cant open Excel file, help please

happyhero

I have a Excel file I cannot open, it keeps bring up the message "cannot be accessed. The file may be corrupted, located on a server that is not responding, or read only."

I have copied it to another drive but exactly the same thing happens.

I have Googled loads but didn't really find anything that helped, is there a way to repair the file?

Is there a way to trick it to open, I saw something about changing its extenstion temporarily?

Is there anyway to get the information out of the file if its damaged?

The file is important to me.

I am using Windows 10 Pro and Excel Professional Plus 2013

Any help or advice appreciated.

pbartlett

Repair a corrupted workbook - Excel (microsoft.com)

[Deleted User]

happyhero said:

The file is important to me.

There is always a day when people realise the value of regularly backing up data and today was yours 

Hopefully the above post gets you going again, once you do either get a full backup solution for all your data (Win 10 has a nice built in file history feature) or a least for this spreadsheet by doing the following in Excel:

1. With the file open, choose File > Save As.
2. Click “More options…” under the save location.
3. Choose the Tools button then General Options in the Save As dialog window.
4. Check the box next to “Always create backup“
5. Click OK.
6. Click Save in the Save dialog window.

FaceHead

If the above doesn't help, you can change the extension to .zip, and this will then allow you to browse around the various xml files that actually make up an Excel workbook. 

They will be a right mess, even when the workbook isn't corrupted. Depending on what's in the workbook and what you want to recover this might or might not be helpful. 

If it's just some simple data you might be able to find it in the XML.

happyhero

pbartlett said:

Repair a corrupted workbook - Excel (microsoft.com)

Thank you for this but none of it cured my problem. As for the macro I was struggling.

happyhero

[Deleted User] said:

happyhero said:

The file is important to me.

There is always a day when people realise the value of regularly backing up data and today was yours 

Hopefully the above post gets you going again, once you do either get a full backup solution for all your data (Win 10 has a nice built in file history feature) or a least for this spreadsheet by doing the following in Excel:

1. With the file open, choose File > Save As.
2. Click “More options…” under the save location.
3. Choose the Tools button then General Options in the Save As dialog window.
4. Check the box next to “Always create backup“
5. Click OK.
6. Click Save in the Save dialog window.

Thank you for this but I cannot open the file in the first place to do the save as. I will be looking for instructions on  the windows 10 backup facility.

happyhero

FaceHead said:

If the above doesn't help, you can change the extension to .zip, and this will then allow you to browse around the various xml files that actually make up an Excel workbook. 

They will be a right mess, even when the workbook isn't corrupted. Depending on what's in the workbook and what you want to recover this might or might not be helpful. 

If it's just some simple data you might be able to find it in the XML.

I've tried changing the file extension but although there was a tiny bit that was readable the vital part wasn't. Are there any free file repair program that are successful with this sort of thing?

pbartlett

no, if the suggestions above do not work.it is likely that the file is irrecoverable.

Neil_Jones

You could open it into Word and use the "Recover text from any file" filter.  It may get some of the data back.  It may not.

debitcardmayhem

Do you use one drive, is there a backup on there?

Heedtheadvice

Probably a question or more of no value......but some basics

Are you sure it is an Excel file? Is it one you have opened before? What file extension does it have?

Your response regarding the Repair. What exactly happened, do you need help with macros?