Recover Corrupted Excel File 2007, 2010 | Easy Methods

There are several reasons that can cause Microsoft Excel workbooks to turn corrupt, such as virus attack, bad sectors on a drive on which Excel file is saved, system shutdown without properly closing the Excel application, etc.

Corruption in an Excel workbook can result in data loss or render the workbook inaccessible. Fortunately, Excel automatically starts recovery upon opening a corrupted Excel file. But, if it fails, you can manually repair the file or extract data from the corrupt file.

Quick Solution: Performing 2007, 2010 Excel repair or recovery process manually can be time-consuming. Also, manual workarounds to recover corrupt Excel workbook does not guarantee recovering the complete workbook data. Use Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair single or multiple Excel (XLS/XLSX) files in 3 simple steps. The software also helps recover the Excel file, keeping the data intact.

How to Fix Microsoft Excel 2010 & 2007 Files Corruption?

Microsoft Excel comes with an inbuilt repair utility, called ‘Open and Repair’, that helps fix and recover corrupted Excel files.

Steps to Repair MS Excel 2010 Files Manually

The detailed steps to open and repair Excel 2010 are as follows:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2010 and click File from the main menu.

• Next, click Open.

• Browse the corrupt Excel 2010 file on your computer and select it in the Open dialog.

• Click the arrow next to the Open button and choose Open and Repair.

• Click Repair when prompted to recover data to the maximum.
• If Excel fails to repair, click Extract Data to extract values and formulas in the corrupt file.
• Excel prompts to ‘Convert to Values’ or ‘Recover Formulas’.
• Click Yes if it prompts the following error:

“The document file name caused a serious error the last time it was opened. Would you like to continue opening it?

• When Excel opens the last saved file, save it.

Once you’re able to access the last saved 2010 Excel file, try extracting the file contents.

Save Excel 2010 File in HTML Format

If you can open the Excel file, choose the HTML format to save it in filtered form. After that, close the Excel file as you have your data in the HTML file. The steps to save an Excel file in HTML format are as follows:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2010, click Save As, and then choose Web Page in the ‘Save as’ type drop-down list.
• Select the “Enable Entire Workbook” option, and then click the Save button.
• Close the Excel file and reopen your Microsoft Excel application. Browse the HTML file that you have saved.
• Click File from the main menu, and select Save As in the list.
• Type-in a different name, choose Microsoft Excel Workbook in the ‘Save as’ type drop-down menu, and then click the Save button.

With this, you would be able to access the data in the corrupt Excel file.

If the inbuilt tool fails to repair Excel 2010 file, a few methods can help you recover data from corrupted or lost workbook manually.

Steps to Repair Excel 2007 Files Manually

Follow these steps to repair a corrupted 2007 Excel file by using the inbuilt Microsoft Excel repair tool:

• Open Microsoft Excel 2007, click the Office button, and then select Open.

• In the Open dialog box that pops-up, browse and select the corrupt Excel 2007 file. Click the arrow next to the Open button and choose Open and Repair.

• Click Repair when prompted to recover as much data as you can from Excel 2007 file.

• If a repair fails, follow steps 1 till 3, and then click Extract Data to extract values and formulas from the corrupt file.
• In the window that appears, click Convert to Values or Recover Formulas to extract workbook data.

Note: The built-in Microsoft Excel 2007 repair tool may fail to resolve Excel corruption issue. Also, choosing to extract data from the workbook involves data loss risk. Using a professional Excel repair tool, however, can resolve all types of Excel file corruption errors and restore all its data.

Methods to Recover Data from Corrupt Excel 2010 & 2007 Files

If the ‘Open and Repair’ feature fails in getting your Excel 2010, 2007 file repaired, you can try retrieving the file contents by following some manual methods. However, the methods may vary depending on whether you can open a workbook or not.

Method 1 – Move Corrupt Excel File to another System

Move the corrupt Excel file to any other computer and try opening it in MS Excel 2010/2007. Doing so, may help you resolves disk or network-related errors leading to Excel file corruption.

Method 2 – Revert Unsaved Excel File to its Last Saved Version

If an Excel file turns corrupt while working on it but before saving any changes, try reverting it to its last saved version. To do so, perform the following:

• Open your Excel application, click the Office button, and then click Open from the menu.
• Browse the corrupt Excel file, click Yes when prompted to revert to its last saved version.

What if Nothing Works?

If you fail to recover a corrupt Excel 2007/2010 file, perform Excel file recovery with Stellar Excel repair software. The software is specially designed to help users fix their corrupted XLS/XLSX files quickly and easily without any technical assistance. It also helps restore all the file data to its original form.

Points to Remember

• Close all the MS Excel instances before using the software
• If the sheet you are repairing contains engineering formulas, please include ‘Analysis TooPak’ manually from Tools > Add-Ins

If you know the corrupt Excel 2007 or 2010 file location, click Browse to choose the file. Otherwise, click Search. Follow the below steps to recover data from corrupt Excel 2007/2010 file by using Stellar Excel repair tool:

• Click the Repair button to scan the file.

• Once the scanning process is complete, the software shows a preview of recoverable Excel file items.

• To save the repaired file, click the Save File option on File menu.

• In ‘Save File’ dialog box, choose to recover Excel 2007 & 2010 data to either the Default or New location. Click OK.

The repaired Excel file gets saved at the specified location.

Preventive Measures to Avoid Losing Excel File Data

The above-discussed methods might help salvage your data. But, it is recommended that you must take some preventive measures to avoid losing the data. One such important measure is backing up a copy of your workbook automatically. Doing so, will help you get back data in case the workbook is accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Steps to Create Backup Copy Automatically

You can automatically create an Excel backup copy by following these steps:

• Click Save As from the main menu of your Excel application.
• Browse to the location where the corrupt Excel 2010/2007 file is saved.

• In ‘Save As’ dialog box, click the arrow next to Tools button (given at the bottom left corner) and choose General Options.

• In ‘General Options’ box, check Always create backup checkbox, and then click OK.

With this, you instructed MS Excel to create a backup of every Excel file you create or open for work.

Conclusion

This article outlined the typical reasons resulting in a corrupt Excel 2010 or 2007 file, such as virus infection, bad sectors on drive, etc. It explained how to fix a corrupted Excel file by using the inbuilt MS ‘Open and Repair’ tool. The article also discussed methods to recover Excel files in MS Office 2010 & 2007 when the Microsoft Excel repair tool fails. Further, it explained how using a professional repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Excel can come in handy when the manual methods to repair and recover Excel 2007 and 2010 file fails. But, keep in mind, a workbook may get corrupt again. And so, make sure to automatically backup your workbook to avoid losing its data.

How to fix Microsoft Excel not responding error and save your data

Summary: This guide helps you resolve Excel not responding and frequent Excel freeze issues in Excel on Windows 10. It mentions some effective solutions to repair Excel and resolve Excel is not responding problem. These solutions will also help you fix Excel crashing problem while working on the spreadsheet.

Similar to any other program, you may experience problems with Microsoft Excel while opening or working on a document. Sometimes, it may not start at all or freeze and display an error message such as ‘Excel is not responding’. When it happens, you may want to wait for the program to respond.

‘Microsoft Excel is not responding’ problem

Tip: If you are experiencing Excel not responding problem with a particular Excel file, it’s quite possible that the file is corrupt or partially damaged. And thus, leading to an Excel freeze or crash problem. Use Stellar Repair for Excel software to quickly repair and restore Excel (.xls/.xlsx) file in its original, intact form. You can download the free trial version of the software from the below link.

But if Excel doesn’t respond after a while and remains stuck, you need to force close the program from “Task Manager”. Now, this could be disastrous if happens while you are working on an important Excel document that took you hours to prepare. Force closing Excel due to such error can damage the Excel document and it may fail to open next time.

Why Excel is Not Responding?

Excel may stop responding, freeze, or crash suddenly due to several reasons. It can happen while saving a spreadsheet or opening an Excel document. It may also occur while editing or inserting images, graphs, etc. But usually, it occurs when the system crashes or shuts down abruptly while you are working on a document. Here’s an instance,

Suppose, you worked overnight on a critical document which is to be presented at a meeting the next day. This Excel spreadsheet includes critical graphs and charts, and much more. When you are about to save it, there is a power failure, and your system shuts down without warning. When the power is up, you restarted the system to check your Excel. To your dismay, a message pops up – “Excel Crashed” or “Microsoft Excel not responding”.

This could be frustrating. However, there is no need to despair as there are solutions to not just overcome this error but other corresponding issues such as Excel freezing, hanging, crashing, etc. Below is an infographic that quickly briefs all the possible solutions to fix Excel not responding error.

Solutions to Fix ‘Microsoft Excel is not responding’ Error

Follow the solutions discussed below in the given order to fix Excel freezing and hanging issues.

Solution 1: Open Excel in Safe Mode

If Excel is not working as intended and frequently stops responding, you may try to start Excel in Safe Mode. It is a common DIY way to fix ‘Excel is not responding’ problem.

In Safe Mode, Excel starts with only essential services, bypasses certain functionalities and doesn’t load the add-ins, which might be the reason behind the error in MS Excel . To open and troubleshoot Excel in Safe Mode:

• Press Windows + R keys, type excel.exe /safe and press ‘Enter’ or click ‘OK’

MS Excel in Safe Mode

Open the Excel file and check if it still crashes. If not, the problem could be a faulty add-in or formatting and styling error.

Proceed to the next solution to check and fix the problem.

Solution 2: Check for Faulty and Unwanted Add-ins

In Microsoft Excel, there are two types of add-ins:

• COM add-ins
• Other Add-ins Installed as XLAM, XLA, or XLL File

Both types of add-ins can cause the freezing problem in Excel . Follow the steps below to disable unwanted and faulty add-ins:

• In Excel , click File and go to Options to open ‘Excel Options’ window
• Click Add-ins button to view and manage ‘Microsoft Office Add-ins’
• Uncheck required add-ins to disable them
• At this stage, you can also click the ‘Remove’ button to remove any unwanted add-ins

Disable COM Add-Ins

• Now enable an add-in and check the Excel performance. Observe Excel for not responding error or freezing problem

If Excel doesn’t freeze, enable subsequent add-in and then again use Excel to observe it. Repeat the steps until you find the faulty plugin, which is causing the problem.

Then remove it from Excel add-ins to resolve the problem.

Solution 3: Install the latest Windows and Office Updates

This problem may also occur if Windows and MS Office are not updated. Therefore, install the latest updates for both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.

You can set the installation and update option to ‘Automatic mode’ in Windows. This will download and install critical updates for MS Office, which might fix the Excel performance issue. The steps to enable automatic updates are as follows:

1. Go to Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update

Enable Automatic Windows updates

• Click Advanced options and enable all the toggle switches to automatically download and install updates for Windows and other Microsoft products

Update Microsoft Products

After update, restart Excel and check if the problem is resolved.

NOTE: From now on, MS Excel will also get the latest update consistently, without the need for manual intervention.

Solution 4:  Check and Disable Anti-virus

Antivirus is important for device safety. However, if your antivirus conflicts with MS Office apps such as Excel, it could lead to Excel freezing and not responding errors.

To check if the problem is due to anti-virus, disable it and reopen the Excel document. Check if Excel performs well or if it still hangs.

Example of Antivirus conflict with Microsoft Excel

If the problem is resolved, contact your antivirus software provider for help to keep antivirus running without affecting the system and other programs such as MS Excel.

Solution 5: Change the ‘Default Printer’

Although it may seem irrelevant, changing the default printer is another easy and effective solution to overcome the error. Reason being, Excel communicates with the printer to find supported margins when we open an Excel sheet.

If Excel doesn’t find the supported margin, it may stop responding or crash. The steps to change the default printer are as follows:

1. Open Control Panel on your Windows system
2. Click Printer and Devices
3. Right-click Microsoft XPS Document Writer to set it to the default printer

Change in Default Printer Setting

Reopen the Excel document to check whether the error occurs or not.

Solution 6: Repair Microsoft Office

A corrupt or damaged Microsoft Office can also cause the ‘Excel is not responding’ problem. You can resolve this by repairing the Microsoft Office files. The steps are as follows:

1. Close all running MS Office programs
2. Go to Control Panel on your Windows system
3. Click Programs and then Programs and Features
4. Select Microsoft Office and in the Microsoft Office window, click ‘Change’
5. Then select the ‘Repair’ option and click ‘Continue’

Repair MS Office

This may take a while. After the repair is done, check your Excel program and file for the error.

Solution 7: Remove and Reinstall Microsoft Office

Sometimes, repairing MS Office may not work. In such a case, removing and reinstalling Microsoft Office can resolve the ‘Excel is not responding’ problem. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Close all running MS Office programs
2. Go to Control Panel on your Windows system
3. Click Programs and then Programs and Features
4. Right-click on Microsoft Office and choose Uninstall

Uninstall MS Office

Then run the MS Office installation setup to re-install MS Office on your system.

Solution 8: Repair Microsoft Excel (XLS/XLSX) file

In several situations, a corrupt or partially damaged Excel (XLS/XLSX) file is the cause of this error. In such a case, you can download and install Stellar Repair for Excel to repair the corrupt or damaged Excel file. By repairing the Excel file, you can resolve the Excel freezing error quickly without applying much efforts.

The steps to use the software for Excel file repair are as follows:

1. Download, install and launch the Excel file repair software
2. Browse and select the corrupt Excel file

• Click ‘Repair’ to start repairing the damaged Excel file
• After file repair, it provides a preview. Check your file

• Then click the ‘Save File’ option in the main menu
• You can either choose default location or browse a new folder location to save the repaired Excel file

• After repair, open the file in Excel and continue with your work

And keep Stellar Repair for Excel installed on your system. You never know when you might need this handy tool.

You may also refer to Microsoft support for more details on Excel not responding, hangs, freezes or stops working issues.

Conclusion

Now that the methods for fixing the ‘Excel is not responding’ error are before you, try all these and see which one works for you. If the cause of this error is a damaged or corrupt Excel file, only repairing the XLS/XLSX file can resolve the issue.

For this purpose, it’s recommended to use a reliable software such as Stellar Repair for Excel as it offers an easy-to-use interface, thereby making Excel file repair process a seamless experience.

The software recovers table, chart, chart sheet, cell comment, number, text, shared formulas, image, formula, sort and filter, and other objects. It also preserves worksheet properties, layout, and cell formatting. It can repair multiple XLS/XLSX files simultaneously and fix all Excel file corruption errors.

All these features extend the software capabilities beyond just fixing the ‘Excel not responding’ error.

How to Fix “Errors were detected while saving Excel” Error?

When trying to save the Excel file, you might face unexpected errors. The “Errors were detected while saving Excel” is one such error. It can also occur when using VBA in Excel. The complete error message appears as:

**“Errors were detected while saving [file name]. Microsoft Excel may be able to save the file by removing or repairing some features. To make the repairs in a new file, click Continue. To cancel saving the file, click Cancel.”
**

The error can occur if the features (Pivot tables, charts, macros) used in the Excel file get corrupted . However, there could be several other reasons behind the occurrence of the error. Let’s discuss them.

What Causes the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” Error?

There are various reasons why you encounter this error. Here are some of them:

• Incompatible pivot table in the Excel file
• Large or uncompressed images in the Excel file
• File-sharing properties are not allowing file saving
• Excel file is corrupted
• Large-sized Excel file
• File version incompatibility
• VBA code is corrupted

Ways to Fix the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” Error

You’re not able to save the Excel file if there is no storage space on your hard drive. So, first check if your hard drive has sufficient storage space to save the file. If this is not the case, then it might happen that your antivirus program is interrupting the saving process. To check this, temporarily disable your antivirus program and then try to save the file. If still your Excel is throwing the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” error, then follow the below given methods to fix the error:

Method 1: Open the Excel in Safe Mode and Disable the Add-ins

When you open Excel in safe mode, it opens without the third-party add-ins. This helps in finding out if any add-ins are causing the error.

 Here’s how to open the Excel in safe mode:

• Open the Run window by pressing Windows key + R.

• Type excel /safe in the Run window.

  ?

• Next, click on OK.

• It will open Excel in safe mode.

• Now, try to open and save the affected file.

If you are able to save the file without any issue, then this means that the error has occurred due to third-party add-ins or settings. You can try disabling the add-ins to fix the issue. To do this, follow these steps:

• First, open Excel.
• Then, go to the File tab and click Options.

• In Excel Options, click on the Add-ins

• Under the Manage section, select Excel Add-ins and then click on the Go

• In the Add-ins dialog box, unselect the add-ins under the Add-ins available option and click OK.

  

Note: Disabling add-ins does not remove them from the system. To remove them permanently, you need to uninstall them.

Method 2: Check the Excel File Name

Some users have observed this error when saving the Excel file with an invalid name. You can check the file name and ensure that it should not contain more than 218 characters. If the name exceeds the required limit, then try shortening the file name or move the file to a folder with a short path name.

Method 3: Copy the Data from the Affected File to a New File

If you are not able to save the Excel document, then try copying the data from the affected file to a new Excel file. Then, save the new file with a different name. This helps in resolving the issue.

Method 4: Check and Provide File Permissions

You may experience the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” issue when you do not have desired permissions to modify the folder in which your Excel file is located. To modify the folder, you should have read, write, and create permissions. You can check and provide the desired permissions using the below steps:

• Navigate to the Windows Program Files and then find the desired folder (where the Excel file is saved).
• Right-click on the folder and then choose Properties.
• Select the Security tab and then click
• Click on Change Permissions in the Advanced Settings
• Click Administrators and then click Edit.
• Now set the Apply to drop-down button to This Folder, Subfolder, and Files.
• Click on the Full Control field and then click Apply > OK.

Method 5: Check Pivot Tables in Excel Sheet

You can review Pivot tables to see if they are causing the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” error. To do so, follow the below steps:

• Click Power Pivot > Manage.

  

• Check the tabs in the Power Pivot

• Check if all the formulas used in the table are correct. Sometimes, even a small typo can create an issue in Excel.

Method 6: Repair Your Excel File

The “Errors were detected while saving Excel” issue can also occur if the Excel file is corrupted. In such a case, you can take the help of the built-in utility in Excel – Open and Repair to repair your Excel file. Here’s how to use the tool:

• In Excel, click the File tab and then click Open.
• Click Browse to select the desired file.
• The Open dialog box is displayed. Click on the corrupted file.
• Click on the arrow next to the Open button and then click Open and Repair.
• Click on the Repair

• After repair, a message will appear (as shown in the below figure).

  

• Click Close.

 However, sometimes, the Open and Repair utility fails to fix the file if it is severely corrupted or large-sized. In such a case, you can take the help of a third-party Excel repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. The tool performs a comprehensive scan of the corrupted Excel file to fix the issues and recover all the items from the file without changing the original formatting. It can recover pivot tables, charts, images, engineering formulas, etc. The tool is compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. You can download the free trial version of the tool to evaluate its functionality.

Closure

Many Excel users reported facing the situation when they are saving the Excel file. You can check the file’s compatibility to fix the “Errors were detected while saving Excel” issue. If you are getting this error in a Macro-enabled file then you can try deleting the VBA project from a document to resolve the issue. However, deleting the entire VBA code cannot be a better solution as it can lead a data loss in the Project you are working on. In the above article, you have learned the reasons behind the issue and discovered how to fix the error. Follow the methods and if none of them works then try using Stellar Repair for Excel. It is an advanced tool that can quickly repair corruption in Excel worksheets at any level. It lets you restore the corrupted components from the corrupted file without removing the existing data.

[Fixed]: Freeze Panes not Working in Excel

Summary: This blog discusses the “freeze panes not working” issue in Excel. It mentions the possible reasons behind the issue and offers workarounds and methods to fix it. If the issue is associated with corruption in the Excel file, you can use the specialized Excel repair tool mentioned in the blog to repair the affected file.

The freeze panes feature in Excel is used to freeze the row/column headings to keep them visible while scrolling the worksheet. It is a useful feature when you’re working on a large worksheet containing data that exceeds the rows and columns on the screen. Sometimes, you notice that the ‘Excel freeze panes feature is not working’. There could be numerous factors that can trigger this issue. Let’s know the reasons for the freeze pane not working issue in Excel and how to resolve this issue.

Why can’t I freeze panes in excel?

Several factors may contribute to the Excel freeze panes not working issue in Excel. A few of them are:

• The cell editing mode is enabled in the workbook in which you are trying to use the Freeze Panes feature.
• The Excel file is corrupted.
• The worksheet is protected.
• Advanced Options are disabled in Excel Settings.
• The Excel application is not up-to-date.
• You might be trying to lock rows in the middle of the worksheet.
• Your Excel workbook is not in normal file preview mode.
• Wrong/incorrect positioning of the frozen panes.

How to fix ‘Freeze Panes not Working’ in Excel?

The freeze panes option is available in the View bar. Sometimes, you’re unable to see the View option. It usually occurs if you are using the Excel Started version. Check and try to open the file in the advanced Excel version, which supports all the features. If you are using the advanced Excel version, then try the below workarounds to fix the freeze panes not working issue in Excel.

Workaround 1: Exit the Cell Editing Mode

If your Excel file is switched from normal file view mode to cell editing mode, you can encounter the freeze panes not working issue. In cell editing mode, certain features in Excel, such as the freeze panes, are temporarily disabled to prevent any conflicts. You can disable cell editing mode by pressing the ESC or Enter key. Now locate the View tab and check whether the freeze pane feature is working. If not, then try the next workaround.

Workaround 2: Change the Page Layout View

The Excel freeze panes not working issue can also occur if your workbook is opened in Page Layout view. The Page Layout view doesn’t support freeze panes. If you select page layout, the freeze panes option gets disabled.

To enable the freeze pane option, go to View and click the Page Break Preview tab.

Workaround 3: Check and Remove Options under the Data Tab

Sometimes, you can experience the “freeze panes not working” issue if Sorting, Data Filter, Group, and Subtotal options are enabled in Excel workbook. Such options, when enabled, can lead to unexpected problems with the freeze panes’ functionality. You can check and remove these features from your workbook. To do so, follow these steps:

• Open the Excel file in which you are getting the issue.
• Navigate to the Data tab.
• Check and remove the below features (if enabled):
• Sort
• Filter
• Group
• Subtotal

Workaround 4: Check and Unprotect Worksheet

The freeze panes feature may stop working if your worksheet is protected. You can try to disable the worksheet protection option. Here are the steps:

• In the Excel file, go to the Review tab.
• Click Unprotect Sheet.

After unprotecting the sheet, check whether the “freeze panes not working” issue is resolved. If not, follow the next workaround.

Workaround 5: Use Correct Cell Positioning

The freeze pane is not working issue in Excel can also occur when you use incorrect cell positioning to apply the freeze panes feature. Several users have reported facing this issue when trying to lock multiple rows with the wrong cell selection. So, use correct cell positioning to freeze the rows. For example, if you are trying to lock two rows in an Excel worksheet, then you need to click on 3rd row’s column.

What if the above Workarounds Fail to Fix the Freeze Panes not Working Issue?

If none of the above workarounds works, then there are chances that the workbook is damaged or corrupt. In such a case, you can try the below methods to repair the corrupt Excel workbook.

Run Open and Repair Utility

In case of corruption in the Excel file, you can use the Open and Repair tool in Excel to repair the file. To use this utility, follow these steps:

• In the Excel application, navigate to File and then click Open.
• Click Browse to select the workbook in which you are facing the issue.
• The Open dialog box is displayed. Click on the affected file.
• Click the arrow next to the Open option and then click Open and Repair.

• Click on the Repair option to recover as much data as possible.
• You can see a completion message once the repair process is complete. Click Close.

Use a Professional Excel Repair Tool

If the Open and Repair tool doesn’t work to resolve complex file-related issues and your Excel file is severely corrupted, you can opt for a reliable third-party Excel repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. This tool can help you repair the Excel file and recover all the data with complete integrity. You can try the software’s demo version to scan the affected file and preview the recoverable data. The software is compatible with all MS Excel versions and Windows operating systems, including Windows 11.

Closure

The “freeze panes not working” issue in Excel can occur due to several reasons, like protected worksheet, incompatible Excel version, and incorrect cell position. Try the workarounds shared in the blog to fix the issue. If the Excel file is corrupt, you can use Stellar Repair for Excel to fix the corruption issues in the file. This tool can quickly repair the Excel file and recover all the data from the file with 100% integrity.

How to Fix Excel Run Time Error 1004

Summary: Run-time errors are windows-specific issues that occur while the program is running. This blog will teach you how to fix Excel run-time error 1004. In addition, you’ll learn about an Excel repair tool that can help fix the error 1004 if it occurs due to corruption in Excel files.

VBA (Microsoft Visual Basic for Application) is an internal programming language in Microsoft Excel. Sometimes, when users try to run VBA or generate a Macro in Excel, the Run-time error 1004 may occur. This error may occur due to the presence of more legend entries in the chart, file conflict, incorrect Macro name, and corrupt Excel files. In this blog, we have discussed the reasons and shared some solutions to resolve run-time error 1004.

Why This Error Occurs?

The run time error 1004 usually occurs when you run a VBA macro with the Legend Entries method to modify the legend entries in the MS Excel chart. It happens when the chart contains more legend entries than the available space, macro name conflicts, corrupt Excel files, or data-types mismatch in the VBA code.

Ways to Fix Excel Run-Time Error 1004?

Try the below workarounds to fix Excel run-time error 1004:

Create a Macro to Reduce Chart Legend Font Size

Sometimes, Excel throws the run-time error when you try to run VBA macro to change the legend entries in a Microsoft Excel chart. This error usually occurs when Microsoft Excel truncates the legend entries because of the more legend entries and less space availability. To fix this, try to create a macro that shrinks/minimize the font size of the Excel chart legend text before the VBA macro, and then restore the font size of the chart legend. Here is the macro code:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

VBCopy
Sub ResizeLegendEntries()

With Worksheets("Sheet1").ChartObjects(1).Activate
      ' Store the current font size
      fntSZ = ActiveChart.Legend.Font.Size

'Temporarily change the font size.
      ActiveChart.Legend.Font.Size = 2

'Place your LegendEntries macro code here to make
         'the changes that you want to the chart legend.

' Restore the font size.
      ActiveChart.Legend.Font.Size = fntSZ
   End With

End Sub
Note: Make sure you have an Excel chart to run the code on the worksheet.

Uninstall Microsoft Work

You may encounter a run-time error 1004 in Excel version 2009 or older versions due to conflicts between Microsoft works and Microsoft Excel. This error usually occurs if your system has both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Works. Uninstalling one of them will fix the issue. Try the below steps to uninstall Microsoft Work:

• First, open the Task Manager using the shortcut CTRL + ALT + DEL altogether
• The Task Manager window is displayed.

• Click the Process tab, right-click on each program you want to close, and then click End Task.
• Stop all the running programs.
• Open the Run window and type appwiz.cpl to open the Programs and Feature window.

• Search for Microsoft Works and click Uninstall.

Try Deleting GWXL97.Xla File

The Add-ins files with .xla extension in MS-EXCEL is used to provide additional functionality to Excel spreadsheets. Sometimes, deleting the GWXL97.XLA file fixes the run-time error. Here are the steps to delete this file:

• Make sure you have an Admins rights, open the Windows Explorer
• Follow the Path C:\Programs Files\MSOffice\Office\XLSTART.
• Find and right-click on the GWXL97.XLA file
• Click Delete.

Change Trust Center Settings

Sometimes, run-time errors might arise because of incorrect security settings. The Trust Center settings help you find the Privacy and security settings for Microsoft Excel. Follow the below steps to change the Trust center settings:

• Open Microsoft Excel.
• Go to File > Options.
• The Excel options window is displayed.
• Choose Trust Center, and click Trust Center Settings.
• Tap on the Macro Settings tab, and select Trust access to the VBA project object model.

• Click OK.

Run Open and Repair Tool

The Runtime error also arises when MS Excel detects a corrupted worksheet. It automatically begins the File recovery mode and starts repairing it. However, if the Recovery mode fails to start, use the Open and Repair tool with the below steps:

• Click File > Open.
• Click the location and folder with a corrupted workbook.
• In the Open dialog box, choose the corrupted workbook.
• Click the arrow next to the Open tab, and go to the Open and Repair tab.
• Click Repair.

You can also opt for Stellar Repair for Excel if the Microsoft Excel’s built-in tool cannot fix the error.

Use Stellar Repair for Excel

Stellar Repair for Excel is a professional software for repairing damage. xls, .xlsx, .xltm, .xltx, and .xlsm files and recovering all its objects. Here are the steps to fix the error using this tool:

• First, download, install, and run Stellar Repair for Excel.
• Click the Browse tab on the interface window to choose the corrupted Excel file you need to repair.
• Click Scan. You will see the scan progress in the scanning window.
• Click OK.
• The tool can let you preview all the recoverable Excel file components including tables, pivot tables, charts, formulas, etc.
• Click Save to save the repaired file.
• A Save File dialog box will appear with the below two options:
• Default location
• New location
• Choose a suitable option.
• Click the Save option to repair the Excel file that you have chosen.
• Once the repair is complete, it will display a message “File repaired successfully.”
• Click OK.

Conclusion

Now you know the Excel run-time error 1004, its cause, and solutions. Follow the workarounds discussed in the blog to rectify the error quickly. However, Stellar Repair for Excel makes your task of removing run-time errors easy. It’s a powerful software to fix all the issues with Excel files. Also, it helps in extracting data from the damaged file and saves it to a new Excel workbook.

How to Resolve ‘Excel found unreadable content in filename.xlsx’ Error in MS Excel?

When opening an Excel spreadsheet in MS Office 2010/2007, you may get the following error message:

“Excel found unreadable content in ‘[filename].xlsx’. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes.”

On clicking ‘Yes’, you may face any of these scenarios:

Note: If you choose to click ‘No’, then open your MS Excel application and click file > Open. When the Open dialog box opens, browse and select the file showing the ‘Excel found unreadable content’ error and then choose ‘Open and Repair’ option. If this didn’t help, try using a third-party Excel repair tool to save time troubleshooting the issue and restoring the file with all its data intact.

Scenario 1: The following message may pop-up.

“Excel was able to open the file by repairing or removing the unreadable content. Excel recovered your formulas and cell values, but

some data may have been lost

. Click to view log file listing repairs errorxxx.xml.”

The message clearly states that your Excel file might open, but images may be lost and other such inconsistencies can crop up.

Scenario 2: The error is followed by another error message, like “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened“.

Watch our short video for a quick overview of the solutions to fix “Excel found unreadable content in filename.xlsx”

What Causes ‘Excel Unreadable Content’ Error?

You may encounter the ‘Excel file unreadable content’ error due to corruption of complete Excel file or corruption in certain areas (like Pivot Table, Formulas, Styles, or other objects) in the file. According to Microsoft, you may find it difficult to determine the root cause behind Excel file corruption. Corruption could occur in different scenarios, like power surge, a network glitch, copying and pasting corrupted data from another file, etc.

Also Read: How to recover data from corrupt or damaged Excel file 2010 & 2007?

Workarounds to Resolve the ‘Excel found unreadable content in filename.xls’ Error

There is no permanent solution to fix the ‘Excel found unreadable content’ error. But, following are some workarounds you can try to resolve the error.

Note: Before you try any of these workarounds, run Excel with administrator privileges and try opening the Excel file that is throwing the ‘unreadable content’ error. If this doesn’t fix the error, proceed with the workarounds below.

Workaround 1 – Try Opening the File in Excel 2003

Sometimes a problem in the current Excel version might prevent a file from opening. To resolve this error, try opening the problematic file in Excel 2003. If the file opens, save the data in a web page file format (.html) and then try opening the .html file in MS Excel 2010/2007. The detailed step-wise instructions are as follows:

• Open the .xls file in Excel 2003.
• When the file opens, click on File > Save.
• In the ‘Save As’ dialog box, choose Web Page (.html) as the ‘Save as type’ and then click ‘Save.’ Doing so will save everything from your .xls file, opened with 2003, in .html file format.
• Open the .html file in Excel 2010/2007. And then, save the file with .xlsx extension with a new name to avoid overwriting the original file.

Now, open the Excel 2010/2007 file and check if the error is fixed. If not, use the next workaround.

Workaround 2 – Make the Excel File ‘Read-only’

Try to open your ‘.xlsx’ file by making it ‘read-only’. Follow these steps:

• In Excel, click ‘File’ from the main menu.
• Select ‘Save’ for a new document or ‘Save As’ for a previously saved document in the screen that appears.

• From the ‘Save As’ dialog box, click Tools > General Options.

• Click on the ‘Read-only recommended’ checkbox to make the document read-only and then click ‘OK’.

Now open a new ‘.xlsx’ file and copy everything from the corrupt Excel file to this new file. Finally, save this file and try to open it again.

Workaround 3 – Move Excel File to a New Folder

Some users have reported that they could open their Excel file, following the ‘Excel unreadable content’ error, by simply moving the file to a different folder and saving it under a new name. You can also move the affected file to a new folder and try opening it. If this didn’t help resolve the error, follow the next workaround.

Workaround 4 – Install Visual Basic Component

At times, it is seen that installing the ‘Visual Basic’ component of MS Office 2010 resolves the ‘Excel found unreadable content 2010’ error. To do so, follow these steps:

• Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and select Microsoft Office 2010.
• Click ‘Change’ and then select ‘Add or Remove Programs’.
• Next, click the ‘plus’ sign provided next to Office Shared Features.
• Click ‘Visual Basic for Applications’. After that, right-click and choose ‘Run from My Computer’ and hit the ‘Continue’ button.
• Reboot your system when this process finishes.

Now check if the issue has been resolved or not.

What Next?

If none of the workarounds mentioned above works for you, use a professional Excel repair software, such as Stellar Repair for Excel. The software repairs corrupt MS Excel sheets without modifying their original content and formatting. In addition, it can repair single or multiple Excel (XLS/XLSX) files in a few simple steps.

Steps to Repair Corrupt Excel File using Stellar Repair for Excel Software

• Install and run Stellar Repair for Excel software.

• From the software main interface window, click ‘Browse’ to select the corrupt file. If you are not aware of the corrupt Excel file location, click on the ‘Search’ button.

• Click on the ‘Repair’ button to scan and repair the selected file.

• A preview window will open with recoverable Excel file data. Once satisfied with the preview result, click on the ‘Save File’ button on the ‘File’ menu to start the repair process.

• Select the destination to save the file.

• Click ‘OK’ when the ‘Repaired file saved successfully’ message appears.

 The repaired Excel file will get saved at the selected location.

Excel File Corruption Warnings and Solutions

Summary: Many users reported error messages they receive when they try to save or open an Excel file. In this blog, you will learn about the warning messages that indicate your Excel file is corrupt and possible solutions to repair it. It also outlines the Stellar Repair for Excel to repair corrupt Excel files.

Excel users often report about receiving warning messages suggesting corruption in the workbook. This usually happens while opening an Excel file, ‘.xls’ or ‘.xlsx’ file created by earlier versions, or attempting to create a copy of the workbook.

Excel file corruption may occur due to several reasons including (but not limited to) virus infection, sudden system shutdown during write operation, and leaving excel file open on the shared network.

Occurrences of Excel File Corruption Warnings

Occurrence 1 – “Excel found unreadable content in . Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes”.

On clicking ‘Yes’, you will receive the following error:

 “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened”.

Occurrence 2 – “Excel cannot open the file , 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”.

Besides the warning messages outlined above, there are a few other tell-tale signs of Excel file corruption such as:

• Excel crashes or freezes, preventing you from accessing the workbook and information stored in it.
• Unexpected errors occur during the save operation listed as below:
  • “An unexpected error has occurred. AutoRecover has been disabled for this session of Excel”.
  • “Errors were detected while saving ”.

Solutions to Fix Excel File Corruption Issue

Follow the below-listed solutions to deal with corruption issues in Excel:

NOTE: If you encountered problem opening Excel files after upgrading to latest Windows Operating System (OS) and Office program, try updating your Office as well as Windows OS to latest patches provided on the Microsoft site. Microsoft frequently releases Office and Windows OS patches to help users’ correct known errors. Check if you can open the corrupt workbook after installing the update.

Solution 1 – Use Open and Repair Utility

Excel comes with a built-in recovery mechanism. It automatically starts ‘File Recovery Mode’ when a user opens a corrupt workbook, and attempts to open and repair the workbook. Sometimes, the recovery mode might not start automatically. In that case, you will need to repair the Excel file manually by using ‘Open and Repair ’ utility.

Steps to use Microsoft’s built-in repair utility are as follows:

Step 1: Select File > Open.

Step 2: Click the folder containing the corrupt workbook, and then click Browse.

Step 3: In the Open window, select the corrupt workbook.

Step 4: Next, click the arrow in the Open button, and then click Open and Repair.

Step 5: In the window that appears, click Repair.

If  ‘Open and Repair’ doesn’t work in excel , select Extract Data to extract formulas and values from the corrupt workbook.

NOTE: If you need a quick solution to salvage your data, use an Excel file repair tool.

Or else, attempt the following solutions to deal with corruption in Excel file .

Solution 2 – Uninstall and Re-install Office Installation

NOTE: Make sure to create a backup of your Excel file before uninstalling and re-installing your Office application.

Download the Office uninstall support tool to remove the application.

You can read: Simple Ways to Open Corrupt Excel file Without any Backup

To reinstall Microsoft Office, follow these steps:

NOTE: Before proceeding with Office re-installation process, make sure that you have license keys ready.

Step 1: Open the Microsoft Office site.

Step 2: Select Sign in.

NOTE: You may skip this step if you’re already signed in.

Step 3: After signing in, from the Office sign-in page, click Install/Install Office

Your Office application will get re-installed. Now open the backed-up Excel file and see if the problem is fixed.

Solution 3 – Move Excel File to a Different Location

Often moving a corrupt Excel file to a different location can help solve the corruption problem. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the corrupt Excel file by navigating to the following path:

C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

NOTE: Make sure to replace User_Name with your user name. If you are unable to find the Excel file, you will have to search for the file manually in Program Files (x86).

Step 2:  Open the Excel folder, and move the corrupt file to some other location.

Step 3: Delete the files from the Excel folder.

Now try opening the Excel file you have moved and see if the issue is resolved.

Solution 4 – Use Excel File Repair Software

If none of the above solutions works for you, use Stellar Repair for Excel. It is a specialized Excel file repair software that helps repair corrupt Excel file and recover workbook data in its original state.

Essentially, the software helps rebuild the corrupt file to restore every single object in the file. It can recover objects including user-defined charts, conditional formatting rules, formatting of the charts, properties of worksheet, engineering formulas, etc.

Steps to use Stellar Repair for Excel are as follows:

Step 1: Download, install and launch Stellar Repair for Excel software.

Step 2: In Select File window, click Browse to select the file you want to repair.

NOTE: If you are unaware of the Excel file location, click ‘Search’ in the Select File window to find the file.

Step 3: Once the files are selected, click Repair to initiate the repair process.

Step 4: Preview the repaired file and select all or specific files you want to save.

Step 5: Click Save File on Home menu.

Step 6: In Save File window, choose ‘Default Location’ or ‘Select New Folder’ to select the location where you wish to save the file. Click OK.

The selected files will be saved at the specified location.

Conclusion

You may experience Excel file corruption warning messages while opening or saving an Excel file. The file may become corrupt due to malware infection, sudden system shutdown, and forgetting to close workbook on a shared network. This post outlined occurrences of Excel file corruption warnings, and also described solutions to fix the issue.

You may try using Microsoft’s built-in ‘Open and Repair’ tool to repair corrupt workbook and recover data from it. If this solution doesn’t work, proceed with uninstalling and re-installing the Office application. Another solution is to move corrupt files to another location. But if the problem still persists, use Stellar Repair for Excel software to repair single or multiple Excel (.xls or .xlsx) files and restore data.