Excel file repair

Try these steps in order:

1. Repair Office from Windows settings.
   • Close all Office apps.
   • In Windows 11: right-click Start > Installed apps.
   • In Windows 10: right-click Start > Apps and Features.
   • Select Microsoft 365 or Office > Modify.
   • If available, start with Quick Repair.
   • If the problem continues, run Online Repair. This is more thorough and may take 15–30 minutes. Restart the PC after it finishes.
2. If Excel opens but the file does not, use Open and Repair for the workbook.
   • Open Excel first.
   • Select File > Open > Browse.
   • Select the workbook.
   • Select the arrow next to Open > Open and Repair.
   • Choose Repair.
   • If that fails, choose Extract Data to recover values and formulas.
3. If the file opens in the wrong app or the repair prompt keeps appearing when double-clicking files, fix the file association.
   • Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
   • Select the Office product > Change.
   • Run Quick Repair.
   • If needed, go to Control Panel > Programs > Default Programs and set the correct default app for the Excel file type.
4. If the workbook came from email and shows a format or extension warning, save the attachment to the computer first and then open it in Excel.
5. If there are multiple Office versions installed, uninstall the versions that are not needed and restart the computer. Multiple versions can cause files to open in the wrong Office app.

If Excel still cannot repair the workbook, the file may be corrupted. In that case, use Open and Repair and then Extract Data if needed.

References:

• Repair an Office application
• Repair a corrupted workbook
• Double-clicking an Office file fails to open it in the correct Office program
• A file is in a different format than its extension indicates in Excel