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How to repair excel corupted on mac

Harry Anderson Panjaitan 0 Reputation points
2026-05-14T04:48:02.1466667+00:00

When i open my excel file there's something wrong with excel capacity, only 165 bytes.

1st capture when i open my excel file

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2nd when i change file extension from xlsx to xls

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how to solve this corupted file? i already trying other solution on internet but it doesn't work. this file is very important cause my financial planning is here.

please help.

many thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS
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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.6K Reputation points
    2026-05-14T15:06:14.2433333+00:00

    Please disregard the diatribe from the Automated Idiocy bot. You need to clarify the circumstances...

    You posted to the Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS Community but the screenshot is definitely Excel for Windows. If using Windows please see Open a document after a file corruption error - Microsoft Support. If that doesn't provide the solution it would be best to submit your concern to the appropriate Excel for Windows Community.

    For future reference, changing the filename extension does not change anything about the file content or structure. The extension is an indicator to the OS or which program should be used to open the file & a signal to that program of which filters should be used to open files of that type. Simply editing the filename can cause more harm than good.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-14T04:48:20.25+00:00

    The file is severely corrupted and its contents no longer resemble a valid Excel workbook format. The very small file size (about 165 bytes) indicates that almost all original data is missing or overwritten, so changing the extension from .xlsx to .xls cannot restore it.

    Only the following options are available:

    1. Try Excel’s built‑in repair on a copy of the file
      1. Open Excel.
      2. Select File > Open.
      3. Browse to the corrupted workbook and select it.
      4. In the Open dialog, click the arrow next to Open and choose Open and Repair.
      5. First choose Repair. If that fails, repeat and choose Extract Data to recover any remaining values or formulas.
    2. Use the data‑recovery methods for corrupted workbooks If the file can be opened at all, try the methods described for recovering data from a corrupted workbook, such as:
      • Reverting to the last saved version of the workbook.
      • Saving the open workbook in another format (for example SYLK) to filter out corruption, then reopening and resaving as .xlsx.
    3. Restore from another copy If the file cannot be repaired and the size remains only a few hundred bytes, the original content is no longer present in that file. In that case, the only way to get the data back is to restore a previous copy from:
      • A backup (Time Machine, cloud backup, or other backup solution).
      • A previous version stored by the service where the file was saved (for example, OneDrive or SharePoint version history).

    If none of these options provide usable data, the workbook’s contents are lost and must be recreated manually.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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