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Microsoft Excel is used to save important information like user data, financial records, or corporate information in tabular form. Due to various reasons, like system crashes or virus attacks Excel files might get damaged.
When an Excel file is damaged or corrupted, users may experience errors when they try to open it or access their data. There are a number of manual methods and professional programs that can help you quickly recover corrupted Excel files. This post will show you both free manual ways to solve the query how to recover Excel file that is corrupted data and a reliable professional tool that you may use. Let us start by knowing the various reasons why an Excel file gets corrupted or damaged first.
Common Reasons Behind Excel File Corruption
It is important to identify the causes of Excel file corruption before we start the Excel repair process for successful recovery. Here are the most common reasons for Excel file corruption:
- Abrupt shutdown: If the system crashes or the power is gone without saving the Excel file.
- Bad sectors: The bad sectors in the storage device might corrupt the Excel file, making it impossible for users to read data from it.
- Network Errors: When the Excel file is stored on a network drive, connection interruptions during file transfer can corrupt the Excel file.
- Add-Ins: Sometimes users who have installed third-party applications or are using Add-ins face corruption or inaccessibility of Excel files frequently.
- Virus attacks: Viruses or malware can damage the Excel file, sometimes locking it, which makes it inaccessible.
How to Recover Excel File that is Corrupted? – Manual Methods
When an Excel file is corrupted, the user is not able to open the Excel file, the Excel file opens blank, or the data seems unrecognizable. Excel has some built-in options to recover an Excel file that is corrupted. Let us learn these methods one by one.
Method 1: Open Excel File in Recovery Mode
The first step in repairing a corrupt Excel file is to use inbuilt Open & Repair feature. Here are the steps to follow:
- Open Excel.
- Click on File, select Open.
- Locate the corrupted Excel file.
- Click the arrow next to Open and choose Open and Repair.
- Select Repair to recover data.
Method 2: Changing the File Type
Sometimes, the easiest method to repair an Excel file is to change the file type. An Excel file created with an older version of Excel is unstable for newer versions, so to recover the corrupted file, it is saved to a different file extension.
- Open the file explorer. Locate your Excel file in Explorer.
- From the Excel menu, click on the View button, and you will see the Files & Extensions option.
- Click on the check box to show/hide the section.
- Once you click this, file names will be displayed along with their extensions in the file explorer.
- Now, select the file and click on the Home Tab.
- Now select Rename. Users can change the extension of the file to an extension that is compatible with Excel.
Now, try opening the file in Excel. If it opens, save it again using the save as In this way, your file is recovered successfully.
Method 3: Restore Previous Version
If you have backup or version history enabled, you can restore an earlier version.
Steps:
- Right-click on the Excel file.
- Select Properties.
- Go to the Previous Versions tab.
- Choose a version and click Restore.
Professional Solution: BLR Excel Repair Tool
We have discussed a few manual methods to recover an Excel file. Most of the time, users can recover Excel files using these tricks. But when these manual methods fails users should try a professional Excel Repair Tool to recover data from a corrupt Excel file. BLR Excel Repair tool is one such advanced software that can repair inaccessible, corrupt, or damaged Excel files.
Using this professional solution, users can repair all kinds of corruption issues and recover the data from a severely corrupted Excel file in no time.
Conclusion
Users can repair a corrupted Excel file and recover data from it using both manual and professional methods. Most of the time, built-in options can help in minor corruption cases; they may not work for severely damaged files. In such cases, it is suggested to take help from the BLR Excel Repair Tool, which provides a reliable and efficient solution to restore your valuable data without hassle.
For best results, it is always recommended to keep backups and use trusted tools to avoid permanent data loss. We hope we have pretty much solved the user asking for how to recover Excel file that is corrupted.
