Microsoft Excel : Tips, Issues, Etc.

[GTO]

Would greatly appreciate help on this, thanks!

So here's what happened:

- Created an excel sheet on my home laptop; I use Office 2007 and the excel sheet was saved in .xlsx format.

- Emailed it to myself for use at work. Spent another 3 hours on it yesterday, and closed it.

- Opened it once last afternoon and was able to access / view data.

- Needed it in the evening, but when opened, an error pop up read : Excel cannot open the file 'abc.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.

- Because it all happened on the same day, I don't have a backup copy of the file either. It does contain some important data, and I'd highly appreciate any help on recovery.

- NOTE : What causes corruption? This had happened 2 months back, but luckily I just got a working copy of the corrupted file from my backup. As a temp fix, I've started saving all excel files in .xls format (and not .xlsx). My comp has a UPS, thus no power interruptions either.

[androdev]

While other will hopefully offer a better solution, you can always open it using notepad (or any plain text reader) and be able to see the raw text data. It will require rework to create the xls file again but the 'data' is available.

[Stratos]

You can try downloading this Microsoft Office Compatibility Patch
This will enable you to open the .xlsx file in previous generation offices. Might want to give it a try.

It will only work with Genuine Microsoft Office.

[HammerHead]

@ GTO, looks like know issue with MS Excel 2007.
Error message when you try to open a workbook that you receive in an e-mail message for review in Excel 2007: "Excel cannot open the file"

Suggestion: There are lot of applications available to recover Excel files, you may give it a try installing couple of them.

[comfortablynumb]

Rename the file to *.csv and then try opening it. It might work and is worth a shot.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Vikram

[roy_libran]

GTO, there is a product downloadable from internet that can convert xls / xlsx to csv. It is usually helpful in recovering corrupted datasets. Since, I am in office, I am not able to accessthese sites for download. Try searching for "xls2csv" and download a trial version of this, and see if it works for you. I have tried this successfully in the past.

By the way, have you considered the Open Document Formats? They are supported by MS Office as well.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by androdev

While other will hopefully offer a better solution, you can always open it using notepad (or any plain text reader) and be able to see the raw text data. It will require rework to create the xls file again but the 'data' is available.

The data that shows up is incomprehensible (only weird characters & symbols)

Originally Posted by Stratos

You can try downloading this Microsoft Office Compatibility Patch
This will enable you to open the .xlsx file in previous generation offices. Might want to give it a try.

It will only work with Genuine Microsoft Office.

Stratos, that tool - though helpful - is to open the xlsx files on older versions of MS Office. Not applicable to my problem.

Originally Posted by HammerHead

@ GTO, looks like know issue with MS Excel 2007.
Error message when you try to open a workbook that you receive in an e-mail message for review in Excel 2007: "Excel cannot open the file"

Tried renaming the file extentions; no luck.

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Rename the file to *.csv and then try opening it. It might work and is worth a shot.

Same problem as notepad. Opens up, but is incomprehensible.

Originally Posted by roy_libran

Try searching for "xls2csv" and download a trial version of this, and see if it works for you.

Tried. Shows empty CSV rows & columns.

[bblost]

GTO: Not quite sure how this will work. But email it to a gmail account.

Then when you open the email in gmail it will ask if you wish to view it or download it.

Select View It. Hopefully the google application is able to open the file and show it to you.

[pjbiju]

Check if you have any files without any extension residing in the same folder that had the xlsx file. The name could be something like "D647FD10" etc. Copy those files and give them the extension of .xlsx. Open them to see if anything matches with your original excel file. Also check if Autorecover is enabled (under excel options) and if so, check in the autorecover folder for a copy of your file.

[NetfreakBombay]

GTO,

.xlsx (and docx / pptx) are zip files.

Please try this:

1. Create a copy of file and rename this copy to .zip
2. See if you can unzip it. If you can't, this is the root cause
3. If you can't unzip it, try some zip recovery software : Fix zip file with DiskInternals ZIP Repair

If this works and can recover partial data, we can work on getting it back into excel.

[dre@ms]

@NetfreakBombay
Are you sure pal. Those extensions you have mentioned is for Office 2007 and above.

I tried the same and when opening or unzipping, shows corrupt or damaged.

@GTO
Are you using Office 2007/2010 at your office too?

Its worth a shot trying to open with Open Office. Most issues with my excel/word have been solved using the same.

[NetfreakBombay]

^^

yes, 2007 and 2010 use zip for storing files. Data is stored as XML and compressed to zip for reducing size.

Regarding:

I tried the same and when opening or unzipping, shows corrupt or damaged.

What are first two bytes of file? Is it "PK" ?

[alexpaul]

Originally Posted by GTO

Would greatly appreciate help on this, thanks!

So here's what happened:

- Created an excel sheet on my home laptop; I use Office 2007 and the excel sheet was saved in .xlsx format.

- Emailed it to myself for use at work. Spent another 3 hours on it yesterday, and closed it.

- Opened it once last afternoon and was able to access / view data.

- Needed it in the evening, but when opened, an error pop up read : Excel cannot open the file 'abc.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.

- Because it all happened on the same day, I don't have a backup copy of the file either. It does contain some important data, and I'd highly appreciate any help on recovery.

- NOTE : What causes corruption? This had happened 2 months back, but luckily I just got a working copy of the corrupted file from my backup. As a temp fix, I've started saving all excel files in .xls format (and not .xlsx). My comp has a UPS, thus no power interruptions either.

GTO , access the excel options (will see this option below when you click on office icon on an open excel document), navigate to save option and verify whether the below mentioned field has same settings in both your office and home laptop

"Save files in this format" < field box >

Probably your office laptop must have the settings to save the document in .xls format instead of .xlsx format and thats where the existing file is getting corrupted.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by GTO

Tried. Shows empty CSV rows & columns.

Ok, I think I know the problem. I think the data is in the Buffer File, that is automatically created in the same folder (look in hidden files). Try locating that file, and rename that file, and follow the conversion procedure to see if it works.

[sanagg1]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

yes, 2007 and 2010 use zip for storing files. Data is stored as XML and compressed to zip for reducing size.

This is a nice information, I think for many of us also.
Thanks for sharing

Cheers