Issue with opening of MS Excel file

Question

Issue with opening of MS Excel file

Naresh Kumar 0

I am not able to open MS Excel file- error is showing as not able to open file, file needs to be repair.

By clicking next on repair nothing is coming out

Ron Barker 2,375 Reputation points

2026-11-12T10:36:42.34+00:00

Try an Office Repair, try a quick repair first, if does not work use the Online Repair. This will reinstall Office as part of the repair process and you will need to be signed in with your Microsoft Account: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/lifecycle/repair-an-office-application

2 answers

Your answer

Ron Barker 2,375 Reputation points

2026-11-12T10:36:42.34+00:00

Try an Office Repair, try a quick repair first, if does not work use the Online Repair. This will reinstall Office as part of the repair process and you will need to be signed in with your Microsoft Account: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/lifecycle/repair-an-office-application

Answer 1

Dear @Naresh Kumar,

Thank you for your question.

To better understand the issue, could you please clarify:

Does the problem occur with one specific Excel file or with all Excel files?
Is the file stored locally, on OneDrive, SharePoint, or a network location?
Do you receive any additional error message, or could you share a screenshot of the error?

In the meantime, you may try:

Open Excel first, then select File > Open > Browse, select the file, click the arrow next to Open, and choose Open and Repair.
Try opening the file on another computer.
Start Excel in Safe Mode by pressing Windows + R, typing excel /safe, and then opening the file.
If the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, check whether an earlier version is available through Version History.

The results of these tests will help determine whether this is a file corruption issue or an Excel application issue.

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If you run into any issues while trying the steps, or if something still doesn’t feel quite right, please don’t hesitate to reach out again. I’ll do my best to support you however I can.

Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details.

Warm regards,

If the answer is helpful, please select "Yes, accept answer". If you have any questions or new updates, please feel free to comment below.

Answer 2

Use Extract Data from Excel’s Open and Repair dialog because the normal Repair attempt has already produced no result.

Recover data from this workbook

Create a copy of the file first and work only on the copy to avoid further changes to the original.
If the workbook is on a USB drive, network location, or shared folder, copy it to a local folder such as Documents before recovery; Microsoft recommends moving it locally when a disk or network error may be involved.
Open Excel without opening the damaged file.
Select File → Open → Browse. Do not select it from Recent.
Select the copied workbook.
Select the arrow beside Open, then Open and Repair.
Instead of choosing Repair again, select Extract Data. This attempts to recover the workbook’s values and formulas when Repair cannot recover it.^1^
If it opens, immediately use File → Save As and save it under a new name.

If Extract Data also fails

Try opening without recalculation:

Open Excel and create a Blank workbook.
Select File → Options → Formulas.
Under Calculation options, select Manual, then OK.
Select File → Open → Browse and try opening the damaged workbook.
If successful, save a new copy before changing calculation back to automatic.^1^

If the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, restore an earlier version:

Locate the file in OneDrive, SharePoint, or the synced folder in File Explorer.
Right-click it and select Version history.
Choose a version from before the problem occurred.
Select its three-dot menu and then Restore.

Restoring replaces the current copy, so changes made after the selected version will not be retained.^2^

If several Excel files will not open

That points to an Excel/Office installation problem rather than damage limited to this workbook. Repair Microsoft 365:

Windows 11: Right-click Start → Installed apps → Microsoft 365/Office → … → Modify → Online Repair → Repair.
Windows 10: Right-click Start → Apps and Features → Microsoft 365/Office → Modify → Online Repair → Repair.

Online Repair repairs the entire Office suite and may require a computer restart.^3^

If other workbooks open normally but this one still fails after Extract Data and no earlier version exists, the available Microsoft recovery methods may not be able to reconstruct the workbook. Preserve the original file and any backup copies before considering third-party recovery software.

References