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Johnsones's avatar
Johnsones
Copper Contributor
Mar 22, 2026

Excel file was damaged. How to repair an excel file?

Hi everyone, an important Excel file suddenly became damaged and can no longer be opened properly. It either shows an error message or opens with missing/corrupted data. The file contains important i...
Mustafoan's avatar
Mustafoan
Brass Contributor
Mar 22, 2026

How to repair a damaged excel file? When Excel crashes unexpectedly, it may leave behind temporary backup files.

Steps:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the appropriate folder based on your Windows version :

  Windows 10/11: C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

  Windows 7/8: C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

2. Look for files with . tmp or . asd extensions .

3. Copy any promising files to your desktop and rename the extension to . xlsx or . xls.

4. Try opening them with Excel.

Note: You can also access this via Excel: File > Open > Recent > Recover Unsaved Workbooks

Recovering from temporary files is a handy method to repair Excel file when the original is corrupted or inaccessible. This approach can often recover recent versions or unsaved changes of your Excel data.

Always back up your original corrupted file before doing repair Excel file. Enable AutoSave and AutoRecover in Excel (File > Options > Save) to prevent future data loss. Avoid working on critical files from removable drives without safely ejecting them .