Recover an unopenable file

hmm · External Since: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 107

I have an urgent requirement to recover an unopenable file. It is a 67MB
Excel 2000 file, containing reams of historical data. Every time I try to
open it, I get a message saying that Excel has encountered an error and needs
to close. I was just working with it yesterday, and it was a little slow to
open but worked fine otherwise.

Can anyone help me or tell me what resources I can explore to solve this
critical problem?

Thanks.

Bill Manville · External Since: Jul 30, 2004 Posts: 536

67MB Excel file - wow!

A number of techniques are possible.

Later versions of Excel (e.g. 2003) sometimes recover better than
earlier ones from corrupted workbooks.

Some people suggest the use of OpenOffice which seems more tolerant to
problems in the file.

Failing that you may have to go back to your last good backup, and
start making frequent backups as you work in case the problem recurs
when the workbook hits some limit.

You should consider whether there are alternative approaches so that
you avoid having such an enormous file.

Bill Manville
MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England

Nick Hodge · External Since: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 20

Don't disagree with anything Bill says apart from the size of file. Many of
my files have worked well for years at 150mb+. These however have little
formatting as I believe it is this that gets corrupted.

You may also try a Google search for a commercial solution if it's that
important

--

HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
nick_hodgeTAKETHISOUT RemoveThis @zen.co.ukANDTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog (non tech): www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog

"Bill Manville" <Bill-Manville RemoveThis @msn.com> wrote in message
news:VA.00001404.301ed7c7@msn.com...
> 67MB Excel file - wow!
>
> A number of techniques are possible.
>
> Later versions of Excel (e.g. 2003) sometimes recover better than
> earlier ones from corrupted workbooks.
>
> Some people suggest the use of OpenOffice which seems more tolerant to
> problems in the file.
>
> Failing that you may have to go back to your last good backup, and
> start making frequent backups as you work in case the problem recurs
> when the workbook hits some limit.
>
> You should consider whether there are alternative approaches so that
> you avoid having such an enormous file.
>
> Bill Manville
> MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England
>