excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid. verify that the file has not been corrupted and the file extension matches the format

Question

My laptop crashed and probably the HDD corrupted, I tried recovering some important files using a recovery software. I was able to recover the files but they are now not opening. The size of the recovered files is same as the size of original files. I'm getting below error

"Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid. verify that the file has not been corrupted and the file extension matches the format"

I don't have any back up of these files, I tried Excel's Open and Repair option, I tried changing the file extension, I don't have any previous version of the file, I tried some file repair tools but they can't repair it.

Only option I can now see is some engineer at Microsoft's technical team tries to fix it at their end as troubleshooting the file is not working.

Answer 1

Hi @Himanshu Jain,

This issue is commonly faced by users, that their recovered file does not open and instead, they face an error like the one you're facing.

And unfortunately, the methods you have tried are actually the ones that anybody would suggest to repair your Excel file. But as you said, they didn't work for you.

In such a case, it's only recommended to repair your Excel file using a 3rd party software.

As you mentioned, you have used some file repair tools. Can you tell me which ones?