The file is corrupt and cannot be opened что делать word
Обновлено: 07.07.2024
Do you get an error message that says “Excel cannot open the file **.xlsx because the file format or file extension is not valid”? Quick fixes and advanced solutions are offered here to help you fix this error in Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016. Besides, if you lost Excel files, you can download EaseUS data recovery software to recover your files.
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3 Fixes for "Excel Cannot Open the File Because the Extension Is Not Valid"
The file format of an Excel worksheet is .xlsx or .xls. Whenever the user opens any file, it is opened with the same extension. However, some users may encounter an error when trying to open or edit an Excel file in Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 365. The error message displayed reads "Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid".
This article will provide you with three effective solutions to resolve the "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid" error. You can change the file extension, use the Office repair utility, or use one of the best data recovery software to repair Excel files.
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Fix 1. EaseUS File Repair Tool | Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and then scan the corrupted or damaged Excel files. Full steps |
| Fix 2. Change File Extension | Open Microsoft Excel and go to "File" > click Export and choose Change File Type. Full steps |
| Fix 3. Use Open and Repair | Start Office Excel > click File and Open > select the inaccessible Excel file. Full steps |
Error "Excel Cannot Open the File Because The File Format or File Extinction Is Not Valid"
Sometimes, when you try to open or edit an Excel file in Microsoft Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, or 365, you may encounter the following problem:
"Excel cannot open the file 'filename.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file."
It usually indicates the file is not compatible with the Excel version of the file that has come corrupt or damaged. Here, we will show you all the possible solutions, and you can try these until your issue is fixed. Before you follow the solutions, check if Excel is working normally.
Step 1. Press Windows+R keys, type excel.exe /safe, and click "OK". Loading Excel without templates and add-ins allows you to see if the program works as it should or if it is corrupted.
Step 2. If Excel opens normally, check for any add-ins that are causing problems in Excel. Disable the add-ins and click on the "OK" button. Then, restart Excel to check if the problem is fixed. If not, move on to the fixes below.
There are three useful solutions in total here to solve the Excel cannot open file issue. Besides, two methods are provided to recover Excel when the file format or file extension is not valid.
Fix 1. Use EaseUS File Repair Tool to Fix Excel Cannot Open the File
If the "Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid" problem is caused by file corruption and not by file compatibility, you need a professional file repair program to help you fix the problem.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is an all-in-one tool that can help recover deleted files and repair corrupt files easily and efficiently.
EaseUS Excel Data Recovery/Repair Tool
- Recover corrupted Excel files in XLSX/XLS formats
- Repair single or multiple Excel files without quantity limit
- Supports MS Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, XP, 2000, 97, and 95 versions
- Repair corrupted JPEG/JPG or repair damaged MP4 and MOV files
Go ahead and download the EaseUS MS Office document repair tool, then follow the step-by-step guides below to repair damaged Excel files in three steps:
Step 1. Select a location to start finding corrupted Excel files
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and then scan the corrupted or damaged Excel files.
Step 2. Scan for the corrupted Excel document
Find the damaged files through the filter, file path, search, etc.
Step 3. Repair and save the Excel file to a secure location
Double-click the corrupt excel file, and this program will automatically repair corrupted and damaged Excel files. Click "Recover" to save the repaired Excel files to a safe location.
Fix 1. Change the Excel File Extension to Open It
Many times, this error occurs due to the incompatible file extension of the Excel file. MS Excel saves Excel workbooks as XLSX or XLS files by default. Excel 2003 and earlier versions save files as XLS, whereas Excel 2007 and later versions like Excel 2010, Excel 2013, Excel 2016, and 2019 save files in XLSX file format. You can change the default file format for the corresponding Excel version to any other file format supported by MS Excel.
Step 1. Open Microsoft Excel and go to the "File" tab.
Step 2. Click "Export" and choose "Change File Type".
Step 3. Change the file extension to any other file format that MS Excel supports and click "Save As". Then, Check whether Excel can open your file or not.
Fix 2. Open Excel File Using the Open and Repair Feature
The "Open and Repair" is a built-in easy-to-use MS Excel utility that allows you to correct the "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid" error.
Step 1. Start Office Excel. On the File menu or the Microsoft Office button, click "Open".
Step 2. In the Open dialog box, click to select the inaccessible Excel file.
Step 3. Click the down arrow on the Open button, and then click "Open and Repair". Microsoft Office will then start to check the Excel document and repair problems or corruption it found.
Recover Excel File When the File Format or File Extension Is Not Valid
If your unsaved Excel file cannot be opened because the file format or file extension is not valid, how would you recover unsaved Excel files? In this case, try the two ways below.
1. Restore Unsaved Excel Wordbook from Previous Versions
This method only restores lost files to a previous version. It means that you might lose some changes you may have made to the document.
Step 1. Right-click the inaccessible Excel file and choose "Properties".
Step 2. Open the "Previous Version" tab to list all the previously stored versions of the Excel file.
Step 3. Choose the most recent version and click "Restore" to retrieve the spreadsheet.
2. Restore Unsaved Excel File Using AutoRecover
This method only works if you have turned on the AutoSave feature in Microsoft Excel. This feature is also helpful for recovering unsaved Word documents.
Step 1. Open Office Excel and head into the "File" tab > click "Info".
Step 2. Beside Manage Versions, you'll see all autosaved versions of your file.
Step 3. Open the file in Excel and click "Restore".
Step 4. Save the file with a new file name and set the extension as .xlsx.
Important Tips to Prevent Excel File from Getting Loss
There are many ways to prevent data loss. If you have lost important Excel files due to accidental deletion, hard drive formatting, or virus attacks, you can use the data recovery tool to retrieve lost data. Another crucial point to avoid data loss is backing up your Excel file on a regular basis.
1. Recover Deleted or Lost Excel File with File Recovery Software
In addition to restoring unsaved Excel caused by Excel crashes when saving or other reasons, many users may want to recover lost excel spreadsheets caused by accidental deletion, OS crash, hard drive damaged/corrupted, or lost partition. In these cases, you have to resort to a professional file recovery tool for help. And, EaseUS file recovery software is worth trying. It allows you to recover deleted DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX, PDF, CWK, HTML/HTM, INDD, EPS, etc. with a few clicks.
Give it a try to get your lost Excel back immediately:
Step 1. Select location and click "Scan"
Choose the drive X: or a specific folder on Desktop or somewhere else where you lost the excel files, and then click "Scan".
Step 2. Locate your excel files
To quickly find the Excel files from the scan results, click on the "Filter" on the top area, choose "Excel", and click tree view on the left side. Or, search .xls or .xlsx in the Search box.
Step 3. Preview and recover
You can double click on the Excel file to preview its integrity. Finally, select the desired Excel files and click "Recover".
2. Back-Up Excel File Automatically
If you modify and change your worksheet frequently, turning on the AutoSave feature is a good idea. Or, you can manually copy and backup your file to another safe location in case of accidents.
Final Words
"Excel cannot open the file '(filename)' .xlsx because the file format for file extension is not valid" is a normal error that you can face while opening an Excel file. With the help of the above methods, this error can easily be resolved without data loss.
If Excel cannot open the file problem is due to file corruption, EaseUS file repair tool can help you fix and recover the Excel file with a few clicks pretty quickly. It is good at repairing photos, videos, documents, and other files on the hard drive, SD card, memory card, or any other storage medium. No matter whether they are lost or exist on your devices. It's worth a shot.
"Excel Cannot Open The File Because the Extension Is Not Valid" FAQs
The following four frequently asked questions are extremely relevant to the "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid" error. If you also have any of these problems, you can find the methods here.
How do I fix the file format or file extension is not valid?
You can try to fix the "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid" error by changing the file extension:
Step 1. Open your Excel file. On the taskbar, select "File" and then choose "Options" > "Export" > "Change File Type".
Step 2. You can directly change the file extension depending on the version of Excel installed. Click "Save As". Then, check if the error "Excel cannot open the file" is resolved or not.
How do I recover an Excel file format or file extension that is not valid?
You can restore Excel file format, or the file extension is not valid from previous versions.
Select the damaged file. Right-click it and click "Properties" > "Previous Version". A list of previous versions will appear; you need to select the option you are interested in and click "Restore" to recover. Previous versions come from File History or restore points.
What does file extension not valid mean?
"Excel cannot open the file '(filename)' .xlsx because the file format for file extension is not valid" is a common error that many users may encounter while opening a .xlsx file, especially when opening a spreadsheet received through an email. The possible reasons for this issue might be:
- The Excel file is corrupt or damaged.
- The Excel file is not compatible with the version of MS Excel you're using.
Why can't I open an XLSX file?
When the Excel file is corrupted, not compatible with the Excel version, infected by the virus, or received by email, these are the common causes of the "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid" problem. If any of these problems appear, you can't open your XLSX file.
The following error occurred when running the SFC /SCANNOW command, to repair the system files on a Windows 10 PC: "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log"
This tutorial contains instructions to resolve the "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them" error, when running the SFC /SCANNOW command in Windows 7, 8 & 10 OS.
FIX Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix
Method 1. Check and Repair Hard Disk Errors.
Method 2: FIX Windows corruption errors with the System Update Readiness tool (DISM).
Method 3: Run SFC in Safe Mode.
Method 4. Run the "SFC /SCANNOW" from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
Method 5. Examine the details of SFC SCAN.
Method 6. Repair Windows 10 with an in-place Upgrade.
Method 1. Check and Repair Hard Disk Errors.
First of all check and repair possible errors on your hard drive using the CHKDSK command. To do that:
1. Open command prompt as administrator.
2. At command prompt, give the following command and press Enter: *
* Notes:
1. You will be required to reboot the computer if run the CHKDSK command on the system drive.
2. By default the CHKDSK command, will check your main C: drive for errors. If after checking the drive C:, you want to repair errors on another drive (e.g. the drive “E:” ), then switch to that drive (e.g. by typing E: & pressing Enter) and give the same command.
Method 2: FIX Windows corruption errors with the System Update Readiness tool (DISM).
The System Update Readiness tool is a Microsoft tool that can fix Windows corruption errors.
1. Download and save to your desktop the System Update Readiness tool according to your Windows version.
2. Double click to install the downloaded file (e.g. Windows6.1-KB947821-v34-x86.msu).
3. When the installation is completed, restart your computer.
4. Finally open command prompt as administrator and give the following command:
- Windows 10, 8, 8.1 & Server 2012:
1. Right click at Windows start button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
2. At the command prompt window, type the following command & press Enter:
- Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth
3. Be patient until DISM repairs component store.
4. When the operation is completed, you should be informed that the component store corruption was repaired.
5. Finally, give the SFC command (in Administrative command prompt):
Method 3: Run SFC in Safe Mode.
1. Press Windows + R keys to load the Run dialog box.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter.
3. Click the Boot tab and then check the Safe Boot option.
4. Click OK and restart your computer.
Note: When you finish your job, open the System Configuration utility again and uncheck the “Safe Boot” option to start Windows normally.
5. Finally, give the SFC /SCANNOW command (in Administrative command prompt).
Method 4. Run the "SFC /SCANNOW" from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
Another method to fix the SFC error "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix", is to Offline run the SFC /SCANNOW command. Detailed instructions on how to do that, you can found in this article: How to Run SFC OFFLINE.
Method 5. Examine the details of SFC SCAN.
The next method to resolve the "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files" in SFC, is to examine the SFC details in CBS.LOG file. To do that:
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Give the following command.
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"
3. Then navigate to your desktop and open the "sfcdetails.txt" file in notepad to view which files are corrupted and replace them with a good copy.
Method 6. Repair Windows 10 with an in-place Upgrade.
The final method to fix Windows 10 problems, is to perform a Windows 10 Repair-Upgrade. For that task follow the detailed instructions on this article: How to repair Windows 10.
That’s it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about which method is worked for you. Please like and share this guide to help others.
Sometimes, when opening a Word document you may face the error "The file "<filename>.docx" cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents. The file is corrupt and cannot be opened". The error means that Word found unreadable content in the document file and for that reason it was unable to open the document.
- A Power corruption while you working on your PC.
- The forced removal of the storage device (e.g. USB hard drive, USB pen drive, etc.) without prior using the safely remove option.
- A damaged storage device.
For all the above reasons, I always suggest my costumers to always keep a backup copy or their important files to more than one storage media and to avoid to use their USB disks and the USB Pen drives as the only storage location of their important files.
In this tutorial you 'll find tree (3) different ways to recover the content of a corrupted Word file. The first two methods show how to recover a Word document using the Microsoft Word & the 7-zip programs and the third method, shows how to recover the damaged Word file (or any other file) from a damaged storage device.
How to Recover a Damaged Word file.
Suggestion: Before you continue to the methods below, first make a copy of the corrupted file and store it to another location on the disk. Then try the following:
1. Try to open the damaged DOC file in WordPad. To do that, right click on the damaged file and select Open with > WordPad.
2. If you have a backup copy of the damaged file, then try to open it from the backup.
3. If you 're using Windows 7, 8 or 10 OS and the corrupted file is saved on your local disk, then right click on the corrupted file, or in its parent folder and select "Restore previous versions". If you can see a previous version of your file, select it and press 'Copy' and save the file in another location o the disk.
4. Check and repair problems on the disk that contains the file, by using the chkdsk /f command. For example: If the damaged file located at drive D:, then open Command Prompt as Administrator and give this command chkdsk D: /f
Method 1. Repair Damaged Document with Word.
Method 2. Recover Text from the Corrupted Word Document with 7-zip.
Method 3. Recover the Corrupted Word Document from the Damaged Drive.
Method 1. Repair Document with Word.
The first option to recover a corrupted a corrupted word document is within Word. To do that:
1. Launch Word.
2. From the File menu click Open.
3. Select the corrupted file, and using the drop down arrow (next to the 'Open' button) select Open and Repair.
4. If Word still cannot open the file, then perform the same actions, but this time select the Recover Text from Any File in the 'Open' dialog box.
Method 2. Recover Text from the Corrupted Word Document with 7-zip.
The second method to recover a damaged document, is by extracting the contained text from the Word file, using the 7-zip file manager.
1. Download and install 7-zip file archiver.
2. Launch the 7-Zip File Manager
3. Select the corrupted Word document (e.g. the "File840.docx" in this example) and click the Extract button.
4. Specify a destination (or leave the default) to extract the contents of the Word file, and click OK.
5. When the extraction is completed close the 7-zip file manager.
6. Then, navigate at the location of the extracted files and explore the contents of the newly created folder, that has the same name with the filename of the corrupted file. *
* e.g. At this example, the filename of the corrupted Word file, is "File840.docx" so the new folder (that was created from the 7zip and contains the extracted files) is named "File840".
7. Inside that folder, open the "word" folder. (e.g. "…\File840\word")
8. Without closing the explorer window, launch your favorite web browser. (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Inteexplorer, etc.).
9. Now go back at the open explorer window and Drag & Drop the "document.xml" file to the web browser window.
10. Now, see at the web browser window and you should view the text of the corrupted word document (the text should be unformatted, because the document is corrupted).
11. Highlight the recovered text and then Copy/Paste it into a new Word document.
Method 3. Recover the Corrupted Word Document from the Damaged Drive.
The final method to recover corrupted Word file (or any other type of file), is to use the TestDisk recovery utility, in order to retrieve the file from the damaged disk.
4. At the TestDisk utility first screen, press Enter at the highlighted Create option.
5. Using the keyboard arrow keys CAREFULLY select the damaged drive and press Enter to Proceed to disk analysis.
6. At the next screen select (using the keyboard arrows keys) the partition table type (e.g. Intel) and press Enter.*
* Notice: At this point, TestDisk utility (usually) recognizes the correct partition table type and highlights it automatically. For Windows OS the default partition table type is “Intel”
7. At the next screen press Enter to Analyze the damaged drive.
8. At the next screen press Enter to Quick Search for the lost partition/files.
9. At this point, TestDisk utility may inform you that the drive is damaged and the geometry of the drive is wrong. If you see a similar warning message , then ignore it and press Enter to Continue.
10. Now If the TestDisk utility can locate the lost partition(s), during the ‘Quick Search’ operation, then you will see a similar screen like below. At this case press the "P" key on keyboard to view the files on the damaged disk. *
* Note: If the TestDisk utility, cannot locate a partition, or if you don't see any files, after pressing the "P" key, then press Enter and to perform a "Deeper Search".
11. From the list of the found files, highlight the damaged file(s) that you want to recover, and press the "C" key to recover the file(s). *
* Note: The files in red letters means that these file have deleted.
12. Now using the arrows keys select the destination* to copy the selected file and press the "C" key again, to start the copy.
* Note: TestDisk, by default, chooses as the default destination to copy the recovered files, the folder from where the program runs.
13. When the copy is done, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the destination location to find the recovered word file(s).
14. Now, try to open the recovered Word document.
1. Navigate using the arrows keys and see if there is exist a deleted file (in red letters) that has the same name as the damaged file. *
2. Once you found that file highlight it and then press the "C" key to recover it.* Note: If you see more that one deleted file with the same name, then see the date/time at the left and choose the most recent version of the deleted file.
That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
If you are getting The file is corrupt and cannot be opened error while opening a file in Word, Excel or PowerPoint on Windows 11 or Windows 10, here is how you can fix the issue. It happens when you download a file from the internet and try to open it on your computer.
When you download a file from the internet, it is somehow locked. You need to manually unblock it to use it with all the programs. Your computer does that to protect the system from unwanted malware attacks. The same thing happens with Microsoft Word files. One of the security components is Protected View. It previews the Word file in Microsoft Word so that nothing gets injected into your system. The same thing can use this issue as well. Therefore, you need to disable this feature temporarily to check if that is the source of this problem or not.
The file is corrupt and cannot be opened in Word, Excel, PowerPoint
To fix The file is corrupt and cannot be opened error in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, follow these steps:
- Disable Protected View
- Unblock file manually
- Repair the Office file
While we have taken a Word document as an example, a similar procedure is to be followed for Excel and PowerPoints too.
1] Disable Protected View
As mentioned earlier, Protected View is the name of the function that protects your system from getting frequent attacks by malware while opening a Word file. To disable or turn off Protected View in Word, follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft Word on your computer.
- Click on the File menu visible in the top left corner.
- Click on the Options.
- Switch to the Trust Center tab on the left side.
- Click on the Trust Center Settings button.
- Switch to the Protected View tab.
- Remove ticks from all the checkboxes.
- Click the OK button.
After that, open the file in Word. You should not get any issues now.
Read: The file cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents.
2] Unblock file manually
If you downloaded the file from the internet, you might need to unblock it manually. After that, it will be compatible with all the programs on your computer. For that, do the following:
- Right-click on the file you downloaded.
- Select the Properties option.
- Alternatively, you can click on the file and press Alt+Enter.
- Tick the Unblock checkbox.
- Click the Apply and OK buttons.
After that, you can use the file in Word without any error.
Read: Cannot open Word, Excel, PowerPoint files.
3] Repair Office file
When none of the solutions works, you can use the Repair option in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You do not need to download any third-party software to get the job done. To repair a corrupted Word file, do the following:
- Open Microsoft Word on your PC.
- Press Ctrl+O to open a file.
- Select the file you want to repair.
- Click the arrow icon next to the Open option.
- Select the Open and Repair option.
Now, Microsoft Word will try to repair the file if there is any corruption. Following that, it will open the file if everything goes right.
Related reads:
How do you fix The file is corrupt and cannot be opened in Excel, PowerPoint, Word?
To fix The file is corrupt and cannot be opened error in Excel, PowerPoint, Word you can use the aforementioned solutions. For example, you can turn off the Protected View feature in Word, repair the Word file, and unblock the downloaded file manually.
How do I open a corrupted file?
You may not be able to open a corrupted Word file without repairing it. It is possible to repair a file using the in-built option given in Word. You can utilize the Open and Repair option included in Word. After that, Word will fix all the possible issues and open the file accordingly.
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