How to Recover Excel Corrupt File [6 Easy Fixes]

Why does Excel Become Corrupted?

Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software globally, indispensable in various industries for tasks like data management, analysis, report creation, and financial accounting, serving both personal daily records and complex corporate operations. However, Excel corruption is not a rare phenomenon in daily use. It can occur when the file structure gets damaged, which makes it unreadable or inaccessible. Excel files can become corrupted for several reasons, including these reasons as below:

• Power Outages or System Crashes: When your computer shuts down abruptly (may due to a power failure, system crash, or software malfunction). Excel might fail to save your file properly. This can leave the file in an incomplete state, leading to corruption.
• Large or Complex Files: Very large Excel files with excessive data, complex formulas, and many links can be prone to corruption. If there are errors in the formulas or the workbook gets too large to handle efficiently, it can cause the file to become unstable and corrupt.
• Faulty or Outdated Software: Using outdated versions of Excel or having incompatible software installed (such as older versions of Excel) can also cause corruption.
• Disk Errors or Bad Sectors: Corruption can also occur due to issues with your hard drive or storage medium, especially if the file is being saved to a location that has bad sectors or disk errors.
• Virus or Malware: Malware can target Excel files and corrupt them, either as a result of active attacks or as collateral damage during a system infection.

How to Repair Corrupted Excel Files via Built-in Feature

Before proceeding with recovering a crashed workbook, you can first try the built-in feature of the Windows and Excel to repair the crashed file. Once successful, you can normally read the workbook content without any additional operations.

✅Scan with Windows Defender

As mentioned, Excel file can get corrupted after being infected by any virus or malware. Therefore, you can repair damaged and corrupted Excel files by simply scanning them with Microsoft Defender.

Step 1. Select the corrupted file or the drive with corrupted files and right click to choose "Scan with Microsoft Defender".

Step 2. If it's necessary, you can also perform a comprehensive scan by choosing "Full scan".

✅Repair with Built-in Feature in Excel

Excel has a built-in repair tool that can attempt to fix a corrupted file when you open it. You can follow these steps to repair the problem.

Step 1. Launch Excel and click "Open” to choose the corrupted files.

Step 2. In the "Open" dialog box, click the down arrow next to the "Open" button, and select "Open and Repair".

Step 3. Choose "Repair" to attempt to fix the file. When process is completed, you can open the file in Excel.

How to Recover Data from Corrupted Excel File

Now, it's time to recover data from corrupted excel files. You can take the following methods to recover data from excel corrupted file, regardless of whether you're dealing with a workbook that won't open, shows error messages, or has missing data.

When the Workbook is Open in Excel

If a workbook is corrupted while you are working without closing the workbook, these built-in tools can help restore your data even when the file appears unresponsive.

✅Revert the Workbook to the Last Saved Version

If an Excel file becomes corrupted when the workbook is open in Excel, but before you save your changes, you can recover excel file to the previous version:

Step 1. Click "File > Open" and double-click the name of the workbook that you have open in Excel.

Step 2. Click "Yes" to reopen the file in Excel. The workbook opens without any changes you made that might have caused the workbook to become corrupted.

✅Recover from AutoRecover Folder

Like other Microsoft Office applications, Excel utilizes its "AutoRecover" feature to automatically save recovered versions of files. This feature periodically saves Excel worksheets to a temporary location at set time intervals. If you have enabled this feature beforehand, you will be able to access your files when they are accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Step 1. Launch Excel, click "File > Options".

Step 2. In the "Save" category, under "Save workbooks", check the "Save AutoRecover information every" box, and then enter a number of minutes.

Step 3. Navigate to the AutoSave folder in File Explorer, and choose the files you want to recover.

When the Workbook Can't Open in Excel

If a workbook fails to open in Excel, it may be due to an Excel crash rather than an issue with the file itself. You can try the following methods to resolve this problem.

✅Set the Calculation Option in Excel to Manual

If the corruption is due to complex formulas or an excessive amount of data in the workbook, switching Excel's calculation setting to manual can help prevent it from freezing or crashing while you try to recover the file. This method can help to open and recover some corrupted Excel files if they do not need recalculation.

Step 1. Launch Excel and open or create a new workbook.

Step 2. Click on "File > Options". In the "Formulas" category, under "Calculation options", pick "Manual" option, and then click "OK".

Step 3. Click "File > Open ", locate the corrupted file and double click the workbook to open it.

✅Use External References to Link to the Corrupted Workbook

If the Excel file is too corrupted to open in excel, you can try using external references to link to the corrupted file. But this method only retrieve data not formulas, charts, or calculated values from the workbook.

Step 1. Open Excel and create a new blank workbook save it.

Step 2. In the first book of the new workbook, type the formula: =File Name!A1, where "File Name" is the corrupt Excel file name without the extension. For example, if your corrupted excel file is Test.xlsx, you should type the formula: =Test!A1. Then press "Enter".

Step 3. When the Update Values dialog box appears, select the corrupted workbook with values for external reference, and then click “OK”.

Step 4. If the corrupt Excel file has multiple sheets, you need to select the appropriate sheet, and then click "OK".

Step 5. Select A1 and copy its formula by pressing "Ctrl+C".

Step 6. Starting from A1, select an area that is approximately the same size or larger as the range of cells that contain data in the corrupted workbook, and then paste the formula by pressing "Ctrl +V" in the selected area (only paste values).

Step 7. Check if the value is correct. Then select the cells you want and press "Ctrl+C" to copy them.

Step 8. Create a new sheet, click A1 cell, then right click and select "Paste Values" to paste the values only. In this way, we copy the values from the original corrupt file to the new sheet. If we choose to paste directly, then we will get external reference formulas again, instead of the values.

Conclusion

Excel file corruption can happen for a variety of reasons, but fortunately, there are several ways to recover or repair the corrupted file. The methods listed above can help you recover excel corrupt file. Always make sure to regularly back up your important files to avoid losing critical data in the future. By staying proactive and using the recovery techniques outlined above, you can ensure that your Excel files remain safe, even in the event of unforeseen issues.

FAQ:

1. How can I Prevent Excel File Corruption in the Future?

Preventing Excel file corruption is crucial to avoid data loss and minimize the chances of encountering issues with your workbooks. You can change correct file extension or remove unwanted add-ins from Excel.

2. Is it possible to Recover a Deleted Excel File?

Yes. You can use MyRecover, a professional data recovery software, to recover deleted excel file in just 4 steps. It works by scanning the whole drive for lost files. It adopts a simple user graphic design, which is very friendly to non-professionals.

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3. Is it Possible to Recover Excel Files Lost after a System Crash?

Yes. The Professional and Technician editions of MyRecover support to recover data from system crashes and more various complex data loss scenarios, and it allow you to preview file contents before recovery.