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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

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.

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