Corrupt Workbook (2000 9.0.4402 SR1)

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I have a corrupt workbook that can’t open. Message: xxx.xls file cannot be accessed. Have tried opening through IE, Word, XL Viewer; also OfficeRecover, ExcelFix.

Other suggestions?

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Hi Andy,

Sometimes you can use a new workbook to import data via external link referencing to a corrupt workbook. The formulae go something like:
=’C:My Documents[1984.xls]Sheet1′!A1
which you’d put into A1 and copy across/down as far as needed.

I’ve also seen corruptions that cause Excel to return a message saying the workbook is in use/locked. This has been caused where the user exceeds their disk quota on a Novell network. You may end up with a 16kb (or whatever the cluster size is) file that simply can’t be recovered because there’s nothing worthwhile left from the original. Might be time to resort to the backups.

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Hi Andy,

Sometimes you can use a new workbook to import data via external link referencing to a corrupt workbook. The formulae go something like:
=’C:My Documents[1984.xls]Sheet1′!A1
which you’d put into A1 and copy across/down as far as needed.

I’ve also seen corruptions that cause Excel to return a message saying the workbook is in use/locked. This has been caused where the user exceeds their disk quota on a Novell network. You may end up with a 16kb (or whatever the cluster size is) file that simply can’t be recovered because there’s nothing worthwhile left from the original. Might be time to resort to the backups.

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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In addition to macropod’s suggestion, this MS Article has info on Methods to recover from a corrupt file.

Steve

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Thanks. Nothing’s worked. The users reverted to an earlier version and repeated the work. FWIW: (1) the workbook was being shared by multiple users and (2) no evidence yet that network drive capacity was a problem.

Prior corrupt files that I’ve had have resulted from a network blip — I’ve never had a workbook corrupted when it was on a local drive. Anyone else?

There were some results from OfficeRecovery.com, but the user wasn’t willing to spend the $$$ for a full copy.

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I have never been a “fan” of excel’s file sharing. It seems prone to problems.

In post 299620 I describe a little of why corruption can occur and why excel may “choke” on shared files. I am sure if you looked, you could find other “real testimonials” on sharing’s downfalls

Steve

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I have never been a “fan” of excel’s file sharing. It seems prone to problems.

In post 299620 I describe a little of why corruption can occur and why excel may “choke” on shared files. I am sure if you looked, you could find other “real testimonials” on sharing’s downfalls

Steve

Reply | Quote

Thanks. Nothing’s worked. The users reverted to an earlier version and repeated the work. FWIW: (1) the workbook was being shared by multiple users and (2) no evidence yet that network drive capacity was a problem.

Prior corrupt files that I’ve had have resulted from a network blip — I’ve never had a workbook corrupted when it was on a local drive. Anyone else?

There were some results from OfficeRecovery.com, but the user wasn’t willing to spend the $$$ for a full copy.

Reply | Quote

In addition to macropod’s suggestion, this MS Article has info on Methods to recover from a corrupt file.

Steve

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