error massage - "file format is not valid !"

[Chong Hon Hiong]

When i want to open my xls file, error message came out, and caused me not
able to open the file. The error message is "file format is not valid !".
Can anybody pls help.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Sometimes excel workbooks get corrupted.

One cause is opening them from a floppy and saving to that floppy. (Instead you
should use windows explorer to copy to your harddrive/LAN drive), work on it
from there, save it there and use windows explorer to copy it back to the
floppy.)

Another is opening the workbook in MSWord and saving it as an MSWord document
(with a .xls extension).

If you did the MSWord thing, you maybe able to recover a little bit of your data
by opening it in MSWord and copying and then pasting to excel. (But tons of
stuff will be lost.)

And sometimes the workbooks just get corrupted.

You might be able to recover more by using another program--both xl2002 and
OpenOffice have better reputations for opening files that earlier versions of
excel couldn't.

(http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD)

If the file is really important, there are commercial recovery services. I've
never used it, but you might want to check into:
http://www.officerecovery.com

 

[Harald Staff]

Another is opening the workbook in MSWord and saving it as an MSWord document
(with a .xls extension).

Not only the horrid idea that opening part of an xls file in Word is even possible; Word
tends to have Autosave enabled. So even if "I didn't mean to", Word may corrupt it all by
himself while you answer a phone. Don't try this at home, children, Superman can't really
fly <g>.

Best wishes Harald