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There are several possible reasons why Excel crashes when opening an .xlsb file, such as corrupted cache, outdated software, incompatible add-ins, conditional formatting, antivirus interference, or system issues.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)
Its been my experience that Office 64 bit has serious defects, and back in 2011 or so they published on their developer website no intention of fixing the known issue causing your file to automatically close. It has to to with VISUAL BASIC. They released office with a 32 bit VB in it, despite being 64 bit office. Bug #1. They also have an unwanted Book1.xlsx that the save process will automatically create, and it is unneeded and causes the error. The VB code gets saved correctly in the xlsm file, then it adds the unwanted hidden file in error. This goes way back to Office 1998, then they thought having one file hidden that would contain all your macros was a good idea. They still have snippets of code in office that they cannot fix or locate that is trying to still save this hidden file. This is then causing your machine to open the xlsm file today, and it acts like there is an error in the file. There are no errors with your file. Just OPEN EXCEL first, a blank workbook, then click FILE OPEN and browse to your file, then in the dialogue where it sayd OPEN inthe lower right, click the tiny down errors, and use Open and Repair. It will open the file file and get rid of the unwanted file that windows adds as a brazen defect of windows .