How to Repair Excel File Online?

Summary: A Microsoft Excel file gets corrupted due to various reasons such as bad sectors on the hard disk, virus infection, large data stored in a single Excel file, etc. In this post, we’ve discussed the ways to repair corrupt Excel files online and get back all the data, including cells, tables, filters, and formulas.

Reasons behind Corruption in Excel File

• Sudden power failure and abrupt shutdown of the system
• Malware infection
• Editing the file on different versions of the Office Application
• Large volumes of data stored in a single Excel file
• Bad sectors on the Hard disk where the Excel file is saved
• Errors in the Operating System
• Issues with the MS Office Application

How to Detect Excel File Corruption?

When you open a corrupt workbook, the Microsoft Excel file automatically starts File Recovery mode and attempts to repair the workbook. When Excel detects a corrupt workbook, it displays warning messages, such as:

• Excel 2007/2010: “Excel found unreadable content in <filename>. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes”.
• “We found a problem with some content in <filename>.
• “Excel cannot open the file <filename>”.
• “The workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel file because it is corrupt”.
• “Can’t find a project or library. Microsoft Excel is restarting…”
• “Multiple custom UI parts were found in the file. Only one part is expected.”

Also Read: How to recover permanently deleted Excel files?

How to a Repair Corrupt Excel file?

You can try the following workarounds to repair a corrupt or damaged Excel file:

1. Revert the Excel Sheet to the last saved version: If an Excel sheet gets corrupted while you’re working on it, but before you save the changes, revert to the last saved version.
2. Change the Calculation Setting: Set the calculation option in Excel from automatic to manual. As the workbook won’t be recalculated, it may open.
3. Disable Protected View: Disabling the protected view can harm your system as it makes your system prone to threats. However, if you can access an Excel file after disabling the protected view, save the file with a different name, and enable the protected view again.
4. Modify Component Service Settings: This will make changes in the registry. Ensure not to make mistakes while making changes.
5. Change the File Extension: It’s possible that the current version of your MS Office does not support the file extension of your Excel file. Change the file extension to . XLS and try to open it.
6. Disable Add-Ins: Sometimes, an error message pops up indicating that your file is corrupted. It can be due to conflicting add-ins. Disable the add-ins and check again.
7. Repair Excel file by using built-in Open and Repair Utility: Try to repair the corrupt Excel with Open and Repair utility. However, this repair utility can salvage the data, but not the entire Excel sheet.

If the above workarounds are not helpful, then the only option is to use a specialized Excel repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Excel.

Why Stellar Repair for Excel?

The corrupt Excel repair software from Stellar Data Recovery uses powerful algorithms to repair corrupt Excel files. It restores all the information in a new Excel spreadsheet. Key advantages of this Excel repair software include:

• Recover tables, charts, cell comments, images, formulas, sorts, filters, etc.
• Preserves worksheet properties (freeze panes, split, gridlines, & formula bar) and cell formatting.
• Repairs single as well as multiple XLS/XLSX files simultaneously.
• Supports MS Excel versions 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, and 2000.

How Does Stellar Excel File Repair Software Work?

Stellar Repair for Excel has an interactive GUI that makes the repair and recovery process smooth. A simple three-step approach of select-scan-repair ensures data recovery within no time. Follow the steps below to repair damaged Excel spreadsheets:

• Download, install, and launch Stellar Repair for Excel.
  
• Go to the software’s home screen. Browse to select the corrupt Excel file (XLS/XLSX). You can click on the Search option if you don’t know its location.
• Once the file is selected, click Repair. The software will initiate the scanning process.
  
• Once the scan is over, the recovered items will be displayed in a tree view on the software’s left-hand panel. Preview the items by double-clicking on them.
  
• If the file preview is satisfactory, click the ‘Save File’ button on the main menu.
  
• When prompted, choose the destination to save the salvaged file. Click OK.

Additional Reading, How to Recover Deleted Excel Files?

Wrapping it up

It is advised to work on Microsoft Excel with automatic backup turned on. You’ll always have access to your data, in case your workbook is deleted accidentally or gets corrupted. But if you come across a situation where recovering an Excel sheet becomes difficult, Stellar Repair for Excel software can help in retrieving damaged/corrupt files.