Excel file won't open.

[Erlandsson]

I have a large Excel (Office 97) file (350 kb)that I am
suddenly unable to open. It contains day by day
information for the year, and is quite important to me.
(Should have backed up).

When I try to open it, I get the message "'File.xls'
cannot be opened. The file may be read-only, or you may be
trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server
the document is stored on may not be responding. Retry
Cancel." I am trying to open it on the computer, on whose
hard disk it is stored (it runs on Windows 98)

I have checked the File>Properties and it is not a read-
only file. (What does "Archive" mean?)

I then tried to open it on a computer, running on the home
MS Wireless network, running Windows 2000 Professional and
Office 2000. No luck there either.

I ran Norton Disk Doctor to see if there was a problem
that could be fixed. No luck.

Is there any way that I can open this file? Convert it to
text and open with Word? Or something along those lines.

If the file is corrupt, I would like to salvage whatever
of the content I can.

What should I try?

 

[wolf]

Hi,

sometimes this works:

-Open an empty file
-type in A1:
directory-filename-sheetname-a1, eg.

='c:\mydocuments\[file.xls]sheet1'!A1

This may return the content of this cell. You can copy
this formula over the whole sheet to see all cells.
If you do not know the sheet name, just type the formula
without it, Excel will show you the sheet names and you
can just select them.

Obviously this will not recover any macros.

Good luck
Wolf

(stolen from JKP)

 

[Erlandsson]

Thank you, Wolf. I tried it but still no luck.

I searched for recovery software on the Internet, and
found an Excel recovery program. Found it at
www.officerecovery.com. Downloaded it. Set me back $89,
ouch. Spanish company. But, it recovered only sheet1. I
had to reconstruct the rest of the workbook, which was OK,
since the critical day to day data I had collected was on
sheet1. The rest was just calculations based on Sheet1.

AS I look at the file sizes, I think only Sheet1 of the
file was in the file, and the rest had ben lost when
corrupted. The original file was in the order of 900 kb,
and the file from which I recovered was only 360 kb. Once
I added the other sheets, the file was back to 900 kb.

KIE

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

sometimes this works:

-Open an empty file
-type in A1:
directory-filename-sheetname-a1, eg.

='c:\mydocuments\[file.xls]sheet1'!A1

This may return the content of this cell. You can copy
this formula over the whole sheet to see all cells.
If you do not know the sheet name, just type the formula
without it, Excel will show you the sheet names and you
can just select them.

Obviously this will not recover any macros.

Good luck
Wolf

(stolen from JKP)

-----Original Message-----
I have a large Excel (Office 97) file (350 kb)that I am
suddenly unable to open. It contains day by day
information for the year, and is quite important to me.
(Should have backed up).

When I try to open it, I get the message "'File.xls'
cannot be opened. The file may be read-only, or you may be
trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server
the document is stored on may not be responding. Retry
Cancel." I am trying to open it on the computer, on whose
hard disk it is stored (it runs on Windows 98)

I have checked the File>Properties and it is not a read-
only file. (What does "Archive" mean?)

I then tried to open it on a computer, running on the home
MS Wireless network, running Windows 2000 Professional and
Office 2000. No luck there either.

I ran Norton Disk Doctor to see if there was a problem
that could be fixed. No luck.

Is there any way that I can open this file? Convert it to
text and open with Word? Or something along those lines.

If the file is corrupt, I would like to salvage whatever
of the content I can.

What should I try?


.

.

 

[laura]

I am having the same difficulty that you are having. If
you receive a reply to your message, will you please
forward it to me also? I appreciate your help.

Laura

 

[stuart]

Have you tried to open excel and then open the file?

-----Original Message-----
Thank you, Wolf. I tried it but still no luck.

I searched for recovery software on the Internet, and
found an Excel recovery program. Found it at
www.officerecovery.com. Downloaded it. Set me back $89,
ouch. Spanish company. But, it recovered only sheet1. I
had to reconstruct the rest of the workbook, which was OK,
since the critical day to day data I had collected was on
sheet1. The rest was just calculations based on Sheet1.

AS I look at the file sizes, I think only Sheet1 of the
file was in the file, and the rest had ben lost when
corrupted. The original file was in the order of 900 kb,
and the file from which I recovered was only 360 kb. Once
I added the other sheets, the file was back to 900 kb.

KIE

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

sometimes this works:

-Open an empty file
-type in A1:
directory-filename-sheetname-a1, eg.

='c:\mydocuments\[file.xls]sheet1'!A1

This may return the content of this cell. You can copy
this formula over the whole sheet to see all cells.
If you do not know the sheet name, just type the formula
without it, Excel will show you the sheet names and you
can just select them.

Obviously this will not recover any macros.

Good luck
Wolf

(stolen from JKP)

-----Original Message-----
I have a large Excel (Office 97) file (350 kb)that I am
suddenly unable to open. It contains day by day
information for the year, and is quite important to me.
(Should have backed up).

When I try to open it, I get the message "'File.xls'
cannot be opened. The file may be read-only, or you may be
trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server
the document is stored on may not be responding. Retry
Cancel." I am trying to open it on the computer, on whose
hard disk it is stored (it runs on Windows 98)

I have checked the File>Properties and it is not a read-
only file. (What does "Archive" mean?)

I then tried to open it on a computer, running on the home
MS Wireless network, running Windows 2000 Professional and
Office 2000. No luck there either.

I ran Norton Disk Doctor to see if there was a problem
that could be fixed. No luck.

Is there any way that I can open this file? Convert it to
text and open with Word? Or something along those lines.

If the file is corrupt, I would like to salvage whatever
of the content I can.

What should I try?


.

.

.