Retrieving damaged files

[Falz]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Hi,

I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged. When I try to open it an error message says:
"Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified from it's original format."

Is there anyway that I can retrieve the file or the info in it?? It was a lot of work and I really don't want to start over.

Thanks.

 

[hughg]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Hi,

I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged.When I try to open it an error message says:
"Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modifiedfrom it's original format."

Is there anyway that I can retrieve the file or the info in it?? It was a lot of work and I really don't want to start over.

Thanks.

Have you made sure the file extension is still displayed in the name
eg .xls

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged.
When I try to open it an error message says:
"Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified
from it's original format."

If you have access to WinXL, XL03 (for .xls files) and XL07 (for .xlsx
files) has a somewhat better recovery engine than MacXL versions.

Also, I've found that Open/NeoOffice can often open a damaged XL file.

http://NeoOffice.org

 

[Falz]

> Version: 2008
> Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged. When I try to open it an error message says:
> "Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified from it's original format."
>
> Is there anyway that I can retrieve the file or the info in it?? It was a lot of work and I really don't want to start over.
>
> Thanks.

Have you made sure the file extension is still displayed in the name
eg .xls

Yup the extension is still .xlsx. Thanks.

 

[Falz]

> I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged.
> When I try to open it an error message says:
> "Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified
> from it's original format."

If you have access to WinXL, XL03 (for .xls files) and XL07 (for .xlsx
files) has a somewhat better recovery engine than MacXL versions.

Also, I've found that Open/NeoOffice can often open a damaged XL file.

<http://NeoOffice.org>
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip - tried NeoOffice but it didn't work. By XL07 do you mean the 2007 version of Excel?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

By XL07 do you mean the 2007 version of Excel?

yes

 

[Hugh Mackenzie]

Hi,

I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged. When I try to open it an error message says:
"Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified from it's original format."

Is there anyway that I can retrieve the file or the info in it?? It was a lot of work and I really don't want to start over.

Thanks.

This happens without warning and repeatedly, with files ranging from huge pivot table files to small spreadsheet files. It seems to be a glitch with the Excel software, because when it happens, it happens to every excel file that I have open, whether I have saved it recently or not. Problems with big files that have pivot tables aren't new, but this problem with the message: "The file might have been damaged or modified from its original format." only started to happen after I installed the first major update of Office Mac 2008. Using NeoOffice isn't much of an answer, because it happens so frequently.

All of this makes me really nervous about installing updates and patches, since they're supposed to fix things, not make them worse.

 

[grdesnoyers]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Hi,

I'm not sure how it happened but one of my Excel files has become damaged.When I try to open it an error message says:
"Excel cannot open this file. The file might have beendamaged or modifiedfrom it's original format."

Is there anyway that I can retrieve the file or the info in it?? It was a lot of work and I really don't want to start over.

Thanks.

Not sure if you got this solved yet or not, but have you tried simply
changing the extension from xlsx to xls (or even xml)? I just had
this exact same thing happen to a friend and, upon doing a bit of
research on how XML (the new Office 2008 standard) should be a more
"recoverable" format, I took a stab in the dark and changed the
extension to xml to at least see if I could get something else to read
it. Worked like a charm and opened right up in Excel '08.

 

[Michael Adam]

I have the same problem - and I have lost a lot of work! THe file is corrupted and does not open. The spreadsheet was dead simple but contained a lot of data. Excel crashed in the middle of a routine delete operation and now the file will not load. Game over for me using Excel until a I am confident of a fix.

Mike

 

[Alan]

I have the same problem - and I have lost a lot of work! THe file is corrupted and does not open. The spreadsheet was dead simple but contained a lot of data. Excel crashed in the middle of a routine delete operation and now the file will not load. Game over for me using Excel until a I am confident of a fix.

Mike

Hi,

I think you can try a utility called Advanced Excel Repair to repair
your Excel xls file. It works rather well for my corrupt Excel xls
files. Its web address is http://www.datanumen.com/aer/ Hope this
helps.

Alan

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I think you can try a utility called Advanced Excel Repair

You *KNOW* the OP very likely CAN'T use AER, since it only runs on
Windows...

 

[CyberTaz]

Don't waste your time John - this jerk has been hawking his junk in all the
groups. It only stands to reason that if he can't tell the difference
between a Mac & a Windows PC that he probably can't read your message
either... And it doesn't speak very well for the potential of their software
even on an OS that *will* run it.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac