Data Disappears in Excel - How to get it back

Summary: You may face the issue of ‘Excel spreadsheet data disappeared’ after changing Excel file properties and formatting rows and columns. This blog discusses the possible reasons for data disappearance and the solutions to fix the issue. Also, it mentions an Excel file repair tool to retrieve the data from the file. Sometimes, while editing or formatting a cell in an Excel spreadsheet, the data may go missing or disappear. Let’s discuss in detail the reasons that may cause the ‘Excel data disappeared’ issue along with the solutions.

Probable Reasons for Data Disappearing in MS Excel and Solutions Thereof

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### Reason 1 – Unsaved Data

While entering data in an Excel spreadsheet, it is important to save the data at frequent intervals. Doing so prevents any unsaved data from disappearing if you lose power or accidentally click ‘No’ when prompted to save the file. Unfortunately, such a situation is quite common as users often close the file without saving the recently made changes to a spreadsheet.

Solution – Use the ‘AutoSave’ Feature

With the AutoSave feature enabled in Excel, data won’t be lost in the event of power failure or abruptly closing the Excel program. By default, Excel automatically saves the information in a spreadsheet after every 10 minutes. You can reduce the limit to a few seconds to reduce the chances of Excel file data lost after being saved.

Reason 2 – Changing Excel Format

You can save an Excel file in various formats, like spreadsheet, text, webpage, and more. However, at times, saving the spreadsheet in a different format may lead to missing data. For example, when you save a workbook to a text file format, all formulas and calculations applied to the data will be lost.

Solution – Adjust a Spreadsheet for the Changed Format

If you’re changing the format of a spreadsheet, make space for the rows and columns. Also, remove all calculations before saving the file.

Note: If the sheet is shared on multiple computers, then save the file in compatibility mode.

Reason 3 – Merging Cells

You can combine two or more cells data to make one large cell. This technique is primarily used to fit the text of a title in a sheet. If there is data in two or more cells, then only the data in the top-left cell is displayed and the data in all other cells is deleted. If the other merged cells have been populated with data after merging, the data is not featured and it does not appear even after remerging the cells.

Solution – Merge Cells inside One Column

To merge cells without data loss, combine all the cells you want to merge within a column and do the following:

• Select the cells to be combined.
• Ensure that column width is wide enough to fit the contents of a cell.
• In the spreadsheet, under the Editing group, click ‘Fill,’ and then click ‘Justify.’

• Under Alignment, click on the ‘Merge & Center’ option to center align the text. Or, click on ‘Merge Cells’.

Note: This solution works for text only. You cannot use it to merge formulas or any numerical values. If you need to combine two or more cells with formula into a single cell, try using the Excel CONCAT function .

Reason 4 – Cell Formatting

Cells and text in the cells can be displayed in different colors to make the spreadsheet simple to create and infer. You may experience data loss when you try to modify the data or change the color or size of the data. Though the information may exist, the data may show an error due to the following reasons:  

• White-colored text will not show in a white-colored cell
• Large font-sized data may not appear in small-sized cell
• Calculations may show (#VALUE) error after cell-formatting

Solution – Check and Clear Formatting

Make sure to use dark-colored text on a white-colored cell. Also, resize the cell to fit the text size. Check if numbers in a cell are entered as text. If so, you need to apply a number format to the text-formatted numbers. Read more about it, from here .

What Else You Can Do to Resolve the ‘Excel Data Disappeared’ Issue?

If you can’t recover the missing Excel file data, try to repair or extract the data from the file using the built-in Excel repair tool. Follow the below steps to use the tool:

• Open MS Excel, click File > Open > Computer > Browse.
• On the ‘Open’ window, select the file you want to repair and then click on the Open dropdown.
• Select Open and Repair.

Use the ‘Repair’ option to repair the file and recover as much data as you can from the repaired file. If this doesn’t work, use the ‘Extract’ option to recover the data.

If you fail to retrieve the disappeared data from that file using the above-listed steps, opt for an Excel repair tool , like Stellar Repair for Excel. This software has a proven track record of repairing corrupt or damaged Excel files and recover all the data.

The software helps:

• Fix all corruption errors. It helps in getting back the data which has disappeared.
• Repair a single as well as multiple Excel files.
• Recover all components of XLS/XLSX files – tables, chart sheet, cell comment, image and more.
• Preserve the worksheet properties and cell formatting.
• Support the latest Excel 2019 and earlier versions.

The Excel repair software repairs the Excel file in these simple steps:

• Launch and open the software.
• Select the corrupt Excel file by using the ‘Browse’ option. If the file location is not available, then find the Excel file using the ‘Search’ option.

• Click ‘Repair’ to scan the corrupt file.

• Once the repair process is complete, verify the components of Excel file and check if the available preview shows complete data that disappeared from Excel.

• Save file at default location or preferred location.

The Excel file with all the restored data will be saved at the selected location.

Conclusion

It is better to repair the affected Excel file than suffer the loss when data or text disappears in Excel. A professional software ensures that users get back all the data in the form of a new Excel file. Stellar Repair for Excel software repairs the corrupt file without modifying the original content and file format. The software’s easy-to-use user interface lets you perform the functions without formal software training and technical expertise.

Fixed “Cannot Insert Object” Error in Excel | Step-by-Step Guide

Summary: The error “cannot insert object” in MS Excel can prevent you from modifying objects in the worksheet. This blog will discuss the primary reasons behind this error and the possible solutions to fix it. You will also learn about a professional Excel repair software that can help fix the error if it has occurred due to corruption in Excel file.

Many users have reported encountering the “cannot insert object” error while adding/embedding objects into the Excel file. It usually occurs when using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) to add content (PDF, Microsoft documents) from external applications to worksheet. The error can also occur when using ActiveX control in Excel. Below, we’ll explain why you cannot insert object into Excel sheet and how to troubleshoot the issue.

Why the “Cannot Insert Object” Error Occurs?

• Macro Settings can prevent the insertion of objects into a workbook.
• The Excel file in which you are trying to add an element is corrupted.
• The object (you are inserting into the workbook) is damaged.
• Object size limitations.
• System’s insufficient memory might prevent new objects’ addition.
• Incompatible Excel file format.
• Add-ins controls are disabled.
• Incompatible or faulty Add-ins.
• Issue with Security Settings.

Methods to Fix the “Cannot Insert Object” Error in Excel

You may encounter the “Cannot insert object” error when trying to add an element stored on a network. It can occur due to issues with the file link, such as incorrect file location. In such a case, you can check the link by selecting the link to file option from the Insert tab.

Sometimes, the error can occur if the file in which you are trying to insert the object is locked and password-protected. In this case, you can unprotect the Excel file . If the issue still persists, then you can follow the below methods.

Method 1: Check and Change Restricted Security Settings

Excel provides security settings to protect your workbook. Sometimes, these settings can prevent inserting objects in the file. You can change the security settings to allow Excel to insert objects. To do so, follow these steps:

• Open your Excel application.
• Locate the File and then click Options.
• In Excel Options, click Trust Center.

• Click Trust Center Settings.
• In the Trust Center Settings window, select Protected View from the left pane.

• Under Protected View, unselect the below three options:
• Enable Protected View for files originating from the internet.
• Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.
• Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.

• Click OK.
• Once you’re done with this, click on Macro Settings in the Trust Center window.
• Under Macro Settings, make sure “Disable all macros without notification” is not selected. If it is selected, then unselect it. After that, click OK.

• Restart Excel to apply the changes.

Method 2: Uninstall Microsoft Office Updates

You can also encounter the “Cannot insert object” error in Excel after installing MS Office updates. It might be due to the issues with the installed updates. To fix this, you can uninstall the recently installed Office updates. To uninstall the Office updates, follow these steps:

• Go to the system’s Control Panel.
• Click Programs and then click Program and Features.
• Search for “View Installed Updates” and click on the desired Office updates.
• Right-click on it and then click Uninstall.
• Follow the uninstallation steps on the screen.
• Once the process is complete, restart the system.

Method 3: Check Memory Usage

The “Cannot insert object” issue can also occur if your system is low on memory. You can check and close unnecessary processes and applications running in the background to free up memory. To do so, follow these steps:

• Press CTRL + ALT + DEL on the keyboard and click Task Manager.
• Click on the Processes tab and search for any unnecessary processes.
• Right-click on the process and then select End Task.
• Restart Excel to see if the issue is fixed.

Method 4: Check Excel File Size

If your Excel file size exceeds the prescribed limit, it can also lead to the “Cannot insert Excel object” error. So, check the Excel file size. You can reduce the file size by removing unnecessary objects, such as formulas or images.

Method 5: Check and Change Excel ActiveX Settings

You can get the “Excel cannot insert object” error if your Excel file contains macros, controls, and other interactive buttons. It usually occurs if the ActiveX Controls option is disabled. You can check and change the ActiveX Settings to fix the issue. Here are the steps:

• Open your Excel application.
• Navigate to File and then click Options.
• In Excel Options, click the Trust Center tab.
• In the Trust Center Settings, click ActiveX Settings.
• Under ActiveX Settings, make sure the “Enable all controls without restrictions and without prompting” option is selected.

• If the option is not selected, then select it and click OK.
• Restart the Excel and check if the error is fixed or not.

Method 6: Repair the Excel Workbook

The “Cannot insert object” error can occur if the object you are trying to insert is corrupted or the file in which you are inserting the object is damaged. If the issue has occurred due to a corrupted Excel file, then you can repair the file using the Open and Repair utility in MS Excel. To use this Microsoft-inbuilt utility, follow these steps:

• In the Excel application, go to the File tab and then click Open.
• Click Browse to choose the affected file.
• The Open dialog box is displayed. Click on the corrupted file.
• Click on the arrow next to the Open button and then click Open and Repair.
• Click on Repair.

• After repair, a message will appear (as shown in the below figure).

• Click Close.

If the Open and Repair utility fails to fix the issue, then try a professional Excel Repair software, like Stellar Repair for Excel. It is designed to repair severely corrupted Excel files. It can restore all the Excel file objects, such as tables, charts, formulas, etc. It helps fix all types of corruption related errors. The software is compatible with all versions of Excel.

Conclusion

You might encounter the “Cannot insert object” error when embedding or inserting objects in Excel. In this post, we have discussed the possible solutions to fix this error. We have also mentioned an Excel repair software that can help to easily repair the corrupted Excel file and recover all the data. You can download the Stellar Repair for Excel’s free demo version to preview the recoverable objects of the corrupted Excel file.

Excel File Corruption Warnings and Solutions

Summary: Many users reported error messages they receive when they try to save or open an Excel file. In this blog, you will learn about the warning messages that indicate your Excel file is corrupt and possible solutions to repair it. It also outlines the Stellar Repair for Excel to repair corrupt Excel files.

Excel users often report about receiving warning messages suggesting corruption in the workbook. This usually happens while opening an Excel file, ‘.xls’ or ‘.xlsx’ file created by earlier versions, or attempting to create a copy of the workbook.

Excel file corruption may occur due to several reasons including (but not limited to) virus infection, sudden system shutdown during write operation, and leaving excel file open on the shared network.

Occurrences of Excel File Corruption Warnings

Occurrence 1 – “Excel found unreadable content in . Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes”.

On clicking ‘Yes’, you will receive the following error:

 “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened”.

Occurrence 2 – “Excel cannot open the file , because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file”.

Besides the warning messages outlined above, there are a few other tell-tale signs of Excel file corruption such as:

• Excel crashes or freezes, preventing you from accessing the workbook and information stored in it.
• Unexpected errors occur during the save operation listed as below:
  • “An unexpected error has occurred. AutoRecover has been disabled for this session of Excel”.
  • “Errors were detected while saving ”.

Solutions to Fix Excel File Corruption Issue

Follow the below-listed solutions to deal with corruption issues in Excel:

NOTE: If you encountered problem opening Excel files after upgrading to latest Windows Operating System (OS) and Office program, try updating your Office as well as Windows OS to latest patches provided on the Microsoft site. Microsoft frequently releases Office and Windows OS patches to help users’ correct known errors. Check if you can open the corrupt workbook after installing the update.

Solution 1 – Use Open and Repair Utility

Excel comes with a built-in recovery mechanism. It automatically starts ‘File Recovery Mode’ when a user opens a corrupt workbook, and attempts to open and repair the workbook. Sometimes, the recovery mode might not start automatically. In that case, you will need to repair the Excel file manually by using ‘Open and Repair ’ utility.

Steps to use Microsoft’s built-in repair utility are as follows:

Step 1: Select File > Open.

Step 2: Click the folder containing the corrupt workbook, and then click Browse.

Step 3: In the Open window, select the corrupt workbook.

Step 4: Next, click the arrow in the Open button, and then click Open and Repair.

Step 5: In the window that appears, click Repair.

If  ‘Open and Repair’ doesn’t work in excel , select Extract Data to extract formulas and values from the corrupt workbook.

NOTE: If you need a quick solution to salvage your data, use an Excel file repair tool.

Or else, attempt the following solutions to deal with corruption in Excel file .

Solution 2 – Uninstall and Re-install Office Installation

NOTE: Make sure to create a backup of your Excel file before uninstalling and re-installing your Office application.

Download the Office uninstall support tool to remove the application.

You can read: Simple Ways to Open Corrupt Excel file Without any Backup

To reinstall Microsoft Office, follow these steps:

NOTE: Before proceeding with Office re-installation process, make sure that you have license keys ready.

Step 1: Open the Microsoft Office site.

Step 2: Select Sign in.

NOTE: You may skip this step if you’re already signed in.

Step 3: After signing in, from the Office sign-in page, click Install/Install Office

Your Office application will get re-installed. Now open the backed-up Excel file and see if the problem is fixed.

Solution 3 – Move Excel File to a Different Location

Often moving a corrupt Excel file to a different location can help solve the corruption problem. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the corrupt Excel file by navigating to the following path:

C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

NOTE: Make sure to replace User_Name with your user name. If you are unable to find the Excel file, you will have to search for the file manually in Program Files (x86).

Step 2:  Open the Excel folder, and move the corrupt file to some other location.

Step 3: Delete the files from the Excel folder.

Now try opening the Excel file you have moved and see if the issue is resolved.

Solution 4 – Use Excel File Repair Software

If none of the above solutions works for you, use Stellar Repair for Excel. It is a specialized Excel file repair software that helps repair corrupt Excel file and recover workbook data in its original state.

Essentially, the software helps rebuild the corrupt file to restore every single object in the file. It can recover objects including user-defined charts, conditional formatting rules, formatting of the charts, properties of worksheet, engineering formulas, etc.

Steps to use Stellar Repair for Excel are as follows:

Step 1: Download, install and launch Stellar Repair for Excel software.

Step 2: In Select File window, click Browse to select the file you want to repair.

NOTE: If you are unaware of the Excel file location, click ‘Search’ in the Select File window to find the file.

Step 3: Once the files are selected, click Repair to initiate the repair process.

Step 4: Preview the repaired file and select all or specific files you want to save.

Step 5: Click Save File on Home menu.

Step 6: In Save File window, choose ‘Default Location’ or ‘Select New Folder’ to select the location where you wish to save the file. Click OK.

The selected files will be saved at the specified location.

Conclusion

You may experience Excel file corruption warning messages while opening or saving an Excel file. The file may become corrupt due to malware infection, sudden system shutdown, and forgetting to close workbook on a shared network. This post outlined occurrences of Excel file corruption warnings, and also described solutions to fix the issue.

You may try using Microsoft’s built-in ‘Open and Repair’ tool to repair corrupt workbook and recover data from it. If this solution doesn’t work, proceed with uninstalling and re-installing the Office application. Another solution is to move corrupt files to another location. But if the problem still persists, use Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair single or multiple Excel (.xls or .xlsx) files and restore data.

How to Repair Multiple Excel Files by Using Stellar

With Stellar Repair for Excel, it is quite easy and simple to repair multiple MS Excel (XLS and XLSX) files that are damaged. This is because the software has a self-explanatory interface and hence is a Do-it-yourself software. Nonetheless, when using this software to repair multiple Excel files, you would have to add all of the files into the software by following a few pre-defined steps. Follow the steps mentioned below:

• Launch Stellar Repair for Excel software.
• Under Home menu, click Select file

• Click Browse and select corrupt Excel files. Select the checkbox to repair multiple files.

• Click Repair
• The software provides the preview facility. You can check the it on left pane.

• Save the repired filr ether Default location or Select New Folder radio button.

Stellar Repair for Excel Stellar Repair for Excel is the best choice for repairing corrupt or damaged Excel (.XLS/.XLSX) files. This Excel recovery software restores everything from corrupt file to a new blank Excel file.

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How to Resolve ‘Excel found unreadable content in filename.xlsx’ Error in MS Excel?

When opening an Excel spreadsheet in MS Office 2010/2007, you may get the following error message:

“Excel found unreadable content in ‘[filename].xlsx’. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes.”

On clicking ‘Yes’, you may face any of these scenarios:

Note: If you choose to click ‘No’, then open your MS Excel application and click file > Open. When the Open dialog box opens, browse and select the file showing the ‘Excel found unreadable content’ error and then choose ‘Open and Repair’ option. If this didn’t help, try using a third-party Excel repair tool to save time troubleshooting the issue and restoring the file with all its data intact.

Scenario 1: The following message may pop-up.

“Excel was able to open the file by repairing or removing the unreadable content. Excel recovered your formulas and cell values, but

some data may have been lost

. Click to view log file listing repairs errorxxx.xml.”

The message clearly states that your Excel file might open, but images may be lost and other such inconsistencies can crop up.

Scenario 2: The error is followed by another error message, like “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened“.

Watch our short video for a quick overview of the solutions to fix “Excel found unreadable content in filename.xlsx”

What Causes ‘Excel Unreadable Content’ Error?

You may encounter the ‘Excel file unreadable content’ error due to corruption of complete Excel file or corruption in certain areas (like Pivot Table, Formulas, Styles, or other objects) in the file. According to Microsoft, you may find it difficult to determine the root cause behind Excel file corruption. Corruption could occur in different scenarios, like power surge, a network glitch, copying and pasting corrupted data from another file, etc.

Also Read: How to recover data from corrupt or damaged Excel file 2010 & 2007?

Workarounds to Resolve the ‘Excel found unreadable content in filename.xls’ Error

There is no permanent solution to fix the ‘Excel found unreadable content’ error. But, following are some workarounds you can try to resolve the error.

Note: Before you try any of these workarounds, run Excel with administrator privileges and try opening the Excel file that is throwing the ‘unreadable content’ error. If this doesn’t fix the error, proceed with the workarounds below.

Workaround 1 – Try Opening the File in Excel 2003

Sometimes a problem in the current Excel version might prevent a file from opening. To resolve this error, try opening the problematic file in Excel 2003. If the file opens, save the data in a web page file format (.html) and then try opening the .html file in MS Excel 2010/2007. The detailed step-wise instructions are as follows:

• Open the .xls file in Excel 2003.
• When the file opens, click on File > Save.
• In the ‘Save As’ dialog box, choose Web Page (.html) as the ‘Save as type’ and then click ‘Save.’ Doing so will save everything from your .xls file, opened with 2003, in .html file format.
• Open the .html file in Excel 2010/2007. And then, save the file with .xlsx extension with a new name to avoid overwriting the original file.

Now, open the Excel 2010/2007 file and check if the error is fixed. If not, use the next workaround.

Workaround 2 – Make the Excel File ‘Read-only’

Try to open your ‘.xlsx’ file by making it ‘read-only’. Follow these steps:

• In Excel, click ‘File’ from the main menu.
• Select ‘Save’ for a new document or ‘Save As’ for a previously saved document in the screen that appears.

• From the ‘Save As’ dialog box, click Tools > General Options.

• Click on the ‘Read-only recommended’ checkbox to make the document read-only and then click ‘OK’.

Now open a new ‘.xlsx’ file and copy everything from the corrupt Excel file to this new file. Finally, save this file and try to open it again.

Workaround 3 – Move Excel File to a New Folder

Some users have reported that they could open their Excel file, following the ‘Excel unreadable content’ error, by simply moving the file to a different folder and saving it under a new name. You can also move the affected file to a new folder and try opening it. If this didn’t help resolve the error, follow the next workaround.

Workaround 4 – Install Visual Basic Component

At times, it is seen that installing the ‘Visual Basic’ component of MS Office 2010 resolves the ‘Excel found unreadable content 2010’ error. To do so, follow these steps:

• Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and select Microsoft Office 2010.
• Click ‘Change’ and then select ‘Add or Remove Programs’.
• Next, click the ‘plus’ sign provided next to Office Shared Features.
• Click ‘Visual Basic for Applications’. After that, right-click and choose ‘Run from My Computer’ and hit the ‘Continue’ button.
• Reboot your system when this process finishes.

Now check if the issue has been resolved or not.

What Next?

If none of the workarounds mentioned above works for you, use a professional Excel repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. The software repairs corrupt MS Excel sheets without modifying their original content and formatting. In addition, it can repair single or multiple Excel (XLS/XLSX) files in a few simple steps.

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Steps to Repair Corrupt Excel File using Stellar Repair for Excel Software

• Install and run Stellar Repair for Excel software.

• From the software main interface window, click ‘Browse’ to select the corrupt file. If you are not aware of the corrupt Excel file location, click on the ‘Search’ button.

• Click on the ‘Repair’ button to scan and repair the selected file.

• A preview window will open with recoverable Excel file data. Once satisfied with the preview result, click on the ‘Save File’ button on the ‘File’ menu to start the repair process.

• Select the destination to save the file.

• Click ‘OK’ when the ‘Repaired file saved successfully’ message appears.

 The repaired Excel file will get saved at the selected location.

‘Open and Repair’ Doesn’t Work in MS Excel

Summary: In this Blog, we will go through Microsoft office most important product i.e Microsoft excel, let’s get into all possible Manual and an alternate method to deal with MS Excel open and Repair doesn’t work issue, read on to know more.

Whether you are a student or an entrepreneur, the features of Microsoft Excel do not delude anyone. Setting goals, creating budgets, analyzing data, calculating salaries, is there anything that Excel can’t do? All of us have used it and trusted it to calculate and provide a solution to our most difficult problems. However, like every other software application, this otherwise reliable application can sometimes fall prey to unexpected errors which can even threaten to make our critical data inaccessible.

A good idea to avoid loss of data when a Microsoft Excel file becomes corrupt is to take some proactive measures, such as saving a backup copy of your files and creating an automatic recovery file at periodic intervals. If you are faced with a corrupted Excel file, you know you can still use the ‘Open and Repair’ function provided by Microsoft to fix and open corrupt Excel file. However, what should a user do when ‘Open and Repair’ is not working? This is a query shared by millions of Excel users worldwide. Sometimes, the ‘Open and Repair’ functionality of Excel stops working due to unknown reasons. In such cases, if users face Excel file corruption, they get stuck with no idea how to fix the Excel file.

Manual method “Reference”

In this guide, we’re providing you with the solutions to this very problem. If Excel ‘Open and Repair’ is not working, read on to find out the procedures that you can perform to open corrupted files.

‘Open and Repair’ doesn’t work: Try an alternative solution i.e. Stellar Repair for Excel to recover everything from corrupt Excel files.

How to Fix Excel file that Won’t Open

If your workbook is opening in Excel, there are two options to recover its data. It would be best if you try to perform one, and if you are unsuccessful, move on to the next.

Revert the workbook to the version that was saved before the corruption

• Launch Excel and click File -> Open

• Select the file that is corrupted and open it
• Click ‘Yes’ to save the copy of the workbook that was saved before corruption

Important Note: If you use this method, you will lose all changes made to the file after it was corrupted.

Save the workbook in the SYLK file format

• Launch Excel and click File -> Save As.
• In the Save as Type field, select SYLK (Symbolic Link) from the drop-down menu, and click Save.

• To save only the active sheet in the workbook, click OK. The system will display a message that the sheet has features that are not compatible with the SYLK file format.
• Click Yes.
• In Excel click File -> Open.
• Select the file that you saved in SYLK file format and open it.
• In Excel click File -> Save As.
• In the Save as Type field, select Excel Workbook from the drop-down menu.
• In the File Name field, type a new name for your workbook and click Save.

The SYLK file format will filter out the corrupted elements from your workbook, thereby restoring your data.

Important Note: Using this method you only be able to salvage the active sheet in the workbook.

How to Open/Fix an Excel file that cannot be opened

In this case too, there are two options to recover the data. Try to perform one, and if you are unsuccessful, move on to the next.

Set the calculation option to Manual

• Launch Excel and click File -> New.

• From the Available Templates window, select Blank workbook.

• Click File -> Options.
• Under Formulas, in the Calculation options section, click Manual.

• Click OK.
• In Excel click File -> Open.
• Select the corrupted file and open it.

The system opens the corrupted file. Since the workbook won’t be calculated, it might open.

Link the workbook to external references

• Launch Excel and click File -> Open.
• Copy the name of the corrupted file and click Cancel.
• In Excel click File -> New.
• From the Available Templates window, select Blank workbook.
• In the new workbook, on cell A1, type the following:

=File Name!A1

In the above command, the filename is the name of the corrupted file.

• On the Update Values dialog box, select the corrupted file and click OK.
• On the Select Sheet dialog box, select the sheet and click OK.
• Select cell A1. Select the same range of rows and columns as occupied by the data in the corrupted sheet, including cell A1.
• Under the Home tab, in the Clipboard section, click Paste.
• While the range of rows and columns are still selected, click Copy.
• Click the Paste
• Under Paste Values, click Values.

Note: This method lets you recover only the data but not the values and formulas from the workbook.

Alternative Solution

In addition to the above-mentioned techniques, you can also use macros to extract data from a corrupted workbook. However, macros are generally risky, and executing them needs prior technical knowledge.

Thus, if the above methods do not yield the desired results, a quick and easy way for reconstructing Excel files is to use Excel Recovery Software . Stellar Repair for MS SQL software is the best choice for rebuilding damaged Excel files and restoring everything to a new Excel file. The product lets you recover table, chart, chart-sheet, cell comment, image, formula, sort and filter data from damaged workbooks and also allows you to fix multiple files at one go.

Wrapping it up

Though one of the above-mentioned techniques should recover Excel file if ‘_Open and Repair’ utility doesn’t work_, in case you’ve reached nowhere even after using them, contact Microsoft support for more help.

[Fixed] The Workbook Cannot Be Opened or Repaired By Microsoft Excel

An MS Excel workbook (.XLS/.XLSX) file may not open due to damage or corruption caused by various reasons, such as:

• Sudden power failure
• System crash
• Virus or malware intrusion
• Large or oversized Excel file
• Incompatible add-ins
• Drive errors
• Damaged MS Office/Excel program files

As a result, when you try to open or access a corrupt Excel document, the program displays errors, such as “The workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt.” This may lead to a data loss situation.

Methods to Fix ‘The Workbook Cannot Be Opened’ Error

When an Excel workbook gets corrupt, MS Excel automatically detects and starts the file recovery mode to open and repair the file. However, when it fails to repair the corruption or recover the Excel file automatically, it displays the error message, “The workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt.” In such a situation, you can follow these methods to repair and recover the Excel document manually.

If the manual methods fail to resolve the error, you can use an Excel repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. The software repairs corrupt XLS/XLSX file, recovers all the data, and saves it in a new Excel document with 100% precision, while keeping the cell formatting and properties intact.

NOTE: Before performing the below methods to repair or recover Excel documents, create a backup copy of the original file. This will help you recover data by using an Excel repair tool and avoid permanent data loss.  

1. Repair Excel Workbook Manually

If the automatic repair fails, you may try manual repair to fix the damage or extract the data from the damaged Excel workbook. The steps are as follows:

• Navigate to File > Open and then go to the location where the spreadsheet is located.
• In the Open window, select the corrupted workbook that you want to fix and then click on the arrow next to the Open button.
• From the available options, choose Open and Repair…

• Then click ‘Repair‘ if you want to recover maximum data from the workbook or click ‘Extract data‘ if the repair option fails to fix the issue. It will extract all the values, formulas, tables, etc., from the corrupt workbook.

If both options fail to fix the issue, head to the next method.

2. Remove Faulty or Incompatible Add-ins

Faulty or incompatible add-ins may also cause this error. To find and remove such add-ins, follow these steps:

• Press **Windows key + R.
  **

• Type Excel /safe and press ‘Enter‘ or click ‘OK.’ This opens MS Excel in Safe Mode.
• Go to File > Options and then select ‘Add-ins.‘

• Choose ‘Excel Add-ins‘ from Manage: option and then click on the Go button to view all Add-ins.

• Uncheck the checkboxes of Add-ins and then click ‘OK‘ to disable them.

Now close the Excel program and run it normally. Click ‘File > Open‘ and choose the Excel file you want to access.

3. Repair MS Office Installation

Damaged Excel program files may also lead to such errors. However, you can easily repair MS Office installation to fix the problem. The steps are as follows:

• Open Control Panel and select ‘Uninstall a program.‘

• Search and choose MS Office from the programs list. Then click on the ‘Change’ button.

• Select ‘Repair’ and follow the wizard to fix the damaged program files.

If this fails to address the issue, you can uninstall and then fresh install MS Office on your system. Alternatively, try accessing the file on another PC.

4. Use Excel Repair Software

The best option is to use an Excel repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel , to repair the file, resolve the error, and access the Excel (XLS/XLSX) worksheet. The software can repair an Excel file without any size limitation.

After recovering the Excel file using the software, you can open it in any MS Excel program without encountering the error message.

Conclusion

A corrupt or damaged Excel workbook may lead to errors, such as “The workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt,” and cause a data loss situation. The most efficient way to fix such corrupt Excel files is to repair them by using an Excel repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Excel.

Unlike manual methods that may fail to resolve the issue or lead to further damage, this software extracts the data from the damaged Excel file and saves it in a new Excel workbook. Thus, it is 100% safe to run on an original Excel file, as it does not overwrite or alter the original file.

The software is free to download. You can scan, repair, and preview a corrupt Excel file by using the demo version. Once you are satisfied with the results, activate the software to save the repaired Excel workbook data in a new sheet.