How to Recover a Corrupt Excel File

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Easy ways to recover a corrupt Excel file

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: August 9, 2024 Fact Checked

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This wikiHow teaches you how to recover and repair a corrupted Microsoft Excel file on your Windows or Mac computer.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Repairing the File

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1
Make sure that you're using a Windows computer. You can only repair an Excel file in the Windows version of Excel.
- If you're using a Mac, try one of the other methods in this article.
Its app icon resembles a green box with a white "X" on it.

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This option is next to a folder-shaped icon in the lower-left corner of the window.
It's a folder-shaped icon in the middle of the page. Doing so opens a File Explorer window.
Select your Excel file. Go to the folder in which your corrupted Excel file is stored, then click the Excel file to select it.^{[1]
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It's the downward-facing arrow to the right of the Open button. A drop-down menu will appear.^{[2]
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7
Click Open and Repair…. This option is at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
- If Open and Repair... is greyed out, make sure that your Excel file is selected and try again. If it's still greyed out, you can't repair this file.
8
Click Repair when prompted. It's in a pop-up window. Windows will begin attempting to repair your file.^{[3]
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- If you don't have this option, click Extract Data instead, then click either Convert to Values or Recover Formulas. This will recover any salvageable data.
9
Wait for the file to open. This may take a few minutes if your Excel file is large.
- If the file still won't open, go back through this process and click Extract Data instead of Repair when prompted.
10
Save your file. Once the repaired file opens, press Ctrl+S, double-click This PC, select a save location, enter a file name, and click Save.
- Be sure to select a different file name than the one which you used for the corrupted Excel file.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Changing the File Type on Windows

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Sometimes, Excel documents created on older computers or versions of Excel become unstable on newer versions; similarly, Excel documents can be saved in many different file formats. By changing the Excel file format to "xlsx" (or "xls" for older programs), you can fix this problem.
Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Click the folder-shaped icon in the lower-left side of the Start window.
It's at the top of the File Explorer window. A toolbar will appear below this tab.
This option is in the "Show/hide" section of the toolbar. Doing so will allow you to see the file type extensions at the end of files, including your Excel document.
Go to the location of the Excel document that you want to recover, then click the document to select it.
It's a tab in the upper-left side of the File Explorer window. This will prompt a toolbar to appear.
This option is in the "Organize" section of the toolbar. Clicking Rename will cause the Excel file's name to become highlighted.
9
Change the file type. Replace whatever comes after the period at the end of the file name with xlsx and then press ↵ Enter.
- For example, if the document was named "Spreadsheet1.docx", you would change it to "Spreadsheet1.xlsx".
- If the file extension already is "xlsx", try using "xls" or "html".
This will confirm your changes and change the file extension.
11
Try opening the file. Double-click the file to open it. If the file opens in Excel (or, if you selected "html" as the extension, a web browser), your file has successfully been recovered.
- If you chose the "html" extension, you can convert the webpage into an Excel document by dragging the html file onto the Excel icon and then saving the file that opens as a new "xlsx" file.
- If the file still won't open, proceed to the next Windows method.

Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Changing the File Type on Mac

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Sometimes, Excel documents created on older computers or versions of Excel become unstable on newer versions; similarly, Excel documents can be saved in many different file formats. By changing the Excel file format to "xlsx" (or "xls" for older programs), you can fix this problem.
Click the blue, face-shaped app icon in your Mac's Dock.
Go to the folder in which your Excel file is located, then click the Excel file that you want to recover.
This menu item is in the top-left corner of your Mac's screen. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
It's in the File drop-down menu. This will open a pop-up window.
If you don't see any file name or extension below this category, click the triangle to the left of the "Name & Extension" heading to view the file's name and extension.
7
Change the file type. Replace whatever comes after the period at the end of the file name with xlsx and then press ⏎ Return.
- For example, if the document was named "Spreadsheet1.txt", you would change it to "Spreadsheet1.xlsx".
- If the file extension already is "xlsx", try using "xls" or "html".
This will confirm your decision and change the file type.
9
Try opening the file. Double-click the file to open it. If the file opens in Excel (or, if you selected "html" as the extension, a web browser), your file has successfully been recovered.
- If you chose the "html" extension, you can convert the webpage into an Excel document by dragging the html file onto the Excel icon and then saving the file that opens as a new "xlsx" file.
- If the file still won't open, proceed to the next Mac method.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Recovering a Temporary Save on Windows

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Like most Microsoft Office products, Excel will automatically save recovery versions of files, meaning that you may be able to restore a partial version of your corrupted Excel document. However, Excel doesn't always save these files in time, and you most likely won't be able to recover the whole document in this way.
Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
This will search your computer for the "This PC" program.
It's the computer monitor-shaped icon at the top of the Start window. Doing so opens the This PC window.
This is usually the "OS (C:)" option below the "Devices and drives" heading in the middle of the page.
You'll find this in the middle of the hard drive's folder.^{[4]
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This folder is labeled with part or all of your username on your computer.
8
Double-click the "AppData" folder. It's in the "A" section, so you'll most likely find this folder near the top of the window.^{[5]
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- If you can't find this folder, click the View tab, then check the "Hidden items" box in the "Show/hide" section to prompt the "AppData" folder to appear.
This option is near the top of the folder.
You'll find it in the "M" section.
It's in the "O" section of the Microsoft folder.
This folder should be near the top of the window.^{[6]
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13
Select an Excel file. Look for an Excel file icon that has a name matching your corrupted Excel file, then click it to select it.
- If you don't see any files here, a recovery version of your Excel document was not saved.
14
Change the Excel file's extension. To do so:^{[7]
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- Click View
- Check the "File name extensions" box.
- Click Home
- Click Rename
- Replace the .tmp section with .xlsx
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Click Yes when prompted.
Double-click the file that you just renamed to open it.
16
Save your file. Once the restored file opens, press Ctrl+S, double-click This PC, select a save location, enter a file name, and click Save.
- Be sure to select a different file name than the one which you used for the corrupted Excel file.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Recovering a Temporary Save on Mac

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Like most Microsoft Office products, Excel will automatically save recovery versions of files, meaning that you may be able to restore a partial version of your corrupted Excel document. However, Excel doesn't always save these files in time, and you most likely won't be able to recover the whole document in this way.
2
Click Go. This menu item is at the top of the screen. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
- If you don't see the Go menu item, first open Finder or click the desktop to make it appear.
After doing this, you should see the Library folder appear in the Go drop-down menu.
It's in the Go drop-down menu. This will open the Library hidden folder.
Double-click the "Containers" folder, which is in the "C" section of the Library folder.^{[8]
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It's in the upper-right side of the window.
Type in com.microsoft.Excel and press ⏎ Return.
You'll find this to the right of the "Search:" heading near the top of the Finder window.
Double-click this folder to open it.
If you don't see this folder, scroll down to find it.
This will bring up a list of automatically saved versions of your Excel files.^{[9]
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14
Find a temporary version of your Excel file. The temporary version of your Excel file should have some or all of the file's name in its title.
- If you can't find the temporary version of your Excel file, it wasn't backed up.
Click the Excel file to do so.
It's a menu item in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
This option is near the top of the File drop-down menu. You should see a pop-out menu open.
18
Click Excel. It's in the pop-out menu. Doing so will prompt the temporary version of the Excel document to open in Excel.
- The temporary version will probably not include some of your most recent changes to the original Excel document.
Press ⌘ Command+S, then enter a file name, select a save location in the "Where" menu, and click Save.

Community Q&A

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Question

I cannot open the file with my Excel file, but I can open it in another computer. Why?

Community Answer

It's likely that the other computer has either an older or newer version of Excel, and your document is not compatible with the version you have on your computer.

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What do I do if my Excel files are save with the extension xls?

Nakamura Rei

Community Answer

You can repair .xls files using methods from this article as well as xlsx.

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How do I recover a deleted excel file in Windows 7?

Community Answer

y\You can use the same method. However, to change the file extension you will need to use CMD and run a command like this (make sure you are in the right directory): rename (corrupted excel file, add its file extension at the end) (corrupted excel filename, do NOT add the file extension at the end).(xls, xlsx).

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Windows computers will often attempt to repair automatically the corrupted Excel workbook when you open it.^{[10]
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You may be able to open an otherwise corrupted Excel file by placing your computer in safe mode. If so, a file error or a virus is most likely the reason for your document failing to open.

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There are a few paid data recovery software options that you can use to recover corrupted Excel files. Stellar Phoenix Excel Repair, which is available for both Windows and Mac computers, is a good example of such a program.

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