4 Ways to extract data from corrupt Excel file

Summary: Excel files can become corrupt due to numerous reasons. This blog will discuss the reasons behind the corrupted Excel files. Sometimes the file becomes inaccessible. This post includes four ways to extract data from a corrupt Excel file. It also mentioned Stellar Repair for Excel to repair severely corrupted files. The tool helps you recover data from damaged Excel files with complete integrity.

Imagine the frustration of an employee if an Excel workbook he took hours to complete became corrupted for some reason threatening to erase all the data saved in it. Not just that, a corrupted Excel workbook can wreak havoc for the organization too since it poses a risk of permanently deleting critical business information like work records or employee trackers.

Unless a backup of all important Excel files exists, recovering data lost due to damage/corruption to them is next to impossible. However, we’ve conducted some research and found some pretty neat hacks to help you extract data from corrupt excel files without much hassle.

Primary reasons triggering Excel file corruption

As we always point out, to solve a problem for good, getting to its root is imperative. Here are the main reasons that cause Excel file corruption. Knowing these reasons can help you keep Excel corruption at bay for a considerably long time.

• Abrupt system shutdown when you’re editing an Excel sheet
• Bugs / Defects in your Excel application or installation
• Hardware failures like bad sectors on the hard drive where Excel sheets are saved
• Virus Infection / Malware Attack
• Excessive data storage within a single Excel file
• Faulty Excel Macros and CSE Formulas

Depending upon the extent of damage, there can be several ways to perform corrupt Excel file repair.

How to repair corrupt Excel files?

There are a couple of manual methods that can help you repair corrupt Excel files .

1. If the damaged Excel sheet can be opened, immediately save its copy; thereafter:
   • Open it with a later version of Excel and save it as a new workbook.
   • If this doesn’t work, open it in Excel’s latest version and save the workbook in HTML or HTM format.
   • Once this is done, reopen the HTML file and save again in XLS format.
   • Lastly, open the file and try saving it in SLK format (symbolic link)

Note: It is important to note that saving an Excel workbook in HTML format causes loss of features like custom views, scenarios, unused styles or number formats, natural language formulas, data consolidation settings, custom function categories, etc. In SYLK format only the active worksheet is saved so if using this method, you’ll need to repeat these steps for each worksheet.

2. Use Excel’s inbuilt Repair function as follows:
   • Launch Microsoft Excel and go to Office button -> Open
   • In the Open dialog box, select the damaged Excel file
   • On the bottom-right corner of the Open dialog box, you will find a drop-down next to Open Click on it and select Open and Repair
   • This will launch the inbuilt Repair module of Excel and you’ll see a dialog box asking you to select an option from Repair or Extract Data
   • Click on Repair to initiate the repair process.
   • If this doesn’t work, repeat steps 1-4, and when Excel asks you to select an option, select Extract Data from corrupt excel file. Thereafter, follow the instruction Excel shows and you should be able to retrieve your data, but you may end up losing some formulas.
3. If you cannot open the Excel, download Spreadsheet viewer from the Microsoft website and open the file using this program. Thereafter copy all data into a new Excel.

Note: This method will cause much of your formatting, formulas, and more to be lost.

4. You can download Open Office from its official website OpenOffice.org and try opening the Excel in it. The two programs are very similar so all data should automatically align in the correct place and with the correct formatting.

Note: With this method, VBA code cannot be recovered due to incompatibility between OpenOffice.org and Excel.

Full-proof method for corrupt Excel file repair

If you find the above methods confusing, or you wish to perform Excel file repair without having to face any data and formula loss, or you cannot achieve the desired results with any of these methods, stop wasting any more time with methods that will only frustrate you more. Instead, download the sure-shot solution for dealing with severe Excel corruption –Stellar Repair for Excel  and relax

Stellar Repair for Excel is the best choice for repairing corrupt or damaged Excel (.XLS/.XLSX) files and restoring everything to a new blank Excel file. This competent software can skillfully repair single as well as multiple XLS/XLSX files while preserving worksheet properties and cell formatting. If you have this product by your side, you don’t need to worry about Excel corruption errors ever again.

To Conclude

Instead of giving up on corrupted Excel sheets, try repairing them with the simple tricks we’ve described. And if they don’t work, keep calm and turn to Stellar Repair for Excel.

[Solved] : How to Fix MS Excel Crash Issue

Microsoft Excel may stop responding , hang, freeze, or stop working due to several reasons, such as in compatible add-ins. In such a case, you may receive one of the following error messages.

• Excel has stopped working

• Excel is not responding

• A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

Why Does Excel Keep Crashing?

If Excel keeps crashing on your PC while opening a workbook, saving Excel file, scrolling or editing cells, etc., it indicates a problem with your Excel program or the Excel file.

Microsoft Excel may crash due to any one or more reasons given below,

•  Incompatible Add-Ins
• Outdated MS Excel program
• Conflict with other programs or antivirus tool
•  Excel file created by third party software
• Problem with network connection
•  Combination of Cell formatting and stylings
• Problem with MS Office installation
• Partially damaged or corrupt Excel file

Problems Caused by Excel Crash Issue

Microsoft Excel crash may cause damage to Excel file and also lead to Excel (XLS/XLSX) file corruption.

Such corrupt Excel files can’t be opened or accessed via MS Excel app. If you try to access a corrupt Excel file, MS Excel may fail to open the file or stop responding and crash. Additionally, you may receive the following or similar error message,

In such a case, you should immediately try to recover the Excel file. You may do so by restoring the Excel file from backup or by using an Excel File Repair software. Otherwise, continue following this guide.

How to Solve Excel Crash Issue?

Before heading to solutions, follow these troubleshooting steps to resolve the Excel Crash issue.

Step 1: Copy File to Local Drive

If you are trying to access and edit or view an Excel file from a network drive, try moving the file to local drive. This will help you find if there is something wrong with the file or the network.

Step 2: Ensure Sufficient Memory

Excel files can grow fairly large when you start adding lots of formatting and shapes. Make sure that your system has enough RAM to run the application.

If you often work with large Excel files and complex data values& formulas, then install 64-bit versions of MS Office. It will give you an advantage of larger processing capacities and prevent Excel from crash or freeze.

Step 3: Check If Excel is Open and In Use by Another Process

Open Task Manager and close all processes or apps (tasks) that may be using or have access to your Excel file that you are working on. You can find this detail in status bar of Excel program at the bottom of program window.

After closing the tasks, try to access the Excel file and check if this fixes the performance and crash problem in Excel.

Step 4: Test and Repair Excel File

Create a copy of the Excel file and install Stellar Repair for Excel software. It’s free to download. Scan and repair your Excel file using the software. After repair, save the Excel file at your desired location and then open the Excel file in the MS Excel program.

This should ideally fix all the issues with Excel.

However, if the Excel program still crashes, the problem lies within the system or program. Follow the solutions discussed in this guide to try to fix the Excel crash issue.

NOTE: To save repaired Excel file using the mentioned software, you must purchase the activation key and activate it.

Solutions to Fix MS Excel Crash Issue

Following are some solutions to resolve problems with MS Excel such as,

• Excel not responding
• Excel won’t open
• Excel keeps crashing

Follow these solutions in the given order. In case a method doesn’t work, move to the next one.

Solution 1: Restart Excel in Safe Mode

By starting MS Excel in safe mode, you can run the program without loading the Excel add-ins and with limited features. But COM add-ins are excluded.

To launch Excel in safe mode, close MS Excel and follow these steps,

• Create a shortcut of MS Excel (.exe) on Desktop
• Press and hold the Ctrl key while launching the program
• Click ‘Yes’ when a prompt appears to confirm

Alternatively, press Windows+R, type excel /safe and press ‘Enter’. Use this to open Excel in safe mode on Windows 10, 8.1, 8, or 7 system.

Now try to open and access the Excel file and check if the issue is resolved. If it’s not, head on to the next solution.

Solution 2: Check and Remove Faulty Add-ins

In case Excel doesn’t crash in Safe Mode, it’s possible that some faulty add-ins are the culprit behind frequent Excel crash and freeze. These Excel add-ins may interfere or conflict with the Excel program.

Find and remove the faulty add-in. It can resolve the issue. To do so, follow these steps,

• Restart Excel in normal mode and go to File> Options> Add-ins
• Choose COM Add-ins from the drop-down and click Go

• Uncheck all the checkboxes and click OK

• Restart Excel and check if the issue is resolved
•  If Excel doesn’t crash or freeze anymore, open COM Add-ins and enable one add-in at a time followed by Excel restart. Then observe Excel for freeze or crash problem

This will help you find out the faulty add-in, which is causing the problem. Remove the add-in which is causing the problem to resolve the issue. If that doesn’t fix, move to the next solution.

Solution 3: Check and Install the Latest Updates

If you haven’t set Windows to Download and Install Updates automatically, do it now.

Apart from updating the operating system, latest Windows updates sometimes fixes bugs for other applications installed on the system such as MS Office. Often installing an important update that you might have missed may correct the Excel crash problem.

You can also update MS Office manually. Follow these steps,

Go to File > Account

 Under Product Information, select Update Options and click Update Now

If you have installed MS Excel from Microsoft Store, open the store and update your Office applications.

NOTE: This also works if you can’t open Excel file or Excel crashes after Windows upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10.

After installing the latest MS Office updates, check if Excel works fine. If not, head to the next solution.

Solution 4: Clear Conditional Formatting Rules

If a sheet is causing Excel to freeze or crash, there might be a problem with that particular sheet. In such a case, you may try clearing the Conditional Formatting rules. The steps are as follows,

• Under Home, click ‘Conditional Formatting > Clear Rules> Clear Rules from Entire Sheet’

• You may repeat this step for all other sheets in the Excel workbook
• Then click File> Save as and save the Sheet as a new file at a different location

This avoids overwriting or making changes to the original Excel file. Once done, try working on the sheet.

If this doesn’t work out, move to the next solution.

Solution 5: Remove Multiple Cell Formatting and Styles

If a workbook is being shared and edited by others on different platforms then it’s possible that many cells are formatted differently. This can cause issues with Excel such as crash and freeze. It can also lead to Excel file corruption. The problem mostly occurs when a workbook contains multiple worksheets using different formatting.

You can follow this guide to remove different cell formats and styles, and then open the Excel file.

Solution 6: Disable Microsoft Excel Animation

Animations require additional processing power and resources. By disabling animations in Excel, you may resolve Excel freeze and crash issue. This also improves MS Excel performance.

To disable the animations in MS Excel, follow these steps:

• Go to File > Options
• Click ‘Advanced’ and check ‘Disable hardware graphics acceleration’animation

• Click ‘OK’ to close the window and then restart MS Excel

This has helped many users in fixing the Excel crash issue. If it doesn’t work for you, head to the next solution.

Solution 7: Check If Excel File is Generated by a Third-Party Application

There are applications which you may have used to generate Excel files to fetch data. For instance, downloading data from Google Analytics in Excel format.

Sometimes, these Excel files are not generated correctly by such third-party apps. Thus, some features in Excel may not work as intended when you access the files in MS Excel.

In such a case, you should get in touch with the app developer for help with the file or use Stellar Repair for Excel to repair such Excel files.

Solution 8: Check If Antivirus or Other Apps are Conflicting with MS Excel

Ensure your antivirus is up-to-date and not conflicting with MS Excel. An outdated antivirus tool may conflict with Excel which can cause the application to hang, freeze, or crash.

• Update your antivirus
• Try disabling the add-in or integration between Excel and antivirus. See if it works

Alternatively, you may disable the anti-virus tool temporarily to check if it is the culprit behind Excel performance issue and crash. If that resolves the problem, get in touch with your antivirus vendor and report the problem.

They might provide you with a better solution or workaround to fix this problem without disabling the antivirus protection.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Disabling or altering antivirus protection makes your PC vulnerable to malicious attacks and virus or malware intrusion.

Solution 9: Clean Boot Windows to Inspect the Cause Behind Excel Crash

When Windows boot, it starts several processes, services, and application during start up automatically, which runs in the background.

These startup apps and services can interfere with other applications such as MS Excel. To find out if that’s the cause behind Excel crash, you can perform a Clean Boot.

This helps you identify processes, services, or applications that are conflicting with Excel. Steps to perform Clean Boot are as follows,

• Press Windows key + R, type MSConfig, and press ‘Enter’
• In System Configuration window, click on the General tab and choose Selective startup

Uncheck ‘Load startup items’ and click ‘OK’

After this, close all running applications and restart your PC

Check if the crash problem with Excel is resolved. Uninstall the conflicting apps or update them. If your issue is not resolved, follow the next solution.

Solution 10: Repair or Reinstall MS Office

Repairing Office programs may also resolve Excel crash issues if caused by damaged MS Excel program or MS Office files. The steps are as follow,

• Close all MS Office apps and open the Control Panel
• Click Uninstall a program under Programs

• Click on Microsoft Office and then click on the Change option
• Choose ‘Quick repair’ and then select ‘Repair’
• Click ‘Continue’ to repair MS Office installation

You may also try ‘Online Repair’ if this fails to fix the issue. After repair, if the Excel issue persists, reinstall MS Office.

Need More Help?

If none of the above-mentioned solutions worked for you, it indicates that the problem is not with the Excel program but with the Excel file. If you haven’t tried the Stellar Repair for Excel software, do it now.

Select the Excel file which is causing the problem and repair it with the software. It’s a powerful Excel repair software that can fix all the problems with Excel files (XLS/XLSX). It repairs corrupt and severely damaged Excel files.

The software is compatible with all Excel files created using MS Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003 or 2000.

After repairing and saving the Excel file, you can open it in your MS Excel program and work on it without any performance issue. To know more about this software, visit this page.

Get Rid of corrupt Excel File

Summary: What to do when an Excel file is corrupted? This is a common question that is often asked by Microsoft Excel users. If you too are seeking an answer to this question, read the blog to learn about a few manual workarounds and a specialized Excel file repair tool to resolve the Excel file corruption issue.

An Excel file gets corrupted due to various reasons such as a virus/malware attack, sudden system shutdown when the Excel file is still open, power failure while working with an Excel spreadsheet, etc.

When Microsoft Excel detects corruption in a workbook, it attempts to repair the workbook by starting ‘File Recovery mode’.

Tip! If the file recovery mode doesn’t start, you may use the manual repair process or an Excel repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Excel to repair a corrupted Excel file. The software can help you quickly retrieve contents from a damaged, corrupt, or inaccessible Excel file and restore the file to its original state.

There even exist a few manual tips that can be used to recover data from damaged MS Office Excel files.

Workarounds to Use When an Excel File is Corrupted

Note: Before carrying out any of the repair and recovery workarounds, it is advised that you must save a backup copy of the damaged file. This is to prevent your files from turning completely inaccessible in case the methods fail to give desired results.

Workaround 1: Use the Open and Repair Method

If MS Excel cannot repair a corrupted workbook automatically, you can try to do it manually. To do so, perform the following:

• Open the corrupt file, like you normally open any file, by clicking File > Open.
• Browse and locate the folder containing the corrupted document.
• When the Open dialog box is displayed:
• Select the Excel document.
• Click on the arrow present to the right side of the Open button and select Open and Repair option.

Figure 1 – Open and Repair Feature

If this doesn’t help repair the broken Excel file or you encounter  Open and Repair does not work issue, proceed with the next workaround.

Tip! Try an alternative solution, i.e. Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair and recover corrupt Excel files (.xlsx or .xls) when the ‘Open and Repair’ method won’t work.  

Workaround 2: Restore an Excel File with a Shadow Copy

If you’re a Windows 7 or Vista user, you can try restoring the corrupted spreadsheet by using a shadow copy (or a previous version). [Shadow copy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Copy#:~:text=Shadow%20Copy%20(also%20known%20as,the%20Volume%20Shadow%20Copy%20service .) is basically a snapshot (backup copy) of computer files or volumes. The snapshot may contain an older version of your Excel file that has become damaged now. To find out, do the following:

• Launch File Explorer, and right-click the folder in which the file is saved.
• Choose Properties.
• Look for and click the Previous Versions tab. This will display a list of entries under Folder versions or File versions, going back a few days or weeks.
• Double-click one with a date when the file was accessible and could be read. Then, try to open its older version. If it opens, save the older version with a new name and execute the procedure with new file/folder entries.

Figure 2 – Volume Shadow Copy

You would have to repeat the process until you reach the point where the file became damaged. With this, you will get a baseline version of the file, but data may still have been lost.

Workaround 3: Test your Assumptions

If you receive a message saying “Excel file corrupted and cannot be opened”, you would probably believe it. However, there could be other reasons besides corruption that may cause Excel to throw this error message.

Your Office suite, which Excel is a part of, maybe having some primary issues in it causing problems while opening one Excel document. So, try opening another Excel file to check if the problem exists with all the files or just one.

If other Excel documents work correctly, it means that only the particular document is corrupt. On the contrary, if the issue is with your Office suite, repairing the current Office installation may help fix the issue. For this, perform these steps:

• Go to Control Panel and click Uninstall the Program.
• Choose Office.
• Click Change, and hit the Repair button.

You can reinstall the entire Office package. Once reinstalled, try to open the file to check if the issue has been fixed and the Excel file repaired.

Figure 3 – MS Office Repair

Workaround 4: Use Excel File Repair Tool

If the above manual solutions fail, use Excel repair software to successfully repair your damaged Excel workbook and recover all its data. Essentially, the software rebuilds damaged Excel workbook data at a granular level to recover every single object & all the original properties of the workbook.

Suggested Read: How to repair corrupt Excel files using Stellar Repair for Excel?

Why Use Stellar Repair for Excel Software?

• Repairs severely corrupted XLSX and XLS files.
• Can handle corrupt Excel files of any size.
• Demo version allows previewing recoverable Excel file items for free.
• Supports Microsoft Excel 2019 and all lower versions.
• Compatible with Windows 10 and lower versions.
• Tested and recommended by Microsoft Excel MVPs.

Final Word

When an Excel file is corrupted, it won’t open at all or you won’t be able to access all the file data. Such a situation can lead to unnecessary halts, impacting work productivity.

There are manual workarounds that may help fix the corrupt Excel file and recover its data, such as the ones covered in this blog. However, these solutions might not work in severe corruption cases and may require technical assistance. Also, they may result in some data loss.

To overcome the limitations of manual workarounds, it is recommended to go for a professional Excel file repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Excel . It helps repair corrupt Excel (XLS or XLSX) files and restores all worksheet data, such as the table, chart, chart sheet, cell comment, sort and filter, image, formula, etc. in a few simple clicks. Moreover, the software provides a free preview of the recoverable data with its demo version. You can check the preview to evaluate how the software works.

[Error Solved] Excel file is not in recognizable format

Summary: Microsoft’s Excel is one of the most widely used spreadsheet tools, however, it isn’t entirely free of errors. There are in fact quite a large number of problems that can crop up in this user-friendly application which can put all work to halt. One such error occurs when Excel does not recognize the file format of .xls or .xlsx file and the error message says “Excel file is not in recognizable format” error. Let us explore this annoying error in detail.

Figure: Error message

From a small shop to the global industry giants, everyone relies on Microsoft Excel to complete their work. Quite a few businesses not only use Excel for their inventory tracking purposes but also to manage task lists and timesheets for their employees and project management charts. With high programming proficiency, one can create macros in excel which help in automating a lot of things. You can create quite a few variations, such as pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, area charts, and many more to showcase the data both in a tabular column as well as in a pictorial representation.

While Excel enjoys wild popularity, thanks to its powerful design and features, it doesn’t mean that Excel is all free of errors. There are actually repetition a few errors that one can encounter. One you might have come across is the error stating “Excel file is not in a recognizable format”.

What is this error all about?

The “Excel file in unrecognizable format error” occurs when the Excel file you are trying to load is corrupted. Microsoft has ensured that the workbook will be recoverable when the file is imported into excel but there are times when the automatic recovery does not happen. That’s where the challenge really lies. In such cases, getting to the root of the issue becomes necessary to be able to solve it.

Reasons behind the error

1. One of the main reasons for the error is that the file must have got corrupted while being transferred from one machine to another.
2. Another reason can be that the latest service pack might not be in use on your system.
3. There could be MS Excel version change.
4. Corruption of the file due to virus infection, extremely large databases, or multiple locks on the file at the same time can also trigger this error.

If you have ever faced this error, you do not need to panic. We have a couple of solutions listed for you when you face the Excel file in an unrecognizable format error.

How do you go about fixing this?

Solution 1: Use MOC.exe file to convert the workbook and then open it in Excel:

1. Right-click on .XLS (you can use any .XLS files in your system).
2. A new dialogue will appear. Here, click on “Choose another app” to select it.

Figure: choose another app

3. You will now be presented with a number of applications which the OS thinks the file format will be compatible with.
4. You do not have to choose any of the prepopulated apps from the list.

Figure: Look for another app

5. Navigate using the Look for another app on this PC  to the path “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeVersion”
6. You will see a file name MOC.exe
7. Choose that and complete your export.
8. Try opening the workbook in Excel and the error should now be resolved.

Solution 2: Opening the file from within the Excel:

1. Open a new Excel workbook.
2. Press “Alt + F” or alternatively, go to the menu.
3. Once you are in the menu, go to Options.
4. You will be able to see a number of tabs on the left side of the options.
5. Under the ‘Formulas’ tab, ensure that the calculation is in Manual mode – this setting is in the automatic mode, by default.

Figure: Manual option

6. Click OK and save the changes to the workbook.
7. Now, browse for the file which was corrupted.
8. Click on the file and then select the option “Open and Repair”. You will find it in the drop down Menu.

Figure: Open and Repair

9. Once the file has been imported, click on “Repair” to recover the data from the selected workbook.

Figure: Repair option

Solution 3: Use automated Excel repair software

If none of the above mentioned manual methods works to eliminate the ‘Excel file in unrecognizable format’ error, it means your Excel file has been severely corrupted and needs professional assistance. In such a scenario, quickly download reliable and competent software Stellar Repair for Excel. Backed by powerful scanning and repair algorithms, this product guarantees up to 100% Excel file repair regardless of the amount of damage in it.

1. Download, install and launch Stellar Repair for Excel.
2. Allow the software to scan the corrupted Excel file.
3. All recoverable data will be listed in a tree-view list. You can select and preview any item from here.
4. Select and recover individual or entire data from the file and save as a new Excel.

This method is currently the easiest and most convenient to resolve miscellaneous Excel errors.

Wrapping it up

Excel is one of the most powerful tools which can easily reduce your workload by more than 75% if used in a proper way. However, if you face complex errors like “Excel file is not in recognizable format”, you can use the methods mentioned above to get rid of it and resume your working in MS Excel. Remember, if the manual solutions don’t work, you can always rely on a proficient software like Stellar Repair for Excel to complete the job with finesse.

Easy Steps to Make Excel Hyperlinks Working

Summary: This blog discusses why hyperlinks won’t work in Excel and solutions to fix it. If nothing works, try using Stellar Repair for Excel software to recover your workbook with hyperlinks and all the data intact.

Hyperlinks in your Excel file could be references to a file’s location on the computer or a location within the same worksheet. Or, hyperlinks might be pointing to a URL. Sometimes, the hyperlinks won’t work and any of the following errors may pop up on your screen on clicking a hyperlink:

‘Cannot open the specified file.’

‘This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.’

Causes of ‘hyperlinks not working in Excel’ problem, and solutions thereof

Here are some of the possible causes behind the ‘hyperlinks not working’ issue and solutions to fix it:

Cause 1 – Change in the name of the hyperlinked file

If the file name that appears in the hyperlink text is different than the actual file name, it will prevent the hyperlink from working.

Solution – Link to the renamed file

Ensure that the links in the Excel file are updated and points to the renamed file. For this, right-click the hyperlink and select ‘Edit the hyperlink’. Next, in the hyperlink address, replace the current filename with the renamed one in the hyperlink address.

Cause 2 – File name has a pound (#) sign

When you create a hyperlink for a file in Excel, you cannot use a pound character (#) in the file name that appears in the hyperlink. That is because the pound sign is not accepted in hyperlinks and may lead to the ‘Cannot open the specified file’ error.

Note: While you can use a pound character in a file name, it cannot be used in hyperlinks in an MS Office document.  

Solution – Rename the file name and remove the pound sign

Open the file that contains the ‘#’ sign and rename it by following these steps.

• Right-click the cell containing the hyperlink that is not working, and click Edit Hyperlink.
• From the Address box, copy the address of the file you are linking to.
• Go to the location where the file is stored, right-click on the file, and click Rename.
• Remove the ‘#’ character from the name of the file.
• Go back to the Excel file, right-click on the problematic hyperlink, and choose Edit Hyperlink. Next, browse and select the renamed file.
• The renamed file without the pound sign will be added in the Address box.
• Click OK.

Now try opening the hyperlink.

Cause 3 – Sudden system shutdown causes abrupt closing of Excel

There may be a discrepancy in the data in hyperlinks when a system shut down suddenly, without properly closing the Excel file. And so, when trying to open a link, it won’t open.

Solution – Enable the option to save hyperlinks

There is an inbuilt option in Excel to update hyperlinks every time the workbook is saved. Follow these steps to enable that option:

Note: The steps may vary based on the Excel version you are using.

For Excel 2013, 2016, or 2019:

• Open Excel Workbook -> Go to File->Options->Advanced
• Scroll down to find the General tab and click on Web Options
• Web Options Window pops-up
• In the Web Options Window, go to Files Tab and select the ‘Update Links on save‘ checkbox
• Click on OK button and your option is saved

The steps are also explained in the image below:

For Excel 2007:

• Click the Office button
• Select Excel Options, then follow Step 1) to Step 5), as mentioned above and get the Excel Hyperlinks to work again.

Still unable to open hyperlinks in Excel?

If you fail to make Excel hyperlinks work using the above-discussed solutions, use an Excel repair tool to fix the hyperlinks issue. Download the Stellar Repair for Excel to repair an XLS/XLSX file and restore the hyperlinks.

See the working of the tool here:

The tool recovers all components of the Excel file including tables, charts, chart sheets, cell comments, images, formulas, and more. You can repair multiple worksheets and fix all dysfunctional Excel hyperlinks across multiple worksheets in a single workbook. Click on the workbook, select all worksheets and start repairing

Conclusion

Carefully read the possible causes behind the ‘Excel Hyperlinks not working’ issue to understand what resulted in the issue in the first place. If nothing helps, use Stellar Repair for Excel to restore the hyperlinks and save the result in a new Excel file, without interfering with worksheet properties and cell formatting.

Repair Files using Stellar Toolkit for File Repair

Stellar Toolkit for File Repair Technician

The main interface of Stellar Toolkit for File Repair comprises four modules to repair MS Office and PDF files. These modules are:

• Repair Document
• Repair Spreadsheet
• Repair PowerPoint
• Repair PDF

Click on the desired tab to repair that file format.

                                    Figure 1 - Illustrates Homepage of the Stellar Toolkit for File Repair

Steps to Repair MS Word – .doc/.docx file

• Click Select File to select a single corrupt Word (.doc/.docx) file that you want to repair. Alternately, click Select Folder for selecting all Word files in a single folder.

Note: Click Find file(s) to search for the Word file, if the location is not known.

                                     Figure 2 - Illustrates Selection of single doc/.docx file or multiple files

• Once the file is selected, click the Scan button to scan and repair the file.
• A preview of the repaired Word file is displayed on the screen. Verify the file contents from the right pane of the preview window.

                                         Figure 3 - Preview of Repaired Word Document

Note: If you’re unable to repair a corrupt .doc file, select ‘Advance Repair’ option from the File menu for repairing the .doc files.  

• Click the Save icon on the File menu to save the repaired file.

                                                                     Figure 4 - File Menu

• In Save Document dialog box that appears, do the following:

• Select default location or a new folder to save the repaired file.

• Save the file in any of these formats: ‘Full Document’, ‘Filtered Text’ or ‘Raw Text’.

• Click OK.

                                                        Figure 5 - Word Document Saving Options

The repaired file will be saved at your preferred location.

Steps to Repair Excel – .xls/.xlsx files

• In Select File window, click Browse to select the corrupt Excel file from the desired location. If you do not know the file location, click Search to find and select the corrupted spreadsheet.
• Once the Excel file is selected, start repairing the file by clicking the Repair button.

                              Figure 6 - Illustrates selection of one xls/xlsx file or multiple files in a folder

• After completion of the repair process, the software displays the repaired Excel file and its recoverable data in a preview window.

                                                        Figure 7 - Preview of Excel File

• Click on Save File icon on Home menu to save the repaired file.
• In Save File dialog box, choose Default location or Select New Folder for saving the file.

                                               Figure 8 - Select Destination to Save Repaired Excel File

• Click OK to proceed with the saving process.

The repaired file gets saved at the preferred location.

Note: To recover the Engineering formulae, include ‘Analysis ToolPak’ Add-in.

 Steps to Repair PowerPoint – ppt/pptx/pptm file

• Click Browse to select the corrupt PowerPoint file. Alternately, click on Search to search for the file, if the location is not known.

                                    Figure 9 - Illustrates Selection of Single PowerPoint Presentation

• Once the corrupt PowerPoint file is selected, click Scan for scanning and repairing the file.
• A preview of scanned file gets displayed. Verify the file contents from the preview window.
• Click Save on Home menu to save the repaired PPT file.
• From the Save File dialog box, click Default location or Other location under Save As for saving the file.

                                                    Figure 10 - Select Location to Save PPT File

• Click on the OK button and the repaired file is saved at preferred location.

Steps to Repair PDF file

• From the Stellar Repair for PDF main interface window, click Add File to select a single or multiple PDF files you want to repair.

                                            Figure 11 - Illustrates adding of corrupt PDF Files

• A screen with recently added PDF file is displayed. Select the file and click Repair to start repairing it.

                                                Figure 12 - Repair the Selected PDF File

• A screen showing the progress of the repair process appears.
• When the ‘Repair Complete’ window pops-up, click OK.
• Preview the repaired PDF file.
• Click the Save Repaired Files button to save the repaired file.

                                                  Figure 13 - Save Repaired File

• In Browse for Folder dialog box, select a folder for saving the file.
• From the Saving Complete dialog box, click the hyperlink to the folder containing the repaired PDF file.

                                                      Figure 14 - Saving Complete Window

• Click OK.

How to Fix the Unable to Record Macro Error in Excel?

Summary: You may encounter the “Unable to record macro” error in MS Excel when using Personal Macro Workbooks. In this post, we’ll discuss the possible causes behind this error and the ways to fix it. We’ll also mention a professional Excel repair tool that can help fix the error if it occurs due to corrupted workbook.

A personal macro workbook (Personal.xlsb file) is a hidden workbook in Excel that stores all macros in a single workbook. This allows you to automate processes while working in Excel. Sometimes, when recording macro codes in the personal macro workbook, you may get the message “Personal Macro Workbook in a startup folder must stay open for recording”. When you click on the OK button, it will show the “unable to record” error. This prevents you from recording the macros. Below, we’ll see the causes behind this error and discuss how to resolve this error.

Causes of Unable to Record Macro Error

You may be unable to record macros in Excel due to several reasons. Let’s take a look at the possible causes that can lead to this issue.

• The location of personal.xlsb file is changed.
• Personal.xlsb file is corrupted.
• Macros are disabled.

Methods to Fix the “Unable to Record Macro” Error in Excel

Here are some possible solutions that can help you resolve the unable to record macro error in Excel.

Method 1: Check the Path of XLStart Folder

You may be unable to record macros if the path of XLStart folder is incorrect. It is a folder where the Personal.xlsb file is stored by default. Follow these steps to find out the path of this folder:

• Open MS Excel. Go to File > Options.
• Click Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.

• In the Trust Center Settings window, click on Trusted Locations.

• Verify the path of the XLSTART folder and modify it if there is an issue.
• Once you are done, click on OK.

Method 2: Change Macro Security

The “Unable to record macro” error can occur if macros are disabled in the Macro Security settings. You can try changing the macro settings using the below steps:

• In MS Excel, go to File > Options > Trust Center.

• Under Trust Center, click on Trust Center Settings.

• Select “Enable all macros” and then click OK.

Method 3: Check Add-ins for Disabled Items

If there are any items in add-ins that are disabled, they may prevent Excel from functioning properly. You can check and enable the items in MS Excel using the below steps:

• Click File > Options.

• In Excel Options, click on the Add-ins option.
• Select Disabled Items from the Manage section and click on Go.

• The Disabled Items window is displayed.
• Click on the disabled item and then click Enable.
• Restart Excel for the changes to take place.

Method 4: Repair your Excel File

You may fail to record macros if there is corruption in the workbook. In such a case, you can use the “Open and Repair” utility in MS Excel to repair the corrupt workbook. To use this tool, follow these steps:

• Open your Excel application.
• Click File > Open.
• Browse to the location where the corrupted file is stored.
• In the Open dialog box, choose the corrupted workbook.

• From the Open dropdown list, click Open and Repair.

Excel will prompt you to repair the file or extract data from it. Click Repair to retrieve maximum data. If the Repair option fails, then click on the Extract Data option to recover the data without formulas and values.

If the Microsoft utility “Open and Repair” fails to repair the corrupted Excel workbook, then try a professional Excel repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Excel. It is an advanced tool that can easily repair severely corrupted Excel (XLSX and XLS) files. It can recover all the file items, including chart sheets, cell comments, tables, macros, formulas, etc. without impacting the properties and cell format of the Excel file.

Closure

You may receive the “unable to record” error in Excel while creating or storing macros in Personal Macro Workbooks. There are several reasons that can lead to this error. You can try the methods covered in this post to resolve the error. If the error appears due to corruption in workbook, then try to repair it using the Open and Repair utility. Alternatively, you can use Stellar Repair for Excel – a professional tool that can help you repair an Excel file with problematic macros. Also, it allows recovery of all the file components with complete integrity. The tool is compatible with Excel 2021, 2019, 2016, and older versions.

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