Why is my Excel File suddenly corrupted?

Viruses and security issues are some of the most common ways your Excel files can get corrupted. Luckily, it’s an issue that can mostly be avoided by keeping your system’s anti-virus protection updated.

1. Hard disk failure

If your hard disk fails, or if your hard disk has bad or corrupted sectors on it where Excel files are stored, that can easily damage your files. You can’t always avoid this (except by taking care of your computers and only purchasing quality machines), but you can back up your files regularly, so you’re not completely left out to dry if it happens.

1. Large file sizes

Excel files are designed to be able to handle a lot, but storing too much data in a single Excel file is playing with fire. If your spreadsheet starts lagging, that’s a sign you’re pushing Excel’s capabilities too far. Either split up the spreadsheet or move that data to data-management software that’s designed to handle oversized data sets.

MS Excel is a highly popular spreadsheet application developed by American multinational computer software company Microsoft for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and iOS. Excel is a spreadsheet program which allows you to organize, format and calculate data using formulas. You can add different data such as tables, hyperlinks, texts, unique code, macros, numerical, etc. in a MS Excel file. MS Excel is specifically useful for the ones who want to keep a record of every detail. Microsoft Excel comes with MS Office suite that has other programs like MS Office Word, MS Office Outlook, MS Office PowerPoint, MS Office Publisher, etc.

However, the software is extremely sensitive and can be corrupted due to various basic reasons.

Fix all kinds of Excel corruption issues using Recoveryfix for Excel Repair in 3 simple steps- Select the file, Preview, and Save it without losing any data.

Reasons that cause corruption of MS Excel files :

• Abrupt System Shutdown: If you abruptly shut down your system or there is a sudden power failure that unexpectedly turns off your system, there are chances that open MS Excel file (s) might get corrupt.
• Virus attacks: It is one of the most common reasons behind corruption of MS Excel file (s). Keep your system’s anti-virus update to avoid such situations.
• Hard disk failure: If your system’s hard disk has failed or there are bad sectors on it where Excel file (s) are stored, there are high chances that the files can get corrupt.
• Large size files: Excessive storage of data in a single Excel file can also result in its corruption. You’re suggested not to store large size of information on a single Excel file.

You can always avoid corruption of MS Excel file(s) by performing proper system shutdowns, regular hard drive monitoring, proper closing of application etc.

When you try to open a corrupt MS Excel file, it might generate error messages and data stored in it becomes inaccessible. One of the error messages you might see while trying to open a corrupt Excel file is given below:

“could not be found. Check the spelling of the filename, and verify that the file location is correct. “

You need not to worry as there are various ways to recover data from corrupt or damaged Excel file (s). Some of them are:

1. Auto Recover feature: You can use Microsoft Excel in-built feature AutoRecover feature to repair  Excel file and recover the stored data.
2. Save in HTML format: Data from corrupt Excel file can also be recovered by saving the desired file in HTML format. You can perform the steps given below to do the same.

• Open MS Excel
• Go to File > Open (A new window to select file will be opened)
• Go for the desired file with single left click
• Go to Save As type > select Web Page format from the drop-down list
  

• Make sure to click the Entire Workbook option
• Click Save
• Close the file and open again in MS Excel
• Click File > Save As
• In Save As type, select Microsoft Excel Workbook from drop-down list
  
• Change the name of the file without replacing the original one.

1. Save in XML format: You can also try saving the desired file in XML spreadsheet format to recover data from corrupt Excel file (s).
2. You can also use Copy Data method to recover data from corrupt Excel file (s).

Note: All the above mentioned methods to recover data from corrupt or damaged MS Excel file (s) might work with some selected versions of MS Excel. You can also lose data or features while using these methods.

The best and the most effective way to recover data from corrupt or damaged Excel file (s) is using a professional third party Excel recovery software. Recoveryfix for Excel Recovery software is available in free trial version. You can easily download it without any charges. Using free version, you can evaluate the performance of the software. Free version lacks the saving feature. You need to purchase the paid version of the software to save the recovered Excel files.

How do you stop an Excel file from corrupting?

Why does Excel keep saying my file is corrupted?