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Tips: How to Fix Corrupted Excel File


 

2-STEP SOLUTION

 
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1. Download a free demo of Recovery for Excel. Install and try it on your corrupted data. Consider the results of demo recovery.

2. Satisfied with the demo? Order online now and get the software in just a few minutes! Various ordering options available.


   -Corrupt Excel File Typical Symptoms
   -Introduction to Excel Corrupt File Recovery
   -Recovery Software
   -If the corrupted Excel file cannot be opened
   -If the corrupted Excel file is open, or can be opened

Corrupt Excel File Typical Symptoms


- Excel unable to read file..
- This file is not in a recognizable format..
- '????.xls' cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location or, server the document is stored on may be not responding.
- EXCEL.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created.

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Introduction to Excel Corrupt File Recovery


If you have a corrupt Excel File… DON'T PANIC

Corrupt or damaged Excel files may be recoverable.

There are three options.

Recovery services

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Excel Recovery Services have the skill and experience to quickly fix your corrupt files. Service is guaranteed, you pay only if they can repair your damaged Excel file.

Do It Yourself
Try the free suggestions listed below. You may be able to solve simple problems yourself.
If the corrupted Excel file cannot be opened
If the corrupted Excel file can be opened

Recovery Software
Recovery software eliminates privacy concerns associated with sending your corrupt Excel file to a third party service. Most have a free demo version that will recovery part of your file.

Try XLS Regenerator XLS Regenerator is a brand new recovery solution for lost, damaged, deleted, overwritten Microsoft Excel documents. It efficiently recovers a separate lost workbook from an existing partition as well as lost excel files from corrupted, deleted partitions or reformatted disks. read more..


Suggested Articles from The Microsoft Knowlege Base:
XL 98 and Earlier versions: Summary of Methods to Recover Data from Corrupted Files
XL2000: Methods for Recovering Data from Damaged Workbooks
XL2002: Methods for Recovering Data from Damaged Workbooks
Recovering Files Manually in Excel 2002

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If the corrupted Excel file cannot be opened


Try the free Excel recovery free suggestions listed below. You may be able to solve simple problems yourself.

1. Do not run Excel off a floppy disk
If the corrupt file is a on floppy disk, copy the file to your hard-drive or a network drive.

2. If Excel crashes and won’t open (not file specific)
The customized Toolbar file may be corrupt. Use Windows Explorer to find the .xlb file. Keep a backup by renaming (.old), then delete the .xlb file. Restart Excel. You will lose any customized toolbars.

3. Open the Excel File in Word, or Wordpad
Try File-Open or Insert-File in MS Word or File-Open in WordPad/Notepad. You may be able to recover the data but not formulas or proper formatting

4. Open in Microsoft’s Excel 97/2000 Viewer
“Microsoft Excel Viewer is a small, freely distributable program that lets users view and print Excel for Windows (versions 2.0 and greater) and Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh (versions 2.2a and greater) spreadsheet files.”
Excel Viewer may recover formatting and cell values, but cannot recovery formulas, charts or VBA macro modules. The Viewer can be downloaded from Microsoft at: www.office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/xlviewer.aspx

5. Open in Excel XP
Excel XP has better file recovery abilities than previous Excel versions.

6. Open in another Spreadsheet program
Lotus or Quattro Pro.

Neither Software602 or OpenOffice support VBA macros but they do produce Excel compatable files. OpenOffice has a reputation of being more of a resource-hog than Software602.

7. Use External link formulas In another worksheet enter this formula into cell a1:
='C:\My Documents\[Corrupt File Name.xls]Sheet'1!A1

– changing it to match the corrupt file path, filename and sheet names. Copy this formula down and over – mirroring the range covered in the corrupt file. Cell values, but not formulas or VBA code, may be retrieved.

8. Disable macros
Disable macros at the prompt when attempting to open the file.

9. Open Excel in Safe Mode
Open Excel in Safe Mode. This will disable VBA and Add-ins. Click on Start then Run then enter (including the quotes and the /s extension):
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\excel.exe” /s

10. Delete your Temporary Folder
Delete the contents of your c:\windows\temp directory then reboot.

11. Use Excel’s built-in Detect and Repair utility.
Excel 2000+ has a built in Detect and Repair utility. Click on
Help – Detect and Repair
Note: “This procedure detects and repairs problems associated with installed Microsoft Office programs, such as registry settings and missing installation files. It will not repair personal files such as spreadsheets or templates.”


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If the corrupted Excel file is open, or can be opened


Try the free Excel recovery listed below. You may be able to solve simple problems yourself.

1. Try to open the file on a different computer

2. Do not run Excel off a floppy disk
If the corrupt Excel file is a on floppy disk, copy the file to your hard-drive or a network drive.

3. Turn off Auto-Save
AutoSave saves a file every ‘x’ minutes.
The file may crash if a macro is running during AutoSave.
Click on Tools-AutoSave. If the AutoSave command is missing then you do not have the AutoSave addin installed.

4. Turn off file-sharing
A shared Excel file allows multiple users to work on a file simultaneously and can keep a log of user’s changes. [Shared] will appear in the title bar if the file is shared.
Turn off sharing by clicking on Tools-Share Workbook

5. Save as an HTML file
‘Filter’ the file by saving it as a Webpage, close it, re-open, then save as an Excel file. In the File-SaveAs-Webpage dialog box: click Entire-Workbook to save all sheets

6. Save as an SYLK file
‘Filter’ the file by saving it in SYLK (Symbolic Link) format, close it, re-open, then save as an Excel file. Only the activesheet will be saved.

7. Revert To Last Saved Version
If the Excel file becomes corrupted before it is saved, you can revert to the last saved version.
Click on File-Open then select the file you are editing. Opening the file will discard any changes since the last save.

8. Microsoft Excel File Recovery Macro (Excel 97 only)
If you can open the file in Excel 97 then the Microsoft Excel 97 Macro Recovery File can be used to recreate the workbook, worksheets and modules. A log file helps to pinpoint problem areas.
Download from support.microsoft.com

9. Reduce Excel file size / Excel VBA Code Cleaner
AppsPro’s free Code Cleaner: “During the process of creating VBA programs, a lot of “junk” builds up in your files. If these files aren’t cleaned periodically you will begin to experience strange problems caused by this extra baggage. Cleaning a project involves exporting the contents of all its VBComponents
out to text files, deleting the components, then importing the components back from the text files.” “You will often see a dramatic reduction in file size once you’ve done this. Even after recompiling the code….500k-600k projects routinely drop 100k if they haven’t been cleaned recently. This is all useless, error prone garbage getting thrown out of your file.”

10. Use Excel’s built-in Detect and Repair utility.
Excel 2000+ has a built in Detect and Repair utility. Click on
Help – Detect and Repair
Note: “This procedure detects and repairs problems associated with installed Microsoft Office programs, such as registry settings and missing installation files. It will not repair personal files such as spreadsheets or templates.”


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