We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Excel xlsx files not opening in Excel 2016

ads2608
ads2608 Posts: 262 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
in Techie Stuff
Hi,

My xlsx files are no longer opening in Excel 2016.

When I try to open a file, Excel states that the file can not be found.

I am still able to open xls files though.

I have tried EaseUS to recover my files. I can see the files but you have to pay to retrieve the file using this software.

Does anyone know:
Why Excel can't find the files
If there is any safe free file recovery s/w

Thanks in advance
«1

Comments

  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 25,985 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Can you find the files by searching in File Explorer? If so, can you open it/them by double clicking. If you can't find the files, have they been deleted?
  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    ^^good post

    Also , if you are already double clicking the files , can you open them by first opening excel and then browsing to them (reverse of the above) ..
    If so then it's just default programs that need setting

    Let us know
  • ads2608
    ads2608 Posts: 262 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    The files aren't in file explorer and they haven't been deleted.

    They do show up in my recent items but if I click on them, the file can not be found.
  • debitcardmayhem
    debitcardmayhem Posts: 13,503 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Look here perhaps https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/79490-restore-previous-versions-files-folders-drives-windows-10-a.html
    4.8kWp 12x400W Longhi 9.6 kWh battery Giv-hy 5.0 Inverter, WSW facing Essex . Aint no sunshine ☀️ Octopus gas fixed dec 24 @ 5.74 tracker again+ Octopus Intelligent Flux leccy

    CEC Email energyclub@moneysavingexpert.com
  • unforeseen
    unforeseen Posts: 7,451 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    ads2608 wrote: »
    The files aren't in file explorer and they haven't been deleted.

    They do show up in my recent items but if I click on them, the file can not be found.

    If they aren't in file explorer in the locations that they are supposed to be then they have been deleted. The other option is that the extension has been changed to a non Excel one.

    The reason that they are still in recent documents is because that is just a history of the files that you have opened. It doesn't mean the files still exist.
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Or you may have accidently dropped a folder into another so they are not where they were. Try a full search in explorer to find them.
  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 25,985 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Carrot007 wrote: »
    Or you may have accidently dropped a folder into another so they are not where they were. Try a full search in explorer to find them.
    Good shout, I often do this (accidentally) as my mouse (it's never me) wants to pick up a folder rather than hit the scroll bar.

    If they have been accidentally deleted, check the recycle bin.
  • dunroving
    dunroving Posts: 1,903 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I sometimes hit this issue ("recent documents") when I have renamed the file or as someone else suggested, I moved it to a different folder (or renamed the folder).
    (Nearly) dunroving
  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 25,985 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    dunroving wrote: »
    I sometimes hit this issue ("recent documents") when I have renamed the file or as someone else suggested, I moved it to a different folder (or renamed the folder).
    ............ which is why the OP has been advised just to search from top level either by using a known file name or *.xlsx
  • ads2608
    ads2608 Posts: 262 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 9 October 2017 at 5:38PM
    The files are nowhere to be seen when I search for them. All of the xlsx files have gone missing from my documents folder. (They are not in my recycle bin either).

    I can see them when I use EaseUS, just can't retrieve them due to have to purchase the software.

    I should have said in the beginning I was trying to open them from "recent documents" as that was the only place I could find them.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 353.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.1K Spending & Discounts
  • 246.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 603.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.2K Life & Family
  • 260.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.
Update Your Picture