Help needed: 'Unable to read file' error on trying to open Excel X-native file

[Nathaniel.Pearson]

Working in Excel X (on OSX.2.8 G4) with a big .xls file that was made
with and modified with Excel X only, I accidentally closed the file by
clicking the red window button. Since this inadvertant closure, any
attempt to open the file fails and yields an 'Unable to read file'
error message. I tried closing and restarting Excel X, renaming the
file, copying it to another OSX-running machine, etc., but such
attempts likewise failed to open the file, and yielded the same error
message.

A cursory search for help on this problem (apparently a nagging one
with Excel) turned up official Microsoft advice, as well as some 3rd
party tips, only for Windows versions of the program; suggestions for
Excel X are conspicuously missing.

The file in question has several worksheets, each with roughly 9000
cells of data, with formatting details (cell background color)
criticial to the data in question. Does anyone know of a way to 1)
decorrupt the original file or 2) readily transfer its contents,
including cell formatting, to a new workbook? Many thanks for
suggestions.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Nathaniel,

First a couple quick questions.

Since closing this particular file, have you been able to successfully open
and close other Excel files?

Have you run Apple's Disk Utility to repair permissions and verify the
drive(s)?

If all other files are behaving normally, then we can go on the assumption
that the only file with a problem is this one particular workbook.

Have you tried copying the file and then opening it on a different computer
(either Mac or Windows)?

There is a feature in Windows Excel that lets you attempt to repair a
corrupt Excel file. It only fixes some things, but if it can fix your file's
problem then you will be able to recover your file.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

Working in Excel X (on OSX.2.8 G4) with a big .xls file that was made
with and modified with Excel X only, I accidentally closed the file by
clicking the red window button. Since this inadvertant closure, any
attempt to open the file fails and yields an 'Unable to read file'
error message. I tried closing and restarting Excel X, renaming the
file, copying it to another OSX-running machine, etc., but such
attempts likewise failed to open the file, and yielded the same error
message.

A cursory search for help on this problem (apparently a nagging one
with Excel) turned up official Microsoft advice, as well as some 3rd
party tips, only for Windows versions of the program; suggestions for
Excel X are conspicuously missing.

The file in question has several worksheets, each with roughly 9000
cells of data, with formatting details (cell background color)
criticial to the data in question. Does anyone know of a way to 1)
decorrupt the original file or 2) readily transfer its contents,
including cell formatting, to a new workbook? Many thanks for
suggestions.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info