Fix the Too many different cell formats Error in Excel?

Excel has set a limit on the number of unique cell formats within a workbook. Excel 2003 allows up to 4000 different cell format combinations, whereas Excel 2007 and later versions allow a maximum of 64000 combinations. When this limit exceeds, you may encounter errors, such as “Too many different cell formats”. It can prevent you from inserting or modifying workbook rows or columns. Sometimes, it prevents you to copy and paste the content within the same or different workbooks.  This error may also occur due to various other reasons.

You can encounter the “Too many different cell formats” error due to the below reasons:

• Formatting is missing in the workbook.
• Size of your Excel file has increased due to excessive use of complex formatting (conditional formatting).
• Workbook contains a large number of merged cells.
• There are multiple built-in or custom cell styles.
• Excel workbook is corrupted.
• The unused styles are unexpectedly copied to new workbooks (when moving or copying a worksheet from one to another).
• Workbooks contain multiple worksheets with different cell formatting.

Methods to Fix the “Too many different cell formats” Error in Excel

First, check that your Excel application is up-to-date. It helps in preventing duplicate styles in workbooks. If the error persists, then follow the below methods:

Method 1: Simplify the Workbook Formatting

You can face the error in Excel - Too many different cell formats, if the size of your Excel file has increased due to excessive or unnecessary formatting. You can try to simplify the formatting of the affected workbook. While reducing the number of formatting combinations, you can follow the simplifying guidelines, such as using a standard font and applying borders consistently. Follow the below steps to remove unnecessary formatting in your worksheet:

• First, open the affected worksheet.
• Now, use the shortcut key (Ctrl+A) to select all the cells.
• In the Excel ribbon, navigate to the Home tab and click Clear.

• Then, select the Clear Formats option.

The above steps will remove all unnecessary formatting from the selected cells, thus reducing the number of cell formats. Besides this, you can try removing the cell patterns (if any) or use cell styles  to remove unnecessary formatting in the workbook.

Method 2: Remove Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting is also one of the reasons behind the “Too many different cell formats” error. It usually occurs if you have applied multiple rules to various cells or cell ranges within a workbook. Each rule has its own formatting settings. If you’ve applied a large number of conditional formatting to cells, it can increase the number of unique cell formats. You can check and remove the unnecessary conditional formatting. Here are the steps to do this:

• Open the Excel file in which you are getting the error.
• Go to the Home tab and locate Conditional Formatting.

• Select Manage Rules.

• The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager wizard is displayed. You can check the formatting rules and delete the unnecessary rule by clicking on the Delete Rule option.

Method 3: Repair your Excel Workbook

Corruption in the Excel workbook can also cause the “Too many different cell formats” error. You can try the Microsoft inbuilt utility to repair the file. Follow these steps to use this utility:

• Open your Excel application. Go to File > Open.
• Click Browse to choose the affected workbook.
• The Open dialog box will appear. Click on the corrupted file.
• Click the arrow next to the Open button and then select Open and Repair.
• You will see a dialog box with three buttons - Repair, Extract Data, and Cancel.

• Click on the Repair button to recover as much of the data as possible.
• After repair, a message is displayed. Click Close.

If the Open and Repair utility does not work or fails to repair the corrupted Excel file due to any reason, then you can use Stellar Repair for Excel to repair the Excel file. It is a simple-to-use third-party Excel repair tool with an intuitive UI that enables anyone to use it without much effort. The tool can help in fixing the “Too many different cell formats” error. It does so by repairing the Excel (XLS/XLSX) file and recovering all the components, including damaged cell style, without impacting the original formatting. You can download the software’s demo version and install it to check how it works.

Method 4: Save the Excel File to a Binary Workbook (.xlsb) Format

You can also get the “excel too many cell formats” error if the size of the spreadsheet is too large. You can try saving the Excel file in binary (.xlsb) format to reduce the Excel file size. Here’s how to do so:

• In Excel, navigate to File > Save As.
• Select Excel Binary Workbook (*.xlsb) in the Save as type dialog box.

• Click Save.

Some Additional Solutions

Here are some additional methods you can try to fix the issue:

1. Check and Fix the Un-used Style Copy Issue

Many users have reported encountering the “Too many different cell formats” error when moving or copying the content of a workbook from one Excel to another and the unused styles being copied from one workbook to another. Microsoft has released a hotfix package which contains a fix for this issue. You can install this hotfix package (2598143 ) to resolve the issue.

2. Use Clean Excel Cell Formatting Option

You can check and enable the Excel cell formatting option to fix the “Too many cell formats” issue. This option will help you remove the excess formatting  in your workbook. To locate this option, click on the Inquiabove steps willre tab. If you fail to see the Inquire tab, then check if the Inquire option is enabled in the Excel Com Add-ins settings.

3. Clean up Workbooks using Third-Party Tools

The “Too many different cell formats” issue can occur if your workbook contains a large number of unnecessary styles, as mentioned above. You can use third-party tools, such as XLStyles Tool   or Remove Styles Add-in  to clean up workbooks recommended in Microsoft Guide. However, Microsoft takes no guarantee of these tools.

Closure

If you’re getting the “Too many different cell formats” error in Excel, try the methods discussed in this post to resolve it. You can simplify the formatting by following standardized guidelines and clearing all the unnecessary conditional formatting. If the error has occurred due to corruption in Excel file, then you can use Stellar Repair for Excel to repair the Excel file. It is an advanced tool that can repair Excel worksheet and recover all its objects without losing the original formatting.

Quick Fixes to Repair Microsoft Excel 2013/2016 Content related error

Summary: The blog outlines some quick tips to fix ‘We found a problem with some content’ error in Microsoft Excel 2013/2016. It explains manual procedure to resolve the error and also suggests an automated tool to perform the repair process to retrieve all possible data from a corrupt workbook.

Sometimes, when opening an MS Excel file, you may receive an error message that reads:

“**We found a problem with some content in ‘filename.xlsx’. Do you want us to try to recover as much as we can? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes.**“

Figure 1 – Excel ‘found a problem with some content’ Error Message

What Causes ‘We Found a Problem with Some Content’ Error?

There is no clear answer as to what results in the Excel error – ‘**We found a problem with some content in <filename.xlsx>**’. However, based on some user experiences, it appears that the error occurs due to corruption in an Excel workbook. It may turn corrupt when:

• You try opening the Excel file saved on a network-shared drive.
• A string is added in a cell in Excel, instead of a numeric value.
• Text values in formulas exceed 255 characters.

How to Resolve ‘We Found a Problem with Some Content’ Error?

Follow these tips to fix the Excel error:

IMPORTANT! Before you follow the tips to resolve the Excel error, keep these points in mind: Make sure you have closed all of the opened Excel workbooks. Try restoring Excel file data from the most recent backup copy. If you don’t have a backup copy, make a copy of the corrupt Excel file and perform repair and recovery procedures on that backup copy.

Tip #1: Repair Corrupt Excel File

File Recovery mode is a native Excel recovery utility that automatically opens whenever any inconsistencies are found in the worksheet. If Microsoft doesn’t detect any issue or fails to open the File Recovery mode, you can start it manually to recover the corrupt Excel file. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the File menu, and then select Open.
2. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the folder location where the corrupt Excel file is saved.
3. Select the corrupt file, and then click on arrow sign available next to Open button to select Open and Repair option.

Figure 2 – Open and Repair Feature in Excel

1. Next, click Repair to recover maximum possible data.
2. If the repair is not able to recover the data from the workbook, select Extract Data to extract all possible formulas and values from the workbook.

If repairing the corrupt Excel file doesn’t work, you can try an Excel file repair tool to fix corruption errors. You can also try to recover data from the corrupt file manually by following the next tips.

Read this: What to do when Open and Repair doesn’t work?

Tip #2: Set Calculation Option to Manual

To make the file accessible, try setting the calculation option in Excel from automatic to manual. As a result, the workbook will not be recalculated and may open in Excel. For this, perform the following:

1. Click File, and then click New.
2. Under New, click the Blank workbook option.
3. When a blank workbook opens, click File > Options.
4. Under the Formulas category, pick Manual in the Calculation options section, and then click OK.

Figure 3 – Select Manual in Calculation options

1. Now, again click on the File menu and then click Open.
2. Navigate to the corrupt workbook, and double-click it.

When the workbook opens, check if it contains all the data. If not, proceed to the next tip.

Tip #3: Copy Excel Workbook Contents to a New Workbook

Several users have reported that they were able to fix ‘We found a problem with some content in ’ error message by copying contents from the corrupt workbook to a separate workbook. Detailed steps are as follows:

1. Open the Excel workbook in ‘read-only’ mode, and copy all its contents.
2. Create a blank new workbook and paste the copied contents from the corrupt file to the new file.

Tip #4: Use External References to Link to the Damaged Workbook

Use external references to link to the corrupted workbook. By implementing this fix, data contents can be retrieved. However, it is not feasible to recover formulas or calculated values using this solution.

Follow the steps below:

1. In Excel 2013/2016, click File > Open.
2. Navigate to the folder where the corrupt file is saved.
3. Right click the file, select Copy, and then click on Cancel.
4. Again, click on File and then New.
5. Under New option, click on Blank workbook.
6. In the cell A1 of new workbook, type =File Name!A1 (where File Name indicates the name of the damaged workbook being copied in Step 3).
7. If Update Values dialog box appears, click the corrupt workbook, and choose OK.
8. If Select Sheet dialog box appears, click the appropriate sheet, and then click OK.
9. Select cell A1.
10. Next, click Home, and then click Copy (or, press Ctrl +C).
11. Starting in cell A1, select area approximately the same size as that of the cell range that contains data in the damaged workbook.
12. Next, click Home and select Paste (or click Ctrl + V).
13. Keep the range of cells selected, click Home and then Copy.
14. Finally, click on Home, click on the arrow associated with Paste and under Paste Values click on Values.

This will remove the link to the corrupt workbook and will retrieve data. But, keep in mind, the recovered data will no longer contain formulas or calculated values.

Alternative Solution – Stellar Repair for Excel

If the above manual methods fail to fix the ‘We found a problem with some content in Excel error’, try using the Stellar Repair for Excel software to resolve this error. The software helps repair and recover corrupt Excel files in just a few clicks. It can be used on a Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP/NT machine to repair a corrupted workbook and recover every single bit of data from all the versions of the Excel workbook.

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

Conclusion

In this blog, we discussed some possible reasons behind Microsoft Excel 2013/2016 ‘We found a problem with some content’ error. The error may occur when an Excel file becomes corrupt. You may try repairing the corrupted Excel file manually by using the built-in ‘Open and Repair’ feature. Or, try the manual workarounds to extract data from the corrupt file discussed in this post. If the manual solutions don’t work for you, using Stellar Repair for Excel can come in handy in repairing the corrupt Excel (.xls/.xlsx) file and recovering the complete file data.

Simple ways to Open Corrupt Excel file Without any Backup

Summary: The blog describes simple ways to open corrupt Excel file without any backup. It explains some manual workarounds that you can try to open the file. Also, it mentions about an Excel file repair tool that can quickly fix the corrupt file and recover data from it.

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?

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.

How to Open a 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.

Open and Repair Option

Step 4: Implement one of the following:

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

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 on File > Options.

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

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’.

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.

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 them in a new blank Excel file.
• Compatible with Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, and lower versions.

Conclusion

You can try the workarounds discussed in the blog to open a corrupt Excel file without a backup. Disabling the protected view feature can help you open the file. If the issue persists then try repairing the corrupted Excel file using the Open and Repair utility. Although, it may not be able to fix a severely corrupted workbook. In such a case you can use Stellar Repair for Excel . It is an advanced tool that can help you repair a corrupted Excel file with 100% integrity.

Top 5 Ways to Fix Excel File Not Opening Error

Summary: MS Excel users sometimes face issues while using the MS Excel application. One such issue is the Excel file not opening error. In this post, we’ve mentioned the reasons that may result in this error and the ways to resolve it. Also, you’ll find about an Excel repair software that can help you repair corrupt Excel files.

Several Microsoft Excel users have reported encountering the ‘Excel file not opening’ error when opening their Excel file. There are several reasons that may cause this error. In this post, we’ll be discussing the reasons that may lead to the ‘Excel file not opening’ error and the top 5 ways to fix this error.

Why Does the ‘Excel File Not Opening’ Error Appear?

Following are some possible causes that may result in the ‘Excel file not opening’ error:

1. There may be a problem with an add-in that is preventing you from opening the Excel files.
2. There’s a chance that your Excel application is faulty.
3. Your Excel program is unable to communicate with other programs or the operating system.
4. The file association might have been broken. This is a common problem faced by users who have upgraded their Excel application or operating system.
5. The file you’re trying to open is corrupted.

5 Ways to Fix Excel File Not Opening Error

Let’s explore the ways to resolve the Excel file not opening error:

1. Uncheck the Ignore DDE Checkbox

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)allows Excel to communicate with other programs. The Excel error may occur due to incorrect DDE settings. You need to ensure that the correct DDE configuration is enabled. Follow the steps provided below:

• Launch your MS Excel file.
• Go to File > Options.

• Now click on Advanced.

• Further, find the General option on the screen.

• Uncheck the option **‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)**’.
• Click OK to save the changes.

2. Reset Excel File Associations

When you launch your Excel file, the file association ensures that the Excel application is used to open the file. You can try to reset these associations and see if Excel opens after this. Proceed with the following steps to do so:

• Navigate to Start Menu and launch Control Panel.
• Now, navigate to Programs > Default Programs > Set Your Default Programs.

• A new window will open. Herein, find the Excel program in the list and select it. Now, select the option ‘Choose defaults for this program’. Click OK.

• A new window for ‘Set Program Associations’ will open.
• Check the box against the ‘Select All’ option.
• Further, click Save to reset the Excel File Associations settings.

3. Disable Add-Ins

Many people install third-party add-ins to enhance the application’s functionality. Sometimes, these add-ins can create an issue. Follow the below-mentioned steps to disable the problem creating add-ins:

• Launch MS Excel application.
• Navigate to File > Options > Add-ins.

• In the window that opens, go to the Manage option at the bottom.
• Herein, select the COM Add-ins option from the dropdown list. Click Go.

• In the COM Add-ins window, uncheck all the boxes to disable the add-ins. Click OK.

4. Repair MS Office Program

Sometimes the issue is not with your Excel file. Instead, the reason for the error can be a corrupt MS Office application. You can repair the program to fix the Excel file not opening error. Here are the steps:

• Press the Windows + R keys to launch the ‘Run’ dialog box.

• Enter the text ‘appwiz.cpl’ to launch the program and features window.

• Find the MS Office program in the list of applications.

• Right-click on it and select Change.

• In the new window, select the Quick Repair radio button. Click Repair.

• Follow the on-screen instructions to repair the Office application. Once the repair process is completed, you can try opening the Excel file to see if the problem is resolved.

5. Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

The hardware graphics acceleration assists in the system’s better performance, especially when you use MS Office applications, like MS Excel or Word. Sometimes, this causes the Excel file not opening issue. You can disable this option to try to resolve the issue. Here are the steps:

• Launch your MS Excel application.
• Navigate to File > Options > Advanced.
• Herein, go to the Display option.
• Uncheck the Disable hardware graphics acceleration checkbox. Click OK.

What If These Solutions Do Not Work?

If you have applied all the methods mentioned above and still cannot open your Excel file, there are chances that your file is corrupted. You can use a specialized Excel repair tool , such as Stellar Repair for Excel to repair the corrupted Excel file. This software has powerful algorithms that can scan and repair even severely corrupt Excel files, without any file size limitation. After repairing the file, it restores all the data, including tables, charts, rules, etc. to a new Excel, with 100% integrity.

To know how the software works, see the video below:

Conclusion

Before you proceed with resolving the Excel file not opening error, try to find out the root cause of this error. If you know the real reason, you can try the method right away. If the reason for the error is corruption in the Excel file, the best option is to repair the file using a professional Excel repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Excel .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.