Microsoft Excel may corrupt or become unable to open and edit Excel sheets properly due to various reasons (e.g., accidental program closure, virus infection, hardware failure, etc.) during the course of use. In this article, we will detail several ways how to repair an Excel sheet effectively.
How Do You Check If An Excel Sheet is Corrupt
Checking whether an Excel sheet is corrupt and needs to be repaired can be done in the following ways:
Try to Open the File
Try to open the Excel file normally. If the file loads slowly, doesn’t open completely, or displays error messages (such as “File Corrupted”, “Format Not Recognized”, etc.), it usually means that the file may be corrupted.
Using the “Open and Repair” Feature
Open the Excel program, click on the “File” menu, select “Open” and locate the file you want to check.
Instead of clicking “Open” directly, click on the drop-down arrow on the right and select the “Open and Repair” option. Excel will attempt to repair the file automatically and reopen it. If it opens successfully and the contents are intact, there is a recoverable problem with the file.
Previewing File Contents
If the file opens but the content is missing, garbled, or formatted incorrectly, it is likely that the file has been damaged and needs to be repaired further.
Backup Comparison
If you have a backup copy of a previously saved file, you can compare the contents of the two versions to determine whether the current file is damaged.
Check the File Size
Check for any unusual changes in file size; a sudden decrease in size often indicates that the file may have been corrupted.
System Log and Event Viewer
For enterprise environments, you can check the system log or event viewer for error messages related to file open failures, which may help diagnose the cause of file corruption.
After confirming that the Excel sheet is corrupt, take the following steps to repair it as soon as possible.
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Fix 1: Using Excel Built-in Open and Repair Function
Open and Repair Function
- Open Microsoft Excel.
- Click the “File” menu, and select the “Open” option.
- Browse to the Excel file you want to repair. Do not directly click on “Open,” but click on the right side of the file arrow button and select the “Open and Repair” option. Excel will try to automatically repair the file errors and open.
Through Compatibility Mode
If the compatibility between different versions leads to abnormal display of file content, you can choose to open the file in compatibility mode, and then saved as a new version of Excel format.
Fix 2: Utilize Excel Sheet Backup and Recovery
If you have enabled the auto-save function of Excel or use cloud services such as OneDrive to synchronize data, you can view and restore earlier versions of the file in “File” > “Information”.
Fix 3: Convert File Format
Try to save the corrupted Excel file in another format (e.g. CSV or XML), and then import it back into a new Excel workbook, which can sometimes bypass the structural problems of the original file.
Fix 4: How to Repair An Excel Sheet with Powerful Excel Repair Tool
In case the official built-in functions fail to solve the problem, you can try to use professional Excel repair tools, such as MTM File Recovery for Excel, which has deep scanning technology to analyze the corrupted files in depth and retrieve the lost data to the maximum extent.
The steps to use MTM File Recovery for Excel to solve the problem of how to repair Excel tables are as follows:
Step 1: Download and install MTM File Recovery for Excel tool.
Step 2: Launch the software, click the “Add” button, and follow the prompts to select the Excel file you need to repair.
Step 3: The software will run the scanning process, waiting for the tool to complete the analysis of the file and repair.
Step 4: Preview the results of the repair to confirm data integrity, click the “Export” button to save the file to a safe location.
Fix 5: System-level Repair and Data Recovery
For file corruption caused by hard drive errors, you can try to use Windows built-in disk checker tool (CHKDSK) to repair hard drive errors, and then try to open the Excel file.
Conclusion
Repairing damaged Excel sheets is not always 100% successful, but by adopting the above methods, you can effectively solve the problem of how to repair an Excel sheet in most cases.
At the same time, developing a good habit of backing up important files regularly, as well as keeping your operating system and Office software up-to-date, are key measures to prevent Excel file corruption. When encountering similar problems, always try a non-destructive solution first to avoid further deterioration of the file condition.