9 Ways to Fix Corrupted Excel Files: 100% Working Solutions

"How do I fix corrupted files on Windows 10? My MS Excel file has been corrupted and I can't seem to retrieve its data. Can someone help me fix a corrupted Excel file?"

If you have a similar query, then this would be the last guide on how to fix an Excel that you would read. It might surprise you, but getting an MS Word or Excel file corrupt is quite common these days.

From a power failure to a virus attack, there could be different reasons for it. Though, if you follow the right approach and take the assistance of some professional tools, then you can easily fix the Excel file. Read on and learn how to fix corrupted Excel files using third-party as well as native tools.

In this article

01 Part 1: What Causes an Excel File to Get Corrupt?

02 Part 2: How to Fix Corrupt Excel File on Desktop?

03 Part 3: How to Fix Excel File Online?

04 Part 4: How to Fix Excel Files in Excel 2016/2019/2021 & Microsoft 365?

05 Part 5: Tricks to Avoid Your Excel Files from Getting Corrupt

Part 1: What Causes an Excel File to Get Corrupt?

Before you learn how to fix a corrupted Excel file, it is important to diagnose the problem. Ideally, you should look for the following common causes for corrupting an Excel file so that you can avoid them in the future.

There are different ways in which an Excel file can get corrupt. Usually, when an Excel file is corrupted, a prompt is displayed stating the same. Though, at times, its existing data becomes encoded or unreadable as well.

Part 2: How to Fix Corrupt Excel File on Desktop?

It doesn't matter what could have caused your Excel file to get corrupt, you can easily fix it using Wondershare Repairit - Excel File Repair. A user-friendly and 100% reliable tool, it can fix Excel files in different scenarios.

The software features a highly sophisticated repairing formula that would retain your original file with all the existing content. Since it is extremely easy to use, no prior technical knowledge is needed to learn how to fix Excel using Repairit.

Wondershare Repairit - Excel File Repair

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• Repair damaged Excel files with all levels of corruption, including blank files, files not opening, unrecognizable format, unreadable content, files layout changed, etc.

• Repairs all kinds of data stored in damaged Excel files such as tables, charts, formulas, comments, images, etc.

• Support all formats of Excel files: XLSX/XLSM/XLTX/XLTM/XLS

• Perfectly repair corrupted files with a very high success rate, without modifying the original file.

• No limit to the number and size of the repairable files.

• Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022, and macOS 10.12~macOS 15.

• Except Excel, Repairit also supports all formats of PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ZIP, and Adobe files.

When I wanted to learn how do I fix corrupted Office files on Windows 10, I used Wondershare Repairit as well and it gave me satisfactory results. Since it features an intuitive and user-friendly interface, anyone can use it to fix Excel files in one go. To learn how to fix corrupted Excel file, simply follow these easy steps. First yo uneed to download this tool from the buttons below:

Step 1 Install and Launch Wondershare Repairit

To start with, go to the official website of Wondershare Repairit and install the application on your system.

Close the Excel file if you have previously opened it and launch the Wondershare Repairit to fix the corrupted Excel file.

Step 2 Select and load the corrupted Excel file(s)

Once the application has been launched, click on the 'Add' button to load the damaged file. You can also select a folder from here or choose between different drives to locate the corrupted Excel file.

If you want, you can load multiple Excel files as well and repair them in one go.

Step 3 Repair the File

After selecting the appropriate files, simply click on the "Repair" button to start fixing the XLSX files. Wait for a few minutes for the Excel repairing process to be finished.

Once the file has been repaired, you can preview it in the application's native interface. In this way, you can verify if the data has been retrieved successfully or not.

Step 4 Save the Repaired File

If you are satisfied with the results, then just click on the "Save" button to restore the file. As the following window will open, you can choose to save the file to a default location or manually browse any other location as well.

In the end, you will be notified that the file has been saved successfully. Later, you can just retrieve it and use it the way you like.

Following the same drill, you can learn how to fix Excel files easily. Just make sure that if you have advanced engineering formulas in your worksheet, then you need to install the Analysis ToolPak add-on beforehand.

Part 3: How to Fix Excel File Online?

The need to repair Excel file online free emerges when your Excel files corrupt and give warnings or errors at the opening. In such a scenario, if you don't want to download a desktop Excel repair tool and look for the online Excel file repair method, here are the top two online Excel repair tools you can work out.

Fix 1. Repairit - Online File Repair

Repairit - Online File Repair supports to repair corrupted Excel files with all levels of corruption quickly and effectively, it fixes Excel files online without changing the original quality or integrity. and files are transferred via a 2048-bit encrypted connection and deleted after 3 hours, it is very safe.

Wondershare Repairit Online

• Repair damaged files with all levels of corruption, including blank files, files not opening, unrecognizable format, unreadable content, files layout changed, etc.

• Support to repair all formats of PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

• It supports customers repair 300 files per month and supports each file of 300M online.

• Repair critically damaged or corrupted files available on SD cards, phones, cameras, USB flash drives, and more.

• Security enough: files are transferred via a 2048-bit encrypted connection and deleted after 3 hours.

• It fixes files online without damaging the original quality or integrity.

Step 1 Click the "Add" button on the Repair Excel File Online page to upload your corrupted Excel files.

Step 2 Click the "Repair" button to start to repair excel corrupt file online.

Step 3 Preview and save the repaired excels after the repair process finishes.

Fix 2. Online Office Recovery

Online Office Recovery helps you repair, discuss and troubleshoot Microsoft Excel corruption online.

Step 1 Click the "Choose File" on the Repair Excel File Online page.

Step 2 Upload your corrupt Excel file by clicking the "Secure Upload and Repair" button.

Step 3 Wait for the repair to finish. Download the demo version to preview.

Fix 3. Microsoft Excel Repair Tool

Microsoft Excel Repair Tool is another ideal online Excel file repair tool for corrupted Excel recovery. So how to use this online Microsoft Excel Repair Tool? Here are the steps.

Step 1 Click "Select File" to upload your corrupt Excel file.

Step 2 Enter your email and verification code.

Step 3 Click "Next Step", then click "Download" to download the demo version.

Part 4: How to Fix Excel Files in Excel 2016/2019/2021 & Microsoft 365

As you can see, with Wondershare Repairit, we can easily fix Excel files of all kinds. Though, if you want, you can try Microsoft Excel's native repair solution as well. While its recovery capability might be limited for severely damaged files, it serves as a handy first-aid tool. Here is how to use the built-in "Open and Repair" feature across modern Microsoft Excel versions.

How to Repair Files in Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 receives continuous updates, but its native file repair process remains straightforward and efficient. Follow these steps to repair your damaged file:

1. Open the Microsoft Excel app on your PC or Mac.

2. Click on File in the top-left corner and select Open from the left sidebar.

3. Click on Browse to open the File Explorer dialog box and locate your corrupted Excel workbook.

4. Click the corrupt file once to select it, then click the small arrow/dropdown menu next to the Open button.

5. Choose Open and Repair from the menu. When prompted, click Repair to recover as much data as possible.

How to Repair Files in Excel 2021 & 2019?

Excel 2021 and 2019 share a virtually identical interface for file management and recovery options:

1. Launch Excel 2021 or 2019 on your system.

2. Go to File > Open, then click Browse (or press Ctrl + O).

3. Navigate to the folder where the corrupt Excel file is stored and select it.

4. Instead of clicking "Open" directly, click the drop-down arrow on the Open button and pick Open and Repair.

5. If standard Repair doesn't work, repeat the process and choose Extract Data to salvage cell values and formulas.

How to Repair Files in Excel 2016?

If you are using MS Excel 2016, you can also trigger the automatic document repair utility easily:

1. Launch MS Excel 2016 on your desktop.

2. Click File > Open > Browse to open your storage directory.

3. Select the damaged workbook, click the drop-down arrow next to the Open button, and select Open and Repair.

4. Click Repair to confirm. If Excel cannot recover the file structure, try running it again and selecting Extract Data.

By following these steps, you can automatically repair Excel files using Microsoft's native features. While this method is convenient, it often fails when dealing with severely corrupted headers, broken XML structures, or large macro-enabled files (.XLSM). If Excel's built-in repair throws an error or fails to open the document, using a specialized desktop solution like Wondershare Repairit will give you a significantly higher recovery success rate.

Part 5. Tricks to Avoid Your Excel Files from Getting Corrupt

If you don't want your Excel documents to get damaged or corrupt, then you can take some precautionary measures. Here are some tips that are used by experts to avoid such an unwanted situation.

There you go! After following this guide, you would be able to fix corrupted Excel files in seconds. As you can see, from all the provided solutions, Wondershare Repairit turns out to be an ideal choice.

It can repair all kinds of Excel files that are damaged under different scenarios. The existing data like its formatting, charts, graphs, images, etc. would be retained as well. Go ahead and try it and feel free to share this guide with others as well to teach them how to fix Excel seamlessly.