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Muthu69's avatar
Muthu69
Copper Contributor
Jul 04, 2020

Excel cannot be open the file 'filename.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid

Hi All,   I have a excel.xlsx file saved in my system which has been corrupted .I atleast need to recover the data stores .It is a file of 124 KB and has around 35 worksheets in the workbook .I hav...
excel
victoriyaluna's avatar
victoriyaluna
Copper Contributor
Sep 11, 2020

This error message is encountered in the following scenarios:

  • The file is not compatible with the Excel-version
  • The file has become corrupt or damaged

I copied and pasted the file to my desktop, right-click and changed '.xlsx' to '.xls'. Boom!! I got my file back.
Try to open your corrupt file in safe mode. Press Windows+R and write excel.exe /safe and click OK.   Good Luck

  • Ted12345's avatar
    Ted12345
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 09, 2021
    This saved my life thank u
  • lollo585's avatar
    lollo585
    Copper Contributor
    Feb 09, 2021

    victoriyaluna 

    I would like to try your solution for fixing the corrupt file by changing the extension, but I cannot find where to click to access it.  How do I change it?  Once I save the file to the desktop, right click, what do I do next?

    • lollo585's avatar
      lollo585
      Copper Contributor
      Feb 09, 2021

      lollo585 @victoriyaluna 

      In File Explorer, I clicked on view tab at the top and selected the option to show extensions.  Then I renamed the extension to xls. Unfortuatenly, when the document opened, it was blank - thankfully it was a copy.  Now I just need a different solution. I do appreciate your trying to help!

      • asprolukos's avatar
        asprolukos
        Copper Contributor
        Sep 09, 2021
        lollo585, You helped us finding how to change the extension. For me it worked perfectly. The file opened. Sure enough to tell you it was a huge one, full of graphs and numbers and other data. Nothing was lost.
  • LynnTBW's avatar
    LynnTBW
    Copper Contributor
    Feb 08, 2021

    how do you right click andchange to XLS?  this doesn't work for me - there is nowhere to change the xlsx toxls?!?!?victoriyaluna 

  • Zarna5641's avatar
    Zarna5641
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 18, 2020
    I just tried this and it didnt work. Its still telling me the file doesnt match. So basically my excel file wont open as an xlsx or an xls? Why not?!!! This is really annoying!!! I just got a new laptop and im trying to open my bills spreadsheet, but for the life of me cant get the file to open. This is ridiculous!! I just want to open the dang file. Why does everything have to be so fricken complicated!??!?!
  • Zarna5641's avatar
    Zarna5641
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 18, 2020
    "I copied and pasted the file to my desktop, right-click and changed '.xlsx' to '.xls'. Boom!"

    What did you click on when you right clicked in order to change the file type from xlsx to xls? Because I just tried this and cant figure it out.
    • AnnSchreihofer's avatar
      AnnSchreihofer
      Copper Contributor
      Apr 11, 2022
      OMG that worked!!! Thank you!

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