MS Office File Repair

How to Repair Corrupt Excel 2013 Files?

Written By Jyoti Prakash
Approved By Alexis Llontop
Updated on 5 Jan, 2024
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Summary: This post outlines how you can identify corruption in an Excel file. Once you have identified corruption, use the built-in ‘Open and Repair’ utility or an Excel repair software to repair corrupt Excel 2013 files. Also, you can try restoring the file data by following the workarounds, as discussed in this post.

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Sometimes, when trying to access an Excel file it won’t open or throws errors. This usually happens due to corruption in the file. Although Microsoft doesn’t offer a manual on MS Excel file corruption, understanding it is not that difficult. However, there are ways to repair and recover a corrupted Excel workbook.

Also read: [Resolved] Excel 2016 Won’t Open XLS Files

Quick Fix: Excel automatically starts File Recovery mode, when you attempt to open a corrupted Excel workbook. But, the file recovery feature may fail to repair severely damaged workbook. There are a few workarounds you can try to recover the file data, but without preserving formatting, macros, formulas, and other components. This is where Stellar Repair for Excel software comes in handy. It can help repair the Excel files and restore all its components in an original, intact state.

Identifying Corruption in an Excel 2013 File

Sometimes, you may receive a message suggesting corruption in a workbook. But there can be times when you might not even know it has turned corrupt. This can be bad because corruption might worsen if not treated on time, leading to potential data loss.

Thus, keep your eyes open for the following tell-tale signs of Excel corruption:

Errors on File Open

More often than not, if a workbook is corrupted, any attempts to open or access the file will result in errors or warnings such as:

“Excel cannot open the file <filename>, 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.”
“The workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt”.

Sudden AutoRecover Warning

The AutoRecover feature of Microsoft Excel acts as a fail-safe. It saves copies of all open Excel files at a fixed interval that the user can define. The files can be recovered if Excel closes unexpectedly.

So, if you come across the AutoRecover warning message “An unexpected error has occurred. Autorecover has been disabled for this session of Excel“, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong.

Encounter the Excel AutoRecover warning "An unexpected error has occurred; Autorecover has been disabled for this session," indicating a potential issue that needs attention.

Your immediate step on seeing any such warning should be to save the workbook. However, a corrupted workbook that’s already loaded in the RAM (opened) cannot be saved intact. When you try to save it, the Office will try to auto-repair the workbook which may cause unprecedented effects like the disappearance of some information.

Unexpected Excel Crash

The most evident sign that there is some problem with the workbook is an unexpected termination of Excel with the message “Microsoft Excel has stopped working…” A sudden Excel crash could occur due to corruption or any other reason such as bugs or problems with VBA code or improper patching of your Office version.

You might be interested in reading: How to Fix Excel Crash Issue?

Repairing Corrupt Excel 2013 Files

Following are some ways that can be used to repair Excel 2013 workbook and recover data from it:

1. Restore from Backup

It goes without saying that if you have the most recent backup of your Excel file, you can easily restore the file from the backup. But if the backup isn’t available or it isn’t updated, try the next workaround.

Note: Before performing the following workarounds make sure to back up your Excel file.

2. Repair Excel File with Open and Repair Utility

When Excel detects a corrupted workbook, it automatically starts ‘File Recovery mode’ and attempts to repair the corrupt Excel 2013 workbook. If this mode doesn’t start, using the built-in ‘Open and Repair’ utility may help fix the corrupted workbook. Here’s how:

Open Microsoft Excel 2013.
Click File -> Open.

Launch Microsoft Excel 2013 and access the Open menu by clicking on File, then Open. — Open the Corrupted Excel Workbook

Browse and select the corrupted workbook.

Initiate Microsoft Excel 2013 and choose the corrupted workbook by browsing and selecting it. — Browse and Select Corrupt Excel File

Click the arrow next to the Open button in the open dialog box, and then click Open and Repair.

Access file repair options in Microsoft Excel by clicking the arrow next to the Open button in the open dialog box and selecting Open and Repair. — Run the Open and Repair Utility

Choose Repair to fix corruption in the corrupted workbook.

Select the 'Repair' option to address corruption issues within the damaged workbook. — Repair or Extract Data

If you’re unable to repair the workbook, try recovering data by clicking Extract Data. If this doesn’t work, try recovering data by using the following workarounds.

TIP: If the ‘Open and Repair’ method fails to repair a corrupted Excel workbook, use a professional Excel file repair tool to repair XLS/XLSX files in just few simple steps with precision and maintaining data integrity.

3. Restore ‘AutoRecovered’ Excel File

Excel comes with a built-in ‘Auto-recovery’ feature that automatically saves unsaved spreadsheets.

Note: The Excel AutoRecover feature works only for those workbooks that have been saved at least once.

You can try the auto-recovered feature to recover your Excel file data. To do so, follow these steps:

Open your Microsoft Excel 2013 application.
Click the File tab from the main menu, and then click Options.

Access Microsoft Excel 2013 settings by opening the application, clicking on the File tab in the main menu, and selecting Options. — Select Options in Excel 2013

In the Excel Options dialog box, select Save and copy the AutoRecover file location under ‘Save workbooks’.

In the Excel Options dialog box, choose the 'Save' option, and copy the AutoRecover file location provided under 'Save workbooks' for configuring backup settings. — Check the Location of the Autorecovered Excel File

Browse the AutoRecover file location and you will be able to see autosaved versions of the Excel file.

Note: By default, the ‘AutoRecover’ feature is set to ‘Save AutoRecover information every 10 minutes’. You can change the interval and make it less or more than the default time as per your needs.

4. Office Document Recovery

The Document Recovery task pane automatically opens when you launch Excel after a sudden crash so you can get your file back. Click the arrow next to the recovered file in the Document Recovery task pane, and choose Open or Save As.

Note: This option might not be available if the workbook has been severely corrupted.

Repair Corrupt Excel 2013 Files by Using Excel File Repair Software

If you fail to repair and recover Excel file by using manual workarounds, Excel repair software from Stellar® can be of great help. It helps scan the damaged XLS/XLSX file. If the file is corrupt, the software repairs it and previews all the components stored in the file. You can then save all the recoverable contents to a blank new Excel workbook.

Read this: How to repair corrupt Excel file using Stellar Repair for Excel?

The Excel file repair software from Stellar® can fix all types of Excel file corruption errors and restore your data. It is compatible with MS Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, and lower versions. Also, it can help you repair single or multiple XLS/XLSX files simultaneously.

Final Words

This blog outlined how to identify corruption in an Excel 2013 File. It also discusses the different methods to repair and restore Excel files. For repairing corrupt Excel files, you can use an Excel file repair tool. Stellar Repair for Excel is one such tool that helps repair (.XLS/.XLSX) Files and restore the corrupted file to its original form with all the data intact. You can download the free trial version of the software to preview the recoverable Excel data before deciding to activate the licensed version of the software.

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About The Author

Jyoti Prakash

Problem solver and Data recovery specialist. Usually share informative articles on data recovery, database corruption and ways to recover lost data.

31 comments

Nimera S. says:

August 30, 2016 at 6:40 am

Fantastic stuff!

Your software worked very well. It recovered all formulas from corrupt file. I have started backing up my files.

Reply
Kevin says:

July 28, 2016 at 10:52 am

My Excel file was corrupt and I only read the repairing corrupt Excel file section of this blog. Second option is the life saver for me.

Reply
Diago S says:

July 14, 2016 at 6:55 am

I am getting sudden auto-recover warning every time when I was opening my Excel file. I am not aware of this corruption indication. Thanks a lot

Reply
Carol Schmitz says:

June 20, 2016 at 6:03 am

I like this post and all methods seem very important. I am using MS Excel from past 8 years and sometimes its unexpected behaviour made me hopeless. I will definitely try these methods on my two corrupt files. Thanks for sharing.

Reply
Winsy says:

May 3, 2016 at 6:20 am

I have created an excel file with VLOOKUP function and it was working perfectly. Today, I sent the file to my friend via email and he opened the file then VLOOKUP functions are not working and showing #N/A error.

What is #N/A error in VLOOKUP function?

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  May 4, 2016 at 6:10 am
  
  Hi Winsy,
  
  VLOOKUP function error #N/A means “not available”. This error occurs When excel can’t find the value for VLOOKUP function. There are many reasons of this error:
  1. A typo error
  2. In case of approximate match in VLOOKUP
  3. In case of exact match in VLOOKUP
  4. Text in number (Example ‘56996)
  5. Leading or trailing spaces etc.
  
  Try to send the excel file as ZIP to your friend.
  
  I hope it will help you!
  
  Reply
  1. Natasha says:
    
    November 17, 2016 at 5:37 am
    
    I had the same VLOOKUP function error and your solution worked like magic for me. Thank you so much.
Colin says:

April 11, 2016 at 10:17 am

Nice Post but, I read so many blogs of MS Excel and steps that you have mentioned are not unknown for me. You combined the solutions in a single blog post which is appreciable.

Reply
Mahendra says:

March 31, 2016 at 11:59 am

Ohh. i really like this. It would go really nice with my comments. Thanks. I’ll get on it.

Reply
Omit says:

March 30, 2016 at 5:42 am

Hello Jyoti,

Thank you so much for your great effort and time you put into making this post very helpful.

Reply
rebecca says:

February 23, 2016 at 11:01 am

I got the same error message which you have mentioned in the blog. I used the second method as you have mentioned and it worked well.

Reply
Nora Jones says:

February 4, 2016 at 8:15 am

I am using MS Office 2007 and a little bit confused during creating a backup file of my workbook. Can you please describe it in details for me?

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  February 25, 2016 at 3:53 am
  
  Hi Nora,
  
  When you will click on the Save As option then a Save As pop up will be open. As you are using Excel 2007 then, see the Tools option in the bottom of the left hand side. Now click on the General options and tick the check box of Always create backup.
  
  The backup file location will be same as original file location. If the original file name is test.xlx then backup file name will be Backup of test.xlk .
  
  The password option is only for file security and it is not necessary to give a password to create the backup file.
  
  Thanks
  
  Reply