The calculation files Excel they are probably the most used in the professional field and, as such, often contain very important information (data, numbers, statistics, invoices, etc…). Unfortunately, Excel files are also the most “delicate” and in fact it often happens (and to many) that for some reason (virus, sudden shutdown of the computer, operating system problem, etc…), the Excel file becomes damaged and when you try to Open it and some errors appear. In this article we will see in detail how repair and open corrupt Excel file. Before analyzing the possible solutions, let’s see what are the possible error messages that may appear in case of Corrupted Excel file.
- > “Unable to open file…. because it has an invalid extension or format. Verify that the file is not corrupted and that the extension matches the file format”
- > “Corrupted file. Can’t open it”
- > “Windows cannot find “C:… filename.xls”. Make sure you entered the correct name, then try again.”
- > … other types of excel file opening errors ….
These are some of the error messages that can appear when we are dealing with a file XLS or XLSX corrupt and damaged. Let’s see how to fix it!
How to Open Corrupt Excel File?
OK this is the paragraph you will be interested in reading because it contains instructions on how repair a corrupt Excel file. Luckily there are several methods and possible solutions that you can try to ensure that your Excel file can be opened and viewed correctly. Let’s start describing them right away!
Method 1: Repairit
Repairit is a professional software designed by Wondershare and which allows you to repair videos, photos and even documents (including Excel) that have integrity problems and are impossible to open and view. It is a user-friendly application that can repair Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF files by following a simple process described below.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE VERSION OF REPAIRIT PER WINDOWS OR MAC
Step 1: Load the damaged Excel files
To repair damaged and corrupt Excel files, you can launch Repairit on your computer and go to its function File Repair from the left sidebar. Now you can click on the “add” to locate and load any corrupt Excel file within the application.
Step 2: Repair uploaded Excel documents
Once the corrupt Excel files are loaded, click on the “Repair” to start the process.
Step 3: Preview the repaired file and export it
After the repair process click on “Preview” to check the data repair results. This function, in the demo version of the program, allows you to view only the first sheet of the repaired Excel file. Click Buy to proceed with the purchase of the license and be able to save the correct Excel document in its entirety.
Method 2: Using Repair Tool in Excel
This is the easiest method to restore a corrupt Excel file. Here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Open a new workbook in Excel.
Step 2: Click File > Open at the top, and choose the XLS or XLSX file that you can no longer open.
Step 3: Click “Open and restore.” (or click “Extract Data” if Excel cannot open the selected file.)
If the repair is successful you will be able to view and edit your Excel file again.
Method 3: Using Repair Toolkit
There are also corrupt file repair software. Among these we highlight Repair Toolkit which allows you to repair damaged Excel, Word, Powerpoint and zip files that are impossible to open. Using this program is very simple:
Step 1.IInstall Toolkit Repair on your PC
Download and install Toolkit Repair on your Windows PC from the link below:
Here is the initial screen of the program that you will see when it starts:
Step 2. Repair Excel files
Click on the “ iconRepair Excel File” and from the window that opens you will have to select the XLS or XLSX file to repair
Immediately after importing the Excel files, click on SCAN and wait for the repair.
Once the repair process is complete you will be able to preview the repaired Excel files and proceed to save them on your computer. NB: Saving the repaired Excel file is possible only after purchasing the license of the program.
Method 4: Using Recoverit Data Recovery
The last possible solution to open corrupt Excel files is to use a program Data Recovery which could recover an older, working version of the Excel file from your computer’s memory. In this regard, read the guide here: how to restore corrupt files with Data Recovery
