entire pages with the active sheet till you close > reopen the .slk file.

And to restore data from the entire sheets, reopen the corrupted Excel workbook and then save every sheet one by one. This is why it is recommended in step 3 to provide the Excel sheet a descriptive name as this will help you while reconstructing multiple sheet Excel workbook.

Now after saving entire sheets to the SYLK format, just open any one of the .slk files > rename it > utilizing the .xls format. Remember not to employ the corrupted workbook’s name. As the corrupted Excel workbook is reconstructed, discard the corrupt Excel file or else rename it.

Avoid replacing it until you restore corrupted Excel file data completely. Reconstruct the Excel workbook through import or copy data from .slk files. It is a deadly way, but helpful if nothing works. This step helps in saving values from formulas, but not formulas itself.

11. Restore Macros

If your data is recovered but not the macros through previously given ways, then you can recover macros from corrupted Excel file with the given ways.

To do so, follow the steps:

• First, open the Excel, but not the corrupted file. And set calculation to Manual (check #2).
• Now. from Tools menu, select Macro > choose Security > High option. In Excel 2007, you should click the Office button > Excel Options > Trust Center. Click on Trust Center Settings button > Macro Settings >Disable All Macros without any Notification in the Macro Settings >  double click OK.
• And open a corrupt Excel workbook. If the workbook opens, a message appears that macros are disabled. However, if Excel closes then this method won’t work for you.
• Press Alt+F11 keys for opening the (VBE )Visual Basic Editor.
• Utilize the Project Explorer (pressing Ctrl+R key) > right-click module > Export File.
• Now for module type name and folder.
• And repeat steps 6 &  7  many times as required for exporting the entire module.
• Close VBE > exit Excel.
• Next, open the new workbook (or the newly constructed Excel workbook that comprises the data restored from the corrupted  Excel workbook) > then import the modules.

12: XML Method

Here know how to use XML method to repair XLSX file

Follow the step to do so:

• Try to open the corrupted file, once it is open select “File” and “Save As”. And from the list of possible formats click on “Save as Type” select “XML Spreadsheet” and then click “Save” and open the document again in Excel.
• Go to “Save As” again and save the document as an Excel Workbook by selecting and Excel format from the drop-down list next to “Save as Type”.

Assure to modify the file name to avoid saving it over the corrupt Excel file and click “Save”. This will fix the file and allow continuing working on the document.

13. Open Excel With HTML Method

The HTML method is known to work in a certain situation and might help you to recover corrupted Excel file.

Here know how to do it:

• Open the Excel file and go to “Save As”. If required select other formats from the drop-down menu in the “Save As Type” option.

• Then from the options in the drop-down list, choose “Web Page”.

• For maximizing the chance that you will recover the entire document, it is important to assure “Entire Workbook” is selected and click on “Save”.

Please Note: Certain elements of the original workbook might get lost including formatting may be lost. If Excel displays a message indicating this fact, click “Yes” to accept the risk and to continue

• As the file is saved, situate it in the folder you saved the file. Do this by clicking “File” and selecting “open” and opening the folder to find the file. As find it, right-click on the file and select “Open with > Microsoft Office Excel”.
• As the document is open, go to “Save As” and choose Excel format from the drop-down list next to the “Save As Type” option. When asked for a Page Title, create that is not the same as the original corrupted file. Press “Save” to complete the whole process.

So, these are the solutions you can try to repair corrupted Excel files effectively and get rid of Excel file corruption issues.

Now It’s Your Turn:

Thanks for reading the article. I tried my best to provide possible solutions to repair corrupted Excel files.

So, try the given solutions one by one and fix Excel file corruption issues.

I also love to hear from you, share with us which solutions work for you to recover corrupted Excel file data, additionally if you any query, suggestion then share it with us.

Good Luck…!!!

Do you have an Excel file that does not open because of corruption issue? And every time you try to open it, an error message ‘the file is corrupt and cannot be opened’ pops-up?

Figure 1 – Excel File Corruption Message

Also, you don’t have a healthy backup of the Excel file to restore the data? If so, you can try repairing the corrupt file by using a few simple yet effective manual workarounds mentioned below.

TIP: Performing the manual workarounds can take time and increases data loss risk. But, you can easily and quickly fix a corrupt workbook by using professional Excel recovery software.

How to Open Corrupt Excel File without Backup?

Following are some manual methods that can help you open a corrupt Excel file:

Method 1: Repair Corrupt Excel File

When attempting to open a corrupt file, Excel automatically starts ‘File Recovery’ mode to repair the file. But, if the recovery mode doesn’t start, try Microsoft Excel’s built-in ‘Open and Repair’ feature to manually repair the file. To use this feature, perform the following steps:

Step 1: Open a Blank workbook in Excel, and then click File > Open.

Step 2: In the Open window, browse and select the corrupt file.

Step 3: Click the arrow that is beside the Open tab, and select Open and Repair.

Figure 2 – Open and Repair Option

Step 4: Implement one of the following:

• Click Repair tab. (This is to recover as much data as possible.)
• Click Extract Data tab. (This is to recover values and formulas from the Excel file if the repair process fails to recover the entire data.)

Figure 3 – Excel Built-in Repair Options

If using Open and Repair does not work, move to the next method.

Method 2: Disable the Protected View Feature

Some Excel users have reported that turning off the ‘protected view’ feature in Excel helped them open the corrupt file. You can also try to disable this feature and open the file. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open a blank Excel file, click File > Options.

Step 2: In the Excel Options window, select Trust Center, and then click Trust Center Settings.

Figure 4 – Excel Trust Center Settings

Step 3: Click OK.

Now check if you can open the corrupt file. If not, try implementing the next method.

Method 3: Look For Automatically Recovered Excel File 

If you have Excel’s AutoRecover feature enabled, you’ll have access to a copy of the Excel file corrupted or lost due to application crash, power outage, or accidental deletion.

The ‘AutoRecover’ feature saves Excel worksheets at a temporary location after a certain time interval. It saves the worksheets automatically and is turned on by default to reduce the chance of data loss.

Check if you can recover corrupted Excel file by following these steps:

Step 1: In Excel, open a Blank workbook.

Step 2: Go to File and click Options.

Figure 5 – Excel Options

Step 3: In the Excel Options dialog box, click Save, and then copy the ‘AutoRecover file location’.

Figure 6 – Excel Options Window

Step 4: Open File Explorer window and paste the copied AutoRecover file location, and press Enter.

Step 5: A list of saved Excel files will be displayed. Choose the file you want to recover.

Also read: Excel AutoRecover not working, what is next?

TIP: Use Excel’s AutoBackup feature to reduce chances of data loss, by saving a previous version of your spreadsheet automatically.

Use an Excel File Repair Software

If the above manual methods fail, repair the corrupt Excel file by using a third-party software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. The software helps repair Excel (XLS and XLSX) files easily and effectively.

Read this: How to repair corrupt Excel file using Stellar Repair for Excel?

Some key features of Excel Repair software are as follows:

• Fixes all errors in the MS Excel file.
• Repairs multiple damaged Excel files in a go.
• Recovers chart, chart sheet, table, cell comment, image, formula, and sort & filter.
• Preserves properties and cell formatting of Excel worksheets.
• Previews recoverable Excel file data before saving.
• Recovers all data components from the corrupt files and saves those in a new blank Excel file.
• Compatible with Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, and lower versions.

Conclusion 

In this blog, we discussed some manual workarounds to open a corrupt Excel file without any backup. You can manually repair the corrupt file by using Excel’s built-in Open and Repair feature. But the built-in repair utility may fail to fix a severely corrupt workbook.

You can also try accessing the file by disabling the protected view feature. If this method does not work, look for an automatically recovered copy of the corrupt file. However, the major shortcoming of this feature is that the AutoRecover data is stored on the same hard drive as the original file. In this case, if the hard drive becomes faulty, all data is lost.

Implementing the manual workarounds can take time and may fail to deliver expected results. A better way is to use Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair and open corrupt Excel file without any backup. In order to avoid such situations, it is recommended to create a backup copy of your workbook or enable the Excel AutoBackup feature. A good backup will save you from losing access to your Excel file data, if the file is accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Tweak your Excel settings to remove corruption or go for an expert file recovery tool ✅

by Milan Stanojevic

Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he… read more

Updated on December 9, 2022

Reviewed by
Vlad Turiceanu

Passionate about technology, Windows, and everything that has a power button, he spent most of his time developing new skills and learning more about the tech world. Coming… read more

Excel is a crucial program used both by individuals and businesses to work with large amounts of data and organize it using formulas, tables, charts, and several other tools.

However, while using the program, you can encounter different unexpected problems, one of them being file corruption errors due to the system, virus infections, or other unknown reasons.

Can you repair a corrupted Excel File?

Yes, you can surely rescue your corrupted Excel files using the various methods we defined in this article.

As a shortcut, it’s possible to recover corrupted Excel files using the native repairing functionality or by erasing temporary Excel files from your operating system.

In this article

• Can you repair a corrupted Excel File?
• How can I repair a corrupted Excel file?
• 1. Check your computer for malware to repair Excel files
• 2. Use third-party software to recover corrupted Excel files
• 3. Use the Open and Repair tool to fix the Excel file
• 4. Restore the corrupted Excel file to a previous version
• 5. Recover corrupt Excel files by changing the calculation method
• 6. Use external references to link to the corrupted workbook
• 7. Recover the TMP file to repair the corrupted Excel file
• 8. Delete the TEMP folder to fix corrupted files in Excel
• 9. Save the corrupted Excel file in HTML format to try to repair it
• 10. Save the corrupted file in SYLK format to recover it
• 11. Recover the corrupted Excel file by opening it in WordPad or Word
• 12. Use the XML format to open and recover the corrupted Excel file
• 13. Open the Excel file in Safe Mode to remove corruption signs
• 14 Use newer Excel versions to try to recover a corrupter file

How can I repair a corrupted Excel file?

If you face this situation, you can find below several possible solutions that can help you solve the problem.

1. Check your computer for malware to repair Excel files

It is very likely that your document could malfunction due to a virus attack. In this case, it might be a good idea to run a deep systems scan using the software you have on your computer.

The program should eliminate any viruses found and you should be able to open the document. If you are looking for a security tool, you will be happy to know that some of the best antivirus software have free trial versions.

If you are not completely sure which one would be best for your own needs, you can try out a few.

The most important thing to look for in antivirus is its threat database. Along with that, make sure that the security tool of your choice has multi-layered protection. This ensures that you are protected on all fronts.

Additional requirements any antivirus should check are a transparent privacy policy, low resource usage, and non-intrusive notifications.

Once you decide on the antivirus program and install it, run a full PC scan and remove/quarantine all threats found.

2. Use third-party software to recover corrupted Excel files

Another possibility is to use professional data recovery software that can fix corrupted Excel documents.

Data recovery software scans your whole device for lost or corrupt files. They typically offer an overview of everything they can find and let you know which files can be restored.

When it comes to Excel documents, dedicated software is able to detect and eliminate the cause of corruption, thus allowing you to open your spreadsheets without any issue.

These tools are very powerful and they come with additional recovery features that can help you restore full lost disks and lost files on removable media.

3. Use the Open and Repair tool to fix the Excel file

1. Open a blank Excel document.
2. Go to File and click Open.
3. In the Open dialog box, select the corrupted file and then click on the drop-down menu next to Open to select Open and Repair

Note: To recover as much of the workbook data as possible, pick Repair. If Repair is not able to recover your data, pick Extract Data to extract values and formulas from the workbook.

4. Restore the corrupted Excel file to a previous version

1. Right-click on the Excel file and select Properties
2. Go to Previous Versions, find and select the latest version or the right version before Excel crashes, deleted or saved, and click Restore

Note: The workbook opens without any changes you made that might have caused the workbook to become corrupted.

5. Recover corrupt Excel files by changing the calculation method

A corrupted Excel file could be accessed by changing the Workbook calculation method to be manual.

This calculation is set to be automatic by default, which means the Workbook is calculated every time you try to open a file. Turning this off can help fix the error and allow you to open the corrupt Excel file.

1. Open Microsoft Excel.

2. Click on File and choose New.

3. Click Blank workbook under New.

4. Navigate to File and go to Options.

5. Click Manual under Calculation options in Formulas category.

6. Press OK to apply and save the changes.

7. Try to open the previously corrupted Excel file.

6. Use external references to link to the corrupted workbook

1. Click File and go to Open
2. Go to the folder that contains the corrupted workbook and right-click on it.
3. Click Copy, and then click Cancel.
4. Click File and go to New, then open a Blank workbook.
5. In cell A1 of the new workbook, type =File Name!A1, where FileName is the name of the corrupted workbook that you copied in step 3 (without the name extension), and then press Enter.
6. Select corrupted Excel if the Update Values box appears and click OK.
7. Choose the appropriate sheet if the Select Sheet dialog box appears and click OK.
8. Select cell A1 and click Home and then Copy.
9. Select an area, starting in cell A1 that is approximately the same size as the range of cells that contain data in the corrupted workbook.
10. Click Home and Paste.
11. Repeat to copy all selected cells again by clicking Home and then Copy.
12. Click Home go to Paste and click Paste Values under Values.

Note: Pasting values will remove the links to corrupted excel and leave you only with the data by then.

By using the method, you won’t be able to recover formulas, formats, charts, macros, and so on, but recovering the data is better than recovering nothing.

7. Recover the TMP file to repair the corrupted Excel file

1. In File Explorer, open This PC (usually C: )
2. Double click the Users folder and then open the Default and AppData folder. (Make sure you can view hidden files.)
3. In the Local folder, go to Microsoft.
4. Locate the Office folder and then go to UnsavedFiles.
5. Locate and find the temporary excel files beginning with $ or ~ and end with .TMP
6. Copy these files and save them to another safe spot by changing the extension from.TMP to .XLS/.XLSX

8. Delete the TEMP folder to fix corrupted files in Excel

If saving a temporary excel file did not work, another suggestion is to delete some of the temporary files and folders on your computer.

These files and folders can be found in C:/Windows/temp directory. Once you have deleted these files, restart your computer and then try opening the Excel document again.

If you can’t delete temporary files, use our guide to fix the problem.

9. Save the corrupted Excel file in HTML format to try to repair it

1. Open the Excel file and go to Save As.
2. Choose other formats from the drop-down menu in the Save As Type option.
3. Then select Web Page.
4. Make sure entire Workbook is selected and then click on Save
5. Right-click on the web file and choose Open with Microsoft Office Excel.
6. Once the document is open, go to Save As again and choose the Excel format.
7. Choose a different name than the original corrupted file and press Save.

10. Save the corrupted file in SYLK format to recover it

1. Open the Excel file and go to Save As
2. Choose other formats from the drop-down menu in the Save As Type option
3. From the options in the drop-down list, select SYLK(Symbolic Link) (*.slk)
4. Click File and Open again, but this time choose the SYLK file.
5. Once the file is open, click File and then Save As.
6. Choose Microsoft Excel Workbook and click Save.

Note: Using the SYLK format only saves the active worksheet. You will have to save each worksheet individually and repeat this procedure.

11. Recover the corrupted Excel file by opening it in WordPad or Word

Another solution that we recommend is to try opening your corrupt file in WordPad. If it works, WordPad will convert everything to text but unfortunately, this method will not recover formulas.

On the other hand, the good news is that, unlike many other data recovery methods, WordPad will recover your macros.

Simply search the recovered text for Sub and Function to find them. You might also be able to open the corrupted .xls file in Word, but the results will be limited.

In order to do so, you first have to make sure you have the Microsoft Excel Converter installed. You can download it from Microsoft’s official page.

12. Use the XML format to open and recover the corrupted Excel file

1. Open the corrupted file, go to File and click on Save As.
2. From the list of possible formats next to Save as Type select XML Spreadsheet and then click Save.
3. Open the document again.
4. Go to Save As again and then save the document as an Excel Workbook by choosing Excel format from the drop-down list next to Save as Type.

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13. Open the Excel file in Safe Mode to remove corruption signs

1. Press Windows+R keys to open the Run dialogue window
2. Type the command excel /safe and click OK
3. Copy all of the data to a new document and open it in Normal Mode.

This method may disable your macros and Add-ins but it is a great solution because you can move the data to a new document.

14 Use newer Excel versions to try to recover a corrupter file

Although it seems like a very simple solution, you should definitely try it as well.

Try to use a later Excel version because as the versions increase, the ability for the program to recover a file increases also, so you might be able to recover your file using this simple method.

So, have any of these solutions helped you to fix your corrupted Excel file? Let us know in the comments section below.

It is when contents inside an Excel workbook go haywire. Microsoft doesn’t offer a manual on Excel file corruption. A workbook can be damaged, if improperly manipulated, by any application which reads/writes OpenXML files.

Developers usually experiment using a trial-and-error approach, while trying to repair a file or salvage its contents. Excel file corruption isn’t new. It dates back to Excel origins: MS-Article ID: 213951

How To Detect Excel File Corruption

An ‘apocalyptic’ message displayed by Excel 2007/2010 while opening a corrupted workbook.

A file corruption warning as shown in Excel 2013

‘Fatal’ corruption warnings in Excel 2010: Excel cannot even open the corrupted file.

A corrupted workbook cannot be saved automatically, so AutoRecover has been disabled in Excel 2010

Excel 2010 corruption warnings, while user tries to save an open workbook

Corruption Hint: Excel crashes after reporting that a project or library cannot be found.
However, there are no missing library references or VBA projects!

Press DEBUG: The above message is not very informative for the an Excel user!

Corruption Case Study

Corruption recovery software/utilities mis-diagnosed Gary’s template and failed to recover any content

«Petros’ help was invaluable during our conversion from Office 2007 to 2010. Faced with a hidden problem whereby of one of our key Excel templates would run in 2007 but not even open in 2010, I was faced with having to rebuild the tool. 

Petros was able to find an obscure problem that 2007 ignored and did not overtly manifest itself in the document. His insight saved me a lot of work in the long run for which I am very grateful.»

Gary W., Merchandise Systems Analyst at diversified multinational mass media corporation

How To Repair A Corrupted Ribbon UI Customization

How Excel’s Repair Mechanism Works

Any type of content could be deleted (formulas, shapes etc), while Excel attempts to recover a corrupted workbook

How To Remove Corrupted Styles

Known Issues That Trigger Workbook Corruption

How To Verify That A Workbook Has Been Repaired By Excel

Users who are not trained to identify Excel’s corruption warnings may repair a workbook inadvertently. Excel stores a summary forensic report in the application temp folder, which can be retrieved (if not erased by a disc cleaner) in order to verify beyond doubt that an Excel workbook has been repaired by a particular user, even if the person denies knowledge of such incident due to ignorance!

C:Users….AppDataLocalTemperrorXXXXXX_01.xml

Add-ins For Corruption Recovery & Repair

Please contact us for a free workbook assessment & bespoke file recovery or leave a comment. Entire VBA projects can be recovered from any corrupted XLS, PPT, DOC legacy file and from Office 2007+ OpenXML files, from both locked and unviewable VBA projects.

The solutions can be used to repair corrupted Excel 2019, 2016, 2010, 2007 in XLS, XLT, XLSX, XLSM, XLTM, XLTX, XLAM formats.

File corruption in Excel and Word is a common problem while using Microsoft office. You may see these error messages when the problem occurs.

How does an Excel file get corrupted? The possible reasons for Excel file corruption or damage might be:

• Abrupt power outage
• Virus or malware attack
• Hardware failure
• Excel application crash
• Excel file deleting
• Excel internal error

Even though some of you may back up your Excel files from time to time, corruption can still be a problem because the Excel file damage always arises unexpectedly, and your backup files may not contain the most recent work. In such a case, calm down and use the effective Excel repair tools on this page to try out and repair corrupted Excel files without data loss.

Excel Repair Tool Free Download Full Version

To recover corrupted Excel files simply, we highly recommend you try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which is good at repairing corrupted Excel files and restoring .XLS/.XLSX file data. 

If you need to repair corrupted JPEG/JPG or recover damaged MP4 and MOV files, this file repair tool is also a great choice.

This professional MS Office Excel file repair tool has the following salient features.

• Recover corrupted Excel files in XLSX/XLS formats
• Repair single or multiple Excel files without quantity limit
• Restore Excel data including table, chart, formula, chart sheet, and more
• Real-time preview of repairing corrupted Excel file
• Supports MS Excel 2019/2016/2013/2010/2007/2003/XP/2000/97/95 versions

How to Repair Corrupted Excel Files with EaseUS File Repair Tool

Download EaseUS MS Office document repair tool for free and follow the step-by-step guides below to repair damaged Excel files with three steps.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and then scan disk with corrupted documents. This software enables you to fix damaged Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF files in same steps. 

Step 2. EaseUS data recovery and repair tool will scan for all lost and corrupted files. You can find the target files by file type or type the file name in the search box. 

Step 3. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can repair your damaged documents automatically. After file preview, you can click «Recover» to save the repaired Word, Excel, and PDF document files to a safe location.

3 Simple Tools to Repair Excel File Online Free 

If you don’t want to download a desktop Excel repair tool, you still have the option to repair Excel file online. Here are the top three online Excel repair tools you can work out. 

But how to repair corrupted Microsoft Excel file online free? Actually, none of these online tools are free. When the repair completes, you can download a demo version of the repaired Excel file to preview the recovered data. But for the full version, you need to pay for it.  

1. Recovery Toolbox for Excel

Recovery Toolbox for Excel (https://excel.recoverytoolbox.com/online/en/) helps to repair corrupted Microsoft Excel files online without downloading. It can fixing all types of Excel files: *.xls, *.xlt, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xltm, *.xltx and *.xlam extension. It recovers Excel table styles, fonts, worksheets, and workbook cell data.

Step 1. Click «Select File» to choose your damaged Excel file with an xls, xlt, xlsx, xlsm, xltm, xltx, or xlam extension.

Step 2. Enter your email address and verification code from the captcha image. Click «Next» to go on.

Step 3. Wait for the corrupted Excel file to be recovered.

Step 4. Make payment as required. Download the recovered Excel spreadsheet

2. Online Office Recovery

Online Office Recovery (https://online.officerecovery.com/excel/) enables you to repair, discuss and troubleshoot Microsoft Excel corruption online.

Steps to repair corrupt Excel online with this recovery tool:

Step 1. Select your corrupt Excel file by clicking the «Choose a File button». 

Step 2. Click «Secure Upload and Repair» to upload your file.

Step 3. Wait for the repair to finish. Download the demo version to preview. Then, pay for the full version.

3. Microsoft Excel Repair Tool  

Microsoft Excel Repair Tool (https://www.excel.repair/#/) is designed for corrupted Excel recovery. It offers both online and offline versions to repair damaged Excel files. How to use this online Microsoft Excel Repair Tool? Here are the steps.

Step 1. Click the «SELECT FILE» button to upload your corrupt Excel file. 

Step 2. Enter your email and verification code.

Step 3. Click «NEXT STEP» and wait for the online repair to complete.

Step 4. Download the demo version to preview recovered data. Pay for the full version.

Pros:

• Simple to use, no need to download

Cons:

• Charge by quantity (e.g., 10 USD for one Excel document repair), too expensive
• Security and data privacy cannot be guaranteed
• There are size limits for uploaded files, like max file size: 35M

Other 4 Manual Ways to Recover Corrupted Excel Files Free

In addition to EaseUS data recovery software and the online Excel recovery tool, there are still a few manual methods to restore damaged Excel files. The advantage of these methods is free, while the disadvantage is the low probability of file repair and recovery. Read the guides in-depth.

Fix 1. Use the Open and Repair Tool in Windows Excel

Step 1. Open a blank Excel sheet, click «File» > «Open».

Step 2. Go to the location and find the folder that contains the corrupted Excel file.

Step 3. In the Open dialog, select the corrupted Excel file and click the arrow next to the Open button > Click «Open and Repair».

Step 4. Click «Repair» to recover as much Excel data as possible.

If «Repair» can’t recover your Excel data, click «Extract Data» to extract values and formulas from the Excel sheet.

Fix 2. Repair Corrupted Excel File Free from TMP File

Microsoft Office provides the AutoSave feature to automatically save Excel temp files as a backup on your computer. So when your Excel, Word, or PPT file suddenly gets corrupted or crashed, you can follow the tips below to recover corrupted files.

Step 1. Go to the temp file folder location on your PC and find the Excel temp files with the TMP extension. 

• For Windows 8/10 users: C:Users\AppDataLocalMicrosoftOfficeUnsavedFiles
• For Windows 7 users: C:UsersnameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftExcel

Step 2. Find the temporary excel files that begin with «$» or «~» and end with «.TMP».

Step 3. Copy these files and save them to another safe place by changing the extension.TMP to .XLS/.XLSX. 

Fix 3. Repair Corrupted Excel by Saving as Other Formats

If you can open the corrupted Excel file, but there is no data. You can try to repair corrupted Excel by saving it in another format.

Step 1. Open corrupted Excel file and go to «Save As».

Step 2. Select «Web Page» from the possible file formats. Make sure that the whole Excel file is selected and then click «Save».

Step 3. Find the saved file and right-click on it, select «Open with» > «Microsoft Office Excel».

Step 4. If the file can be opened usually, go to «Save As» and choose an Excel format .xls or .xlsx. Then, the corrupted Excel file will be recovered.

Fix 4. Restore Corrupted Excel File Free from Previous Versions

Another practical solution to restore corrupted Excel files is to restore the previous versions from File History or restore points. If you haven’t enabled Windows file backup in advance, this method is useless.

Step 1. Create a new Excel file with the same name as your lost Excel file or find your present Excel file.

Step 2. Right-click on the Excel file and select «Properties».

Step 3. Go to Previous Versions, find and select the latest version or the right version before Excel crashes, deleted or saved, click «Restore».

To Sum Up

This article provides you with the most comprehensive methods on how to recover corrupted Excel files. If you would like to use the Window’s built-in utilities to do it, there are four fixes you can try to recover from a backup. To repair Excel files without installing any software; use the three online Excel repair tools. If you’re going to use the online Excel repair tool, you need to be highly aware of data security and privacy issues.

For effectiveness and safety, you’d better use a desktop Excel repair program, like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. It is competent to repair files and influential in recovering lost data due to accidental deletion, storage device formatting, partition loss, virus attack, OS crash, hard disk damage, and more.

Excel Repair Tool FAQs

Here are a few more questions related to how to repair corrupted Excel files. If you also have any of these questions, you can find the answers here.

How do I recover a corrupted Excel file?

Repair Excel files in the simplest way by using EaseUS file recovery tool:

Step 1. Select a location to start finding crashed or damaged Excel files

Step 2. Repair and recover corrupted Excel files.  

Step 3. Save the recovered Excel file to a secure location.

How do I repair a corrupted Excel file 2010 in Windows 10?

You can repair Excel in Windows 10 in four feasible ways:

Fix 1. Use the Open and Repair tool in Microsoft Office Excel

Fix 2. Restore corrupted Excel file from TMP file

Fix 3. Repair corrupted Excel by saving as other formats

Fix 4. Restore damaged Excel file from the previous version

How can I recover a corrupted Excel file for free?

To repair a corrupted Excel for free, do the following:

Step 1. Click «File» > «Open». Click the location and folder that contains the corrupted workbook.

Step 2. In the Open window, select the corrupted Excel file.

Step 3. Click the arrow next to the Open button, and then click «Open and Repair». Or you can click «Repair» to recover Excel data.

How do you recover Excel corrupt files online free?

There are some online Excel repair tools you can try, such as Recovery Toolbox for Excel, Microsoft Excel Repair Tool, and Online Office Recovery mentioned in this tutorial. Usually, these online Excel repair tools help you recover corrupt Excel files in 3 steps: upload files, wait for the repair to complete, preview, and pay for the repaired file.

How does an Excel file gets corrupted?

Reasons that lead to MS Excel files corruption:

• Sudden system shutdown
• Virus attacks
• Hard disk failure
• Too much data and large size files
• Abrupt closing of application