Forum Discussion
Spreadsheet Corrupts Upon Saving
Starting this week, a specific spreadsheet I've been using for years is now corrupting when I save it. First it'll prompt "We found a problem with some content. Do you want us to try to recover as much as we can?", and after clicking on Yes it'll come up with "Excel was able to open the file by repairing or removing the unreadable content. Removed Part: /xl/drawings/drawing1.xml part. (Drawing shape)".
I restored the spreadsheet from backup (saved and working fine 5 days ago) and I'm able to open... until I save it. Once it's saved, it'll corrupt it with the prompts mentioned above. For a test, I even opened a 2024 and a 2020 template version of this spreadsheet and I get the same issue now. I suspect an update was pushed and now somehow is corrupting some of this spreadsheet's objects.
Other spreadsheets seem to be ok, only this one is impacted; though I haven't opened all my spreadsheets to test yet.
Thoughts?
13 Replies
Thanks for posting. I thought I was crazy or this was a one off issue. I had the exact same problem happen with a workbook I use on a daily basis. I was able to rebuild the shapes and get working so I assumed it was something on my end. However, today another person contacted me with the same problem (different workbook). Hopefully MS fixes this soon.
After doing some testing here is what I have found. I can insert a shape and save, no problem. I can insert another shape and add a shadow and save, no problem. I can use the Camera function to capture a region then save, no problem. But if I user the Camera function to capture a region and then put a shadow on that camera object and save the bug will occur next time I open the workbook. And to make matters worse the recovery process will delete the 2 shapes (one without shadow and one with shadow) but leave the 2 camera objects.
I logged this issue on the feedback portal. If you're having this problem feel free to go there and "1 up" it. Hoping Microsoft gets on this quickly.
Thank you! That did the trick for me too. Eliminated shadows and it seems to have solved it (so far). Thanks for sharing. Good Sherlock🧐 work!
Hope MS fixes this soon! They're going to get killed by AI if they don't pull up their socks.
Same problem... Excel identified a drawing.xml object as "corrupted" even though I've used my file for years! Frustrating. Unable to resolve with methods above. Besides, my file is too complex to be transferred. Hope MS fixes this soon!!
I'm in the same boat, my file is too complex to transfer in a new spreadsheet, and too dependent on my objects to ignore them. In other words, it has rendered it unusable. This is causing me ongoing issues, since I'm no longer able to leverage this spreadsheet for its intended purpose that I've been using and customizing for years. I also tried the "Use Excel for the Web" method that was suggested, but it also creates the same issue. In other words, nothing helps to make my spreadsheets usable.
Not sure why, but starting yesterday the “copy drawings1 file from working spreadsheet to corrupted spreadsheet” is no longer working. Even though “that fix” worked earlier this week. This entire issue has been frustrating. I’ll have to live with a broken sheet (no objects) until MS fixes the issue officially I guess.
This is likely a conflict between a recent Office update and graphic objects (shapes, logos, or controls) whose XML structure is corrupted.
Transfer your worksheets to a new, blank workbook to reset the "drawing1.xml" structure and isolate the element causing the corruption.
I'll probably need to constantly replace the /xl/drawings/drawing1.xml from a previously working file until they patch it; I'll just need to minimize the amount of times I need to edit and save it until they do. As for removing the objects that are problematic, since I do have a fair amount of them it'll be to time consuming to test one at a time to figure out which one is triggering the glitch. Thank you all for the information, glad to see it isn't just me and that hopefully MS is working on a formal solution.
I've looked at the search results, and it appears your suspicion about a recent update is likely correct. This is a known issue that seems to have surfaced around mid-April 2026, affecting specific shapes in Excel.
The core problem is that a recent Microsoft update is corrupting drawing objects, specifically shapes with bevel effects, when a file is saved. Since the issue appears even when you open clean backups from 2020 and 2024, the files themselves are fine—the version of Excel doing the saving is the source of the corruption.
Here are the most effective workarounds suggested by the community, starting with the quickest.
Use Excel for the Web (Recommended First Step)
This is the most reliable way to get a clean file immediately because the web version handles the objects differently.- Upload your backed-up, working .xlsx file to OneDrive or SharePoint.
- Open it using Excel for the web ("Edit in Browser").
- Go to File > Save As > Download a Copy. This process often strips out whatever is triggering the desktop corruption.
- Open the downloaded copy in your desktop Excel and test by saving it. If it works, use this cleaned version going forward.
Remove Problematic Shapes in Safe Mode
If you can't use the web version or need to fix the file directly, you can safely remove the shapes causing the error.- Start Excel in Safe Mode: Press Win + R, type excel /safe, and press Enter. This opens Excel without add-ins.
- Open your non-corrupted backup file.
- Select All Objects: Press Ctrl + G (Go To), click the Special button, select Objects, and click OK. This selects all shapes, charts, text boxes, etc.
- Delete the selected objects. If you need to keep some, you'll have to experiment by deleting only the newer ones or those with bevel effects and saving to see if the corruption stops.
- Save the file. If it saves without corruption, the problem was definitely one of the deleted objects.
Patching Information: As of the current date, I couldn't find a confirmed fix from Microsoft. Keep an eye on your Office updates, as Microsoft will likely release a patch to resolve this bug. In the meantime, you may want to consider pausing updates if this issue is critical to your workflow and you find a stable temporary fix.
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.
All these issues are related to Microsoft Excel. This is an ongoing problem, and the support team has recently announced that they are working on it.”
Thank you for the information. I did a test and it left some interesting results. I used the .zip technique to extract the drawing1.xml file from a previous file (which wasn't saved to corrupt it) and copied it into the xl/drawings folder of the xlsm file that is not saved and corrupted and it opened without error. But if I click save, the issue repeats itself. So in essence, Excel corrupts the spreadsheet after saving.
Seems similar to this, worth trying the following to fix:
- Manually Remove Problematic Objects
- If repair logs consistently reference /xl/drawings/drawing1.xml, the issue lies in one or more embedded objects.
- You can unzip the .xlsx file (since it is a ZIP archive) and manually delete or replace the corrupted XML file.
- Copy Data to a New Workbook
- Copying all data (without drawings) into a fresh workbook to eliminate corruption.
- For macro-enabled workbooks, this may require re-importing VBA projects separately.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5083270/repaired-records-drawing-from-xl-drawings-drawing1?utm_source=copilot.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5083270/repaired-records-drawing-from-xl-drawings-drawing1
- Manually Remove Problematic Objects
