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Beebatron's avatar
Beebatron
Copper Contributor
Apr 24, 2026

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?

 

excel

2 Replies

  • NikolinoDE's avatar
    NikolinoDE
    Platinum Contributor
    Apr 26, 2026

    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.

  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Apr 25, 2026

    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