How to Repair Corrupt Excel Workbook?

Summary: Corruption in an Excel workbook could lead to data loss. This blog outlines the possible reasons behind corrupted workbook and describes how to repair the workbook manually and using an Excel repair tool.

Is your Excel behaving differently, for instance, stops responding or freezes? Or have you encountered a warning or an error message indicating corruption in the Excel workbook?

Figure 1 - Corruption Warning in Excel: The corrupt workbook cannot be opened or repaired

Figure 2 - Excel File Corruption Message

In any of these situations, you won?t be able to open your Excel workbook.

TIP! If you?re unable to open an Excel workbook, it does not necessarily mean that the workbook is corrupt. Try a few workarounds to resolve the issue, like disabling the ?Protected View Settings?, disabling add-ins, or moving the workbook to another drive.

You will need to repair the corrupted Excel workbook to make it usable. Before discussing the repair methods, let?s first look at the possible reasons behind file corruption.

To jump to methods to repair the workbook, click here .

Possible Reasons behind Corrupted Excel Workbook

• Large size of a workbook: A workbook containing lots of information or objects like images, shaded cells, or other visual representations is prone to corruption.
• Unexpected system shutdown or power loss: If you haven?t saved your Excel file, abrupt system shutdown or power failure can corrupt the data and render the file inaccessible.
• Bad sectors on storage media: Accumulation of bad sectors on storage media on which Excel files are saved is another reason that may lead to Excel file corruption.

Other common reasons causing Excel file corruption are virus attack, network errors, etc.

Methods to Repair Corrupted Excel Workbook

Note: Repairing the corrupt workbook may result in data loss. And so, it?s recommended to back up the workbook before attempting to repair the file.

Method 1 ? Repair the Excel Workbook Manually

Use the Excel ?Open and Repair? feature to repair your corrupt workbook manually. Here?s how:

Step 1: In Excel, click the File tab and then click Open.

Step 2: Select the corrupt Excel file, click the arrow button next to the Open button and then select Open and Repair.

Figure 3 - Excel Open and Repair Feature

Step 3: In Microsoft Excel dialog box that opens, click Repair to begin repairing your corrupt workbook.

Figure 4 - Repair the Microsoft Excel File

Note: If the Excel repair process fails, repeat Steps 1 till 3 and click the ?Extract Data? button. This will help you extract values and formulas from the corrupted workbook.

Performing these steps will repair your Excel file. If the issue persists, skip to the next method.

Method 2 ? Use Excel File Repair Software

If the above method failed to fix corruption in the workbook, use Excel file repair software to repair your workbook quickly. This Excel repair tool is purpose-built to help users repair large-sized Excel files (.xlsx and .xls) in just a few clicks. Also, it helps recover all the data from the corrupted workbook while preserving the cell formatting and worksheet properties.

Steps to Repair Corrupt Excel File Using the Software

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

Free Download for windows ](https://tools.techidaily.com/stellardata-recovery/repaire-for-excel/ )

Step 2: Click Browse to select your corrupted .xlsx or .xls file. If you are not aware of the file location, click Search to locate and select the file.

Figure 5 - Select Corrupt Excel Workbook

Step 3: Once the file is selected, click Repair.

Step 4: A preview of recoverable workbook data gets displayed.

Figure 6 - Preview of Recoverable Excel Workbook Data

Note: You will need to activate the licensed version of Stellar Repair for Excel software for saving the repaired file. Once activated, proceed with the steps below to save the repaired file.

Step 5: Click Save File on the File menu. This will open a Save File dialog box with options to save the repaired .xlsx/.xls file at default or new location. After choosing the appropriate option, click OK.

Figure 7 - Save Repaired Excel File

The repaired file will get saved at the selected location.

Key Features of Stellar Repair for Excel Software

• Repairs severely corrupt Excel file and recovers pivots, pivot tables, conditional formatting rules, chart, chart sheets, etc.
• Can repair multiple Excel files in a batch simultaneously
• Can handle all types of Excel file corruption errors, like ?Excel found unreadable content in filename.xls?, ?Excel cannot open the file filename.xlsx?, etc.
• Supports repairing corrupt workbooks of Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2007, 2003, and lower versions.

End Note

If your Excel workbook has turned corrupt, try using the methods discussed in this blog to repair the workbook. Once it is repaired, you must follow preventive measures to avoid your Excel file from getting corrupt. Some of these measures are as follows:

• Reduce the size of your workbook by:

  • Removing unused data
  • Saving images at lower resolutions
  • Avoid saving pivot table cache

• Turn on the ?AutoRecover? and ?AutoSave? features in Excel

How to Fix ‘Sharing Violation Error’ when Saving Excel?

Summary: You may encounter the sharing violation error in Excel when you repeatedly save changes in a workbook. The error can occur due to different reasons. In this blog, we will discuss the possible reasons behind this sharing violation error and some effective solutions to fix it. If the issue has occurred due to corruption in Excel file, you can try the advanced Excel repair tool mentioned in the post to repair the corrupted file.

It is not uncommon to encounter errors while working with Excel application. One common error that Excel users face is the sharing violation error that occurs while saving an Excel spreadsheet. The complete error message says, “Your changes could not be saved to file because of a sharing violation.” When this error occurs, users won’t be able to save the changes in the file. So, it is important to fix this issue as soon as possible. But before fixing the error, let’s find out the causes behind this error.

Causes of Excel Sharing Violation Error

This error may pop up due to the below reasons:

• The file you are trying to save is corrupted.
• The Excel file is not in the trusted location.
• Sharing Wizard is disabled.
• You do not have permission to modify the Excel file.
• The Excel file is not permitted to get indexed.

Methods to Fix the Sharing Violation Error in Excel

You can move the affected Excel file to a new folder and save it with a different name. Then, see if it fixes the error. If it doesn’t help, you can try the below methods.

Method 1: Check and Change the Excel File Properties

You can get the sharing violation error in Excel if the file attribute options, such as “File is ready for archiving” and “Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties” are disabled. You can check the File Properties and enable these options to fix the issue. Here are the steps:

• Right-click on any Excel file and select Properties.

• In the Properties window, click on the Advanced option.

• In the Advanced Attributes window, select the below options under File attributes:
• File is ready for archiving.
• Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties.

• Click OK.

Note: If these options are already selected, then unselect and re-select them.

Method 2: Enable Sharing Wizard Option

The error “Your changes could not be saved to file because of a sharing violation” can also occur if the sharing wizard option is disabled on your system. You can check and enable the sharing wizard option using these steps:

• Go to your system’s Documents folder.
• Click View > Options > Change folders and search options.

• In the Folder Options window, click View.

• Under the View section, search for the “Use Sharing Wizard” option in the Advanced Settings.

• If the Use Sharing Wizard option is unselected, select it and then click OK.

Method 3: Move the Excel File to a Trusted Location

You can encounter the sharing violation error if the file you are trying to save is not in the trusted location. You can try moving the file to a trusted location by following these steps:

• In Excel, go to File and then click Options.
• Click Trust Center and then click Trust Center Settings.

• In the Trust Center window, click Trusted Locations and then click Add new location.

• In the Add new location window, select Browse to locate and choose the folder, and then click OK.

Method 4: Open Excel in Safe Mode

Incompatible add-ins can create issues in the Excel file. To check if the sharing violation issue has occurred due to add-ins, open Excel in safe mode. To do so, follow these steps:

• Open the Run window using Windows + R.

• Type excel /safe and click on OK.
• Open the affected file and then try to save the changes.
• If you are able to save the changes without any error, then it indicates add-ins are causing the issue. To fix this, you can remove the recently downloaded add-ins (if any).

Method 5: Repair the Excel File

Corruption in Excel file can also create issue while saving the changes. In such a case, you can repair the corrupted Excel file using the inbuilt utility in Excel, named Open and Repair. Follow these steps to use this utility:

• In Excel, navigate to File > Open > Browse.
• In the Open dialog box, click on the affected Excel file.
• Click the arrow next to the Open button and select Open and Repair from the dropdown.
• Click on the Repair option to recover as much data from the file as possible.

If the above utility fails to fix the corrupt Excel file, then you can use a more powerful Excel repair tool , such as Stellar Repair for Excel. This Excel repair tool can repair even severely corrupted or damaged Excel files (xls, .xlsx, .xltm, .xltx, and .xlsm). This tool can recover all the data from the corrupted Excel file, including images, chart sheets, formulas, etc., without changing the original format. It can help in fixing common corruption-related errors in Excel. You can download the software’s demo version to scan the corrupt file.

To Conclude

Above, we have discussed some effective methods to fix the sharing violation error in Excel. This error may also occur if you try to save the Excel file in an incompatible format. So, check the format and try saving the file in a compatible format. If the error occurs due to Excel file corruption, you can repair corrupt Excel file using the Open and Repair tool. If nothing works, then download a third-party Excel repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. It is an advanced tool that can fix severely corrupted Excel files. You can install this repair tool on any Windows system.

Recover Corrupted Excel File 2007, 2010 | Easy Methods

There are several reasons that can cause Microsoft Excel workbooks to turn corrupt, such as virus attack, bad sectors on a drive on which Excel file is saved, system shutdown without properly closing the Excel application, etc.

Corruption in an Excel workbook can result in data loss or render the workbook inaccessible. Fortunately, Excel automatically starts recovery upon opening a corrupted Excel file. But, if it fails, you can manually repair the file or extract data from the corrupt file.

Quick Solution: Performing 2007, 2010 Excel repair or recovery process manually can be time-consuming. Also, manual workarounds to recover corrupt Excel workbook does not guarantee recovering the complete workbook data. Use Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair single or multiple Excel (XLS/XLSX) files in 3 simple steps. The software also helps recover the Excel file, keeping the data intact.

How to Fix Microsoft Excel 2010 & 2007 Files Corruption?

Microsoft Excel comes with an inbuilt repair utility, called ‘Open and Repair’, that helps fix and recover corrupted Excel files.

Steps to Repair MS Excel 2010 Files Manually

The detailed steps to open and repair Excel 2010 are as follows:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2010 and click File from the main menu.

• Next, click Open.

• Browse the corrupt Excel 2010 file on your computer and select it in the Open dialog.

• Click the arrow next to the Open button and choose Open and Repair.

• Click Repair when prompted to recover data to the maximum.
• If Excel fails to repair, click Extract Data to extract values and formulas in the corrupt file.
• Excel prompts to ‘Convert to Values’ or ‘Recover Formulas’.
• Click Yes if it prompts the following error:

“The document file name caused a serious error the last time it was opened. Would you like to continue opening it?

• When Excel opens the last saved file, save it.

Once you’re able to access the last saved 2010 Excel file, try extracting the file contents.

Save Excel 2010 File in HTML Format

If you can open the Excel file, choose the HTML format to save it in filtered form. After that, close the Excel file as you have your data in the HTML file. The steps to save an Excel file in HTML format are as follows:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2010, click Save As, and then choose Web Page in the ‘Save as’ type drop-down list.
• Select the “Enable Entire Workbook” option, and then click the Save button.
• Close the Excel file and reopen your Microsoft Excel application. Browse the HTML file that you have saved.
• Click File from the main menu, and select Save As in the list.
• Type-in a different name, choose Microsoft Excel Workbook in the ‘Save as’ type drop-down menu, and then click the Save button.

With this, you would be able to access the data in the corrupt Excel file.

If the inbuilt tool fails to repair Excel 2010 file, a few methods can help you recover data from corrupted or lost workbook manually.

Steps to Repair Excel 2007 Files Manually

Follow these steps to repair a corrupted 2007 Excel file by using the inbuilt Microsoft Excel repair tool:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2007, click the Office button, and then select Open.

• In the Open dialog box that pops-up, browse and select the corrupt Excel 2007 file. Click the arrow next to the Open button and choose Open and Repair.

• Click Repair when prompted to recover as much data as you can from Excel 2007 file.

• If a repair fails, follow steps 1 till 3, and then click Extract Data to extract values and formulas from the corrupt file.
• In the window that appears, click Convert to Values or Recover Formulas to extract workbook data.

Note: The built-in Microsoft Excel 2007 repair tool may fail to resolve Excel corruption issue. Also, choosing to extract data from the workbook involves data loss risk. Using a professional Excel repair tool, however, can resolve all types of Excel file corruption errors and restore all its data.

Methods to Recover Data from Corrupt Excel 2010 & 2007 Files

If the ‘Open and Repair’ feature fails in getting your Excel 2010, 2007 file repaired, you can try retrieving the file contents by following some manual methods. However, the methods may vary depending on whether you can open a workbook or not.

Method 1 – Move Corrupt Excel File to another System

Move the corrupt Excel file to any other computer and try opening it in MS Excel 2010/2007. Doing so, may help you resolves disk or network-related errors leading to Excel file corruption.

Method 2 – Revert Unsaved Excel File to its Last Saved Version

If an Excel file turns corrupt while working on it but before saving any changes, try reverting it to its last saved version. To do so, perform the following:

• Open your Excel application, click the Office button, and then click Open from the menu.
• Browse the corrupt Excel file, click Yes when prompted to revert to its last saved version.

What if Nothing Works?

If you fail to recover a corrupt Excel 2007/2010 file, perform Excel file recovery with Stellar Excel repair software. The software is specially designed to help users fix their corrupted XLS/XLSX files quickly and easily without any technical assistance. It also helps restore all the file data to its original form.

Points to Remember

• Close all the MS Excel instances before using the software
• If the sheet you are repairing contains engineering formulas, please include ‘Analysis TooPak’ manually from Tools > Add-Ins

If you know the corrupt Excel 2007 or 2010 file location, click Browse to choose the file. Otherwise, click Search. Follow the below steps to recover data from corrupt Excel 2007/2010 file by using Stellar Excel repair tool:

• Click the Repair button to scan the file.

• Once the scanning process is complete, the software shows a preview of recoverable Excel file items.

• To save the repaired file, click the Save File option on File menu.

• In ‘Save File’ dialog box, choose to recover Excel 2007 & 2010 data to either the Default or New location. Click OK.

The repaired Excel file gets saved at the specified location.

Preventive Measures to Avoid Losing Excel File Data

The above-discussed methods might help salvage your data. But, it is recommended that you must take some preventive measures to avoid losing the data. One such important measure is backing up a copy of your workbook automatically. Doing so, will help you get back data in case the workbook is accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Steps to Create Backup Copy Automatically

You can automatically create an Excel backup copy by following these steps:

• Click Save As from the main menu of your Excel application.
• Browse to the location where the corrupt Excel 2010/2007 file is saved.

• In ‘Save As’ dialog box, click the arrow next to Tools button (given at the bottom left corner) and choose General Options.

• In ‘General Options’ box, check Always create backup checkbox, and then click OK.

With this, you instructed MS Excel to create a backup of every Excel file you create or open for work.

Conclusion

This article outlined the typical reasons resulting in a corrupt Excel 2010 or 2007 file, such as virus infection, bad sectors on drive, etc. It explained how to fix a corrupted Excel file by using the inbuilt MS ‘Open and Repair’ tool. The article also discussed methods to recover Excel files in MS Office 2010 & 2007 when the Microsoft Excel repair tool fails. Further, it explained how using a professional repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Excel can come in handy when the manual methods to repair and recover Excel 2007 and 2010 file fails. But, keep in mind, a workbook may get corrupt again. And so, make sure to automatically backup your workbook to avoid losing its data.

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.

How Can I Recover Corrupted Excel File 2016?

Error Messages Indicating Corruption in Excel File

• When an Excel 2016 file turns corrupt, you’ll receive an error message that reads: “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened .”

• But sometimes, you encounter the “Excel cannot open this file” error message due to corruption in the file.

Why does Excel File turn Corrupt?

Following are some common reasons that can turn an Excel file corrupt:

• Large size of the Excel file
• The file is virus infected
• Hard drive on which Excel file is stored has developed bad sectors
• Abrupt system shutdown while working on a worksheet

Workarounds to Recover Data from Corrupt Excel

The workarounds to recover corrupted Excel file 2016 data will vary depending on whether you can open the file or not.

How to Recover Corrupted Excel File 2016 Data When You Can Open the File?

If the corrupt Excel file is open, try any of the following workarounds to retrieve the data:

Workaround 1 – Use the Recover Unsaved Workbooks Option

If your Excel file gets corrupt while you are working on it and you haven’t saved the changes, you can try retrieving the file’s data by following these steps:

• Open your Excel 2016 application and click on the Open Other Workbooks option.

• Click the Recover Unsaved Workbooks button at the bottom of the ‘Recent Workbooks’ section.

• A window with list of unsaved Excel files will open. Click the corrupt file you want to open.

This will reopen your last saved version of the Excel workbook. If this method doesn’t work, proceed with the next workaround.

Workaround 2 – Revert to Last Saved Version of your Excel File

If your Excel file gets corrupt in the middle of making any changes, you can recover the file’s data if the changes haven’t been saved. For this, you need to revert to the last saved version of your Excel file. Doing so will discard any changes that may have caused the file to turn corrupt. Here’s how to do it:

• In your Excel 2016 file, click File from the main menu.
• Click Open. From the list of workbooks under Recent workbooks, double-click the corrupt workbook that is already open in Excel.
• Click Yes when prompted to reopen the workbook.

Excel will revert the corrupt file to its last saved version. If it fails, skip to the next workaround.

Workaround 3 – Save the Corrupted Excel File in Symbolic Link (SYLK) Format

Saving an Excel file in SYLK format might help you filter out corrupted elements from the file. Here are the steps to do so:

• From your Excel File menu, choose Save As.
• In ‘Save As’ window that pops-up, from the Save as type dropdown list, choose the SYLK (Symbolic Link) option, and then click Save.

Note: Only the active sheet will be saved in workbook on choosing the SYLK format.

• Click OK when prompted that “The selected file type does not support workbooks that contain multiple sheets”. This will only save the active sheet.

• Click Yes when the warning message appears - “Some features in your workbook might be lost if you save it as SYLK (Symbolic Link)”.

• Click File > Open.
• Browse the corrupt workbook saved with SYLK format (.slk) and open it.
• After opening the file, select File > Save As.
• In ‘Save as type’ dialog box, select Excel workbook.
• Rename the workbook and hit the Save button.

After performing these steps, a copy of your original workbook will be saved at the specified location.

How to Recover Corrupted Excel File 2016 Data When You Cannot Open the File?

If you can’t access the Excel file, apply one of these workarounds to salvage the file’s data.

Workaround 1 – Open and Repair the Excel File

Excel automatically initiates ‘File Recovery’ mode on opening a corrupt file. After starting the auto-recovery mode, it attempts to reopen and repair the corrupt Excel file at the same time. If the auto-recovery mode does not start automatically, you can try to fix corrupted Excel file 2016 manually by using ‘Open and Repair’. Follow these steps:

• Open a blank file, click the File tab and select Open.
• Browse the location where the corrupt 2016 Excel file is stored.
• When an ‘Open’ dialog box appears, select the file you want to repair.
• Once the file is selected, click the arrow next to the Open button, and then click the Open and Repair button.
• Do any of these actions:
• Click Repair to fix corrupted file and recover data from it.
• Click Extract Data if you cannot repair the file or only need to extract values and formulas.

If performing these actions doesn’t help you retrieve the data, proceed with the next workaround.

Workaround 2 – Disable the Protected View Settings

Follow these steps to disable the protected view settings in an Excel file:

• Open a blank 2016 workbook.

• Click the File tab and then select Options.

• When an Excel Options window opens, click Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.

• In the window that pops-up, choose Protected View from the left side navigation. Under ‘Protected View’, uncheck all the checkboxes, and then hit OK.

Now, try opening your corrupt Excel 2016 file. If it won’t open, try the next workaround.

Workaround 3 – Link to the Corrupt Excel File using External References

If you only need to extract Excel file data without formulas or calculated values, use external references to link to your corrupt Excel 2016 file. Here’s how you can do it:

• From your Excel file, click File > Open.
• From the window that opens, click Computer and then click Browse and copy the name of your corrupt Excel 2016 file. Click the Cancel button.

• Go back to your Excel file, click File > New > Blank workbook.

• In the new Excel workbook, type “=CorruptExcelFile Name!A1” in cell A1 to reference cell A1 of the corrupted file. Replace the ‘CorruptExcelFile Name’ with the name of the corrupt file that you have copied above. Hit ENTER.
• If ‘Update Values’ dialog box appears, select the corrupt 2016 Excel file, and then click OK.
• If ‘Select Sheet’ dialog box pops-up, select a corrupt sheet, and press the OK button.
• Select and drag cell A1 till the columns required to store the data of your corrupted Excel file.
• Next, copy row A and drag it down to the rows needed to save the file’s data.
• Select and copy the file’s data.
• From the Edit menu, choose the Paste Special option and then select Values. Click OK to paste values and remove the reference links to the corrupt file.

Check the new Excel file for recoverable data. If this didn’t work, consider using an Excel file repair tool to retrieve data.

Alternative Solution to Recover Excel File Data

Applying the above workarounds may take considerable time to recover corrupted Excel file 2016. Also, they may fail to extract data from a severely corrupted file. Using Stellar Repair for Excel software can help you overcome these limitations. The software helps repair severely corrupted XLS/XLSX file and retrieve all the file data in a few simple steps.

Key benefits of using Stellar Repair for Excel are as follows:

• Recovers tables, pivot tables, images, charts, chartsheets, hidden sheets, etc.
• Maintains original spreadsheet properties and cell formatting
• Batch repair multiple Excel XLS/XLSX files in a single go
• Supports MS Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, and previous versions

Check out this video to know how the Excel file repair tool from Stellar® works:

Conclusion

Errors such as ‘the file is corrupt and cannot be opened’, ‘Excel cannot open this file’, etc. indicate corruption in an Excel file. Large-sized workbook, virus infection, bad sectors on hard disk drive, etc. are some reasons that may result in Excel file corruption. The workarounds discussed in this article can help you recover corrupted Excel file 2016 data. However, manual methods can be time-consuming and might fail to extract data from severely corrupted workbook. A better alternative is to use Stellar Repair for Excel software that is purpose-built to repair and recover data from damaged or corrupted Excel file.

How Do I Repair and Restore Excel File?

When an Excel file turns corrupt, the file might become inaccessible or you might receive errors. You may encounter errors, such as ‘the file is corrupt and cannot be opened,’ ‘Excel found unreadable content in “filename>”,’ ‘Excel cannot open “filename” because the file format or extension is not valid,’ etc.

Common Reasons for Excel File Corruption

There are several reasons that can turn the file corrupt. The most common reason is a damaged hard drive. Other factors that can cause corruption in an Excel file are as follows:

• System crash or abrupt shutdown of the system while the file is still open
• Viruses infecting the file with malicious code
• Bug in the operating system
• Bad sectors on the drive where the file is stored
• Large spreadsheets with formulas and other components

Whatever be the reason, if your business is dependent on an Excel file, corruption in the file could hamper your business continuity. Also, you may lose crucial data. In such a situation, you could try to repair the file.

Before We Begin

It is important to identify the root cause behind Excel file corruption. If the problem has occurred due to a faulty hard disk drive, contact your hardware vendor to get it fixed. Also, move the file to another local drive and check if it opens. If nothing works, proceed with the methods discussed below to repair and restore the file.

Methods to Repair and Restore Excel File

Try the following methods to fix corruption in an Excel file and restore it.

Method 1 – Use the Built-in ‘Open and Repair’ Tool

You can use the Excel built-in Open and Repair utility to repair the corrupt file. Follow these steps:

• Open your Excel application and click on Blank workbook.

• On the blank workbook screen, click on the File tab.

• Click Open > Computer > Browse.

• Select the file you want to repair and then click on Open and Repair from the Open dropdown box.

• Click Repair to fix corruption in the Excel file and recover maximum data.

• If you get the following error message, click Yes to open the file.

• If clicking Yes opens the file with garbage entries (see the image below), perform Step 1 – 5 and click Extract Data. This will only help you recover data without formulas and values.

Note: You may also try to recover the data from a corrupted workbook by using the methods suggested by Microsoft .

A better way to repair and restore an Excel file with complete data is to use a specialized Excel file repair tool .

Method 2 – Use Excel File Repair Tool

Stellar Repair for Excel is a powerful tool designed to help users fix corrupted .xls or .xlsx files without any technical assistance. Also, the tool recovers all the components from a corrupted workbook, including tables, pivot tables, cell values, formulas, charts, images, etc. You can preview the repaired file and its contents by downloading the free demo version from the link below. It is a useful feature that allows the user to validate the data before saving it.

[

](https://tools.techidaily.com/stellardata-recovery/repaire-for-excel/ “Free Download For Windows”)

Here’s the step-by-step instructions to repair a corrupt Excel file using the software:

• Run the software. The software main interface opens with an instruction to add some add-ins if you’ve engineering formulas in the file you want to repair.

• Click OK to proceed.

• Select the file you wish to repair by using the Browse option.

Note: If you’re not aware of the file location, choose the ‘Search’ option to locate the file.

• A screen showing progress of the Excel file repair process is displayed.

• Preview of the repaired Excel file and its recoverable data is displayed.

• After verifying the data, click on the Save File button on the File menu to save the repaired file.

• Select the location where you wish to save the repaired file on the Save File window and then click OK.

A confirmation message will pop-up after completion of the repair process. You can now try to open the file in your Excel program.

End Note

Even if you’re taking preventive measures, you might still experience corruption in an Excel file. So, it’s crucial to take regular backups of your workbooks. For this, ensure that the ‘Always create backup’ option is enabled in Excel. You can find it in General Options by clicking on the Tools button in the Save As dialog box. Enabling it will ensure that the Excel backup file is updated with the changes made in a spreadsheet.

Additionally, ensure that the Excel ‘AutoRecover’ feature is set to save a version of your Excel file after every 10 minutes. You can increase or shorten the interval as per your requirement.

How to repair ‘recovered’ Excel file that won’t open

Summary: You may unable to open the Excel file after file recovery. When you try to open the file you may prompt up with error messages. This blog will discuss those errors and their solutions. Besides this, it also mentions Stellar Repair for Excel to repair and recover the severely corrupted Excel file with no data loss.

Consider a scenario: A Windows 10 user accidentally deletes a folder containing multiple Excel (XLSX) files created in Excel 2013. The worst part was all the deleted files were important, and he did not have a backup, which would help him in restoring the data. Nonetheless, he was able to recover those data using a professional data recovery software. Next, he tried opening each of the recovered Excel files one by one. In doing so, his happiness turned into disappointment. And the reason was, some of the recovered Excel files failed to open prompting error messages, of course, due to corruption. In this scenario, all he needed was to repair ‘recovered’ Excel files that did not open. Know how to fix damaged Excel files that were recovered after deletion in this blog!

Before delving into the Excel file repair methods, acquaint yourself with the probable causes leading to damaged or corrupt Excel files. Although not essential, it shall be an added advantage in helping you to prevent Excel file corruption issues in the future.

The standard Excel file(s) Corruption Causes

• Power Outage – A power outage due to which a system closes suddenly or unexpectedly is a common cause of damaged Excel files.
• Forced System Shutdown – Shutting down the system forcibly without closing MS Excel files is another common cause of corrupt Excel files.
• PC Virus or Bug – Computer viruses or bugs may affect one or more data file if owners do not protect their PCs with powerful updated antivirus. Same is the case with malware attacks. The chances are that your computer is infected with one of these and has affected a few Excel files.
• Issues with Storage Devices – Damaged or corrupted Excel files can also be the outcome of hard drive issues in the data storage systems. Logical hard drive damage is one of the most significant issues.

The damaged Excel files may prompt up with error messages. These may be:

• ‘Excel unable to read file’
• ‘Filename is not valid’
• ‘This file is not in a recognizable format’
• ‘abc.xls file cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only’
• ‘Excel found unreadable content in (filename)’, ‘The file is corrupt and cannot be opened’
• ‘Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close’

There exist multiple methods to repair Excel files which got damaged after recovery, and are as follows: XML method,

• Open Excel files with HTML
• Inbuilt ‘Open and Repair’ feature/tool in Excel
• Repair damaged Excel file from TMP file by using Excel AutoRecover and AutoBackup features
• Recover data by configuring ‘calculation option’ as manual
• Moving/copying or transferring data to a different location
• Stellar Repair for Excel software

Taking Stellar software versus other methods, the former is a software solution that repairs damaged (XLS and XLSX) file quickly in major three steps: Select->Repair->Save, whereas others fall into the category of manual processes and consume both time and resources. Among the manual processes ‘Open and Repair’ method is the least time and resource consuming, which you can try quickly by following the below steps:

Open and Repair method

1. Click MS Excel tab and then the Open tab
2. Select the damaged Excel file for repairing purpose
3. Click the arrow present beside the Open Next, click Open and Repair tab
4. Click either of the following:
   • Repair tab (recovers maximum data)
   • Extract Data tab (Recovers values and formulas if the repair process fails in recovering the complete data.)

Note – Use ‘Extract Data’ if ‘Repair’ is not successful.

If the Manual method is not competent enough to repair recovered Excel files that don’t open then opt for a software-based solution of deploying Stellar Repair for Excel software.

Software with 100% integrity and precision

Conclusion

As an automated software, Stellar Repair for Excel is easy-to-use. You do not need technical know-how and skill set, as required to execute the manual processes. On analyzing all these methods, it is suggested to use Stellar Repair for Excel having a user-friendly GUI to repair Excel files that became damaged after recovery, or if the recovered Excel file(s) that you once deleted accidentally has become corrupt now. Above all, it is an excellent software with multiple features and advantages. Use it to address all your MS Excel issues or if any recovered Excel file is corrupt.