How to recover corrupted Excel file in Windows 10

Excel is an essential program that is also used by people and businesses to work with large amounts of data and organize them using formulas, tables, charts and some other tools.

However, while using the program, you may encounter various unforeseen problems, one of which is file corruption errors due to the system, virus infections or other unknown causes.

If you are dealing with this situation, you will find below a number of possible solutions that can help you solve the problem.

How can I fix Excel file corruption issues?

1. Check for malware
2. Use third-party software
3. Use opening and repair tools
4. Recover a corrupted Excel file from the previous version
5. Set the calculation option to manual
6. Use external references to link to the damaged workbook
7. Recover TMP file
8. Delete the TEMP folder
9. Use HTML format
10. Use the SYLK format
11. Open in WordPad or Word
12. Use XML format
13. Open Excel in safe mode
14. Use newer Excel versions

Check for malware

It is very likely that your document is invalid due to a virus attack.

In this case, it may be a good idea to run an in-depth system scan using the software you have on your computer. The program should eliminate all viruses found and you should be able to open the document.

If you are looking for security tools, you will be happy to know that some of the best antivirus software has free trial versions.

If you are not quite sure which one will be best for your needs, you can try a few.

The most important thing to look for in an antivirus is its horrible database. At the same time, make sure that the security tool of your choice has multi-layered protection. This ensures that you are protected on all fronts.

Additional requirements that every antivirus needs to check are transparent privacy policies, low resource use and non-invasive messages.

Once you have decided on an antivirus and installed it, run a full computer scan and remove / quit all found threats.

2. Use third-party software

Another option is to use professional data recovery software that can repair corrupted Excel documents.

Data recovery software scans your entire device for lost or corrupted files. They usually offer an overview of everything they can find and let you know which files can be recovered.

When it comes to Excel documents, dedicated software is able to identify and eliminate the cause of corruption, thus allowing you to open your spreadsheets without any problem.

These tools are very powerful and they come with additional recovery features that can help you recover completely lost discs and lost files in removable media.

Use the opening and repair tools

1. Open a blank excel document.
2. go to file And click open.
3. In the Open dialog box, select the corrupted file, and then click the drop-down menu next to Open to select Open and fix

Note: To recover as much of the workbook data as possible, select Correct. If Repair is unable to recover your data, select Data extraction Extract entries and formulas attached to the work.

4. Recover a corrupted excel file from the previous version

1. Right-click on the Excel file and select property
2. go to previous versions, Find and select the latest version or the correct version before Excel crashes, deletes or saves, click Restore

Note: The workbook opens without any changes you have made that could cause the workbook to be damaged.

5. Set the calculation option to manual

1. Open Excel, press file And choose New
2. knock Empty workbook Under new
3. Navigate to file And go to options
4. knock a guide to under Calculation options In the Formulas and Click category OK

Use external references to link to the damaged workbook

1. knock file And go to open
2. Navigate to the folder containing the damaged workbook and right-click on it.
3. knock copy, And then click cancel.
4. knock file And go to New, Then open a Empty workbook.
5. In cell A1 of the new workbook, type = file name! A1, where file name Is the name of the damaged workbook you copied in step 3 (without the name extension), and then press Enter.
6. Select Corrupt Excel if Update values A box will appear and click OK.
7. Select the appropriate sheet if Select a sheet A dialog box appears and click OK.
8. Select cell A1 and click Home and then copy.
9. Select an area, starting with cell A1 that is about the same size as the range of cells that contain data in the damaged workbook.
10. knock Home and paste.
11. Repeat to copy all selected cells again by clicking Home and then copy.
12. knock Home go to paste And click Paste values Under values.

Note: Paste entries will remove the links to corrupted Excel and will only leave you with the data until then.

By using the method, you will not be able to recover formulas, formats, charts, macros and so on, but data recovery is better than recovering nothing.

7. Recover TMP file

1. In File Explorer, open This computer (Usually third🙂
2. Double-click Users Folder and then open the Default and AppData folder. (Make sure you can view hidden files.)
3. In the native Folder, go to Microsoft.
4. Locate the office Folder and then go to Files not saved.
5. Locate and find the temporary excel files that start with $ Or ~ and finish with .TMP
6. Copy these files and save them in another safe place by changing the extension from .TMP to .XLS / .XLSX

Delete the TEMP folder

If saving a temporary Excel file did not work, another suggestion is to delete some of the temporary files and folders on your computer.

These files and folders can be found in the C: / Windows / temp directory. After you delete these files, restart your computer, and then try to open the Excel document again.

If you cannot delete temporary files, use this guide to fix the problem.

9. Use HTML format

1. Open the excel file and go to Save approx.
2. Select other formats from the drop-down menu in Save as type option.
3. Then select Web page.
4. to ensure The entire workbook Select and then press to rescue
5. Right-click on the web file and select Open with Microsoft Office Excel.
6. Once the document is open, go to Save approx Select again surpass format.
7. Select a different name from the corrupted original file and click to rescue.

10. Use the SYLK format

1. Open the excel file and go to Save approx
2. Select other formats from the drop-down menu in Save as type option
3. From the options in the drop-down list, select Silk(Symbolic link) (* .slk)
4. knock file and open Again, but this time select the Silk file.
5. After opening the file, click file and then Save approx.
6. Select Microsoft Excel workbook And click to rescue.

Note: Using the SYLK format saves only the active worksheet. You will need to save each worksheet separately and repeat this procedure.

11. Open in WordPad or Word

Another solution we recommend is to try to open the corrupted file in WordPad. If it works, WordPad will convert everything to text but unfortunately, this method will not restore formulas.

On the other hand, the good news is that unlike many other data recovery methods, WordPad will recover your macros.

Just search the restored text for Sub and Function to find them. You may also be able to open the damaged .xls file in Word, but the results will be limited.

To do this, you must first make sure that the Microsoft Excel converter is installed on you. You can Download it from the official Microsoft page.

12. Use XML format

1. Open the corrupted file, go to file And press Save approx.
2. From the list of possible formats next to Save as Select XML spreadsheet And then click to rescue.
3. Open the document again.
4. go to Save approx Again and then save the document as an Excel workbook By selecting the Excel format from the drop-down list next to it Save as type.

13. Open the Excel in safe mode

1. to press Windows+R Keys for opening run Dialog window
2. Type the command Excel / Safe And click OK
3. Copy all the data to a new document and open it inside Normal condition.

This method may disable your macros and extensions, but is a great solution because you can move the data to a new document.

14. Use newer Excel versions

Although it seems like a very simple solution, it is definitely worth a try. Try using a later version of Excel because as the versions grow, so does the program’s ability to recover a file, so you may be able to recover your file using this simple method.

So, did any of these solutions help you repair your corrupted excel file? Tell us in the comments section below.

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