Forum Discussion
Excel crashes when opening a specific (complex) .xlsb file (and all previous versions of it too)
There are several possible reasons why Excel crashes when opening an .xlsb file, such as corrupted cache, outdated software, incompatible add-ins, conditional formatting, antivirus interference, or system issues.
Some of the solutions that you can try, perhaps you have already tried a few, here with the order:
- Restart your computer and try opening the file again.
- Run Excel as administrator and see if it can open the file.
- Install the latest software update for Excel and Windows.
- Clear Microsoft Excel cache by deleting all files in %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel folder.
- Remove conditional formatting from your file by using Format Painter on a blank cell and applying it to the entire worksheet.
- Close unused applications that may be using up memory or resources.
- Disable your antivirus temporarily and check if it affects Excel’s performance.
- Update your system drivers and BIOS to ensure compatibility and stability.
If none of these solutions work, you may have a corrupted .xlsb file that needs to be repaired.
You can try saving the file in an old format (.xls) on a different computer that can open it, then re-saving it as .xlsb. This may fix some of the corruption issues.
You can also use a third-party tool to repair your .xlsb file, such as Stellar Repair for Excel or Kernel for Excel Repair. These tools can scan your file and recover data from damaged worksheets. Have not used these tools myself, but are recommended by some, so without guarantee.
I hope this helps you resolve your issue.
I know I don't know anything (Socrates)
Thanks for the response, I have tried some of this, but as per my post, I think these are highly unlikely to be the problems, to reiterate:
- the file opens fine on a laptop with an older version on Excel, so it is not corrupted
- even if it WAS corrupted, how could all the old versions of the file, which had not been opened in some cases for over year, corrupt at the same time (saved on different drives, local and the cloud)
- the file suddenly stopped opening on 2 separate PCs (with different hardware, graphics cards/drivers etc), on the exact same day, so it is highly unlikely this problem is PC related - how could they both go wrong in the same way at the same time? It could maybe be a virus issue, but:
- the file will not open in Excel in the browser either (where it would before) - as a browser version of Excel it is not affected by any hardware issues, except those affecting the browser itself.
So it seems to me the most logical culprit is Excel itself, both desktop and that running in the browser.
Hi, did you ever get this resolved? I seem to have a similar problem where my .xslb file immediately closing when opening with no error message. Excel then does a repair and it works. But after a while making some macro changes, it happens again. I have tried removing all macros and reloading. Same problem after a while. I am on Windows 10, Office 360 16.0.16501.20074 64 bit.
BTW. My Workbook has 82 sheets and 276 marcos.
Duwat13 Sorry no. I was able to convert the file to .xlsm and all was fine. It did take a bit of sorting, but if you are able to open the file occasionally then I'd do this. For me, the only real advantage to a .xlsb file was smaller file size, but not much of an advantage if it doesn't work....!
