How To Access A Corrupt .XLS File In Excel 2010

Dealing with corrupt Excel files is a must-have skill if you work in Excel often. Lots of companies rely heavily on Excel for managing their information and data, which makes sense because it’s an excellent tool, but it’s not infallible. Here’s how to access your Excel 2010 files if they ever get corrupted.

Use Open and Repair

Microsoft knows every once in a while, their software needs a little help. That’s why they developed the Open and Repair tool, which is built into Excel. Here’s how to use it:

Open the corrupted workbook. At the top menu bar, click “Open” and choose “Open and Repair” from the drop-down list. Next, click “Repair.” This will recover your workbook data. Or, you can click “Extract Data.” This will salvage your formulas and values from your corrupted workbook. Try the “Extract Data” option when the “Repair” option fails you.

Unfortunately, Open and Repair won’t always get you where you need to be. If Open and Repair ever fails you, try these fixes instead.

Try Saving the File in HTML Format

If you can still open your Excel file, you can try saving it as an HTML file to get your file up and running again. To do this, open your Excel file. On the main taskbar at the top of the screen, click “File” and “Save As.” In the Save As drop-down list, click “Web Page.” Be sure to select the “Enable Entire Workbook” option before hitting “Save.” Then, close your file and reopen it as an HTML file. You should now be able to access the data in the previously corrupt Excel file.

Move the Corrupt File to Another Computer

It seems deceptively simple, but sometimes you can just move your corrupted Excel file to another computer. Upon opening it, you might find it’s working fine again. If the underlying problem with the file is from your disk or internet connection, then opening it on another computer can fix your problem.

Revert Your Excel File to the Last Saved Version

Sometimes an Excel file turns corrupt while you’re in the middle of working on it. If this happens to you, try reverting to its last saved version. It’s important to try this fix before saving the file! Otherwise, you’ll save the corruption along with your changes.

To give this a shot, open Excel and click the “Office” button. Then, click “Open” in the menu. Navigate to the corrupted file and open it. You’ll be asked whether you want to revert to the last saved option; click “Yes.”

If none of these options work, there’s plenty of external software out there designed to help Excel users retrieve their broken and corrupted files. This is also another reason why it’s so important to protect your Excel files. It’s a lot easier to take preventative measures to keep your Excel files happy and healthy than it is to figure out how to repair them after they’re broken.