By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
Sometimes, when opening a workbook in MS Excel, the following error message may appear: "Unable to read file". Some users have reported that Excel is unable to read files when saving. This is a fairly common problem that continues to plague many Excel users, but it is not difficult to fix. In this article, I will share with you the most effective solutions to fix the error of unable to read file in MS Excel.
Before you open the Excel file, close or disable the antivirus program to prevent it from scanning the file and changing the file headers, then open the file again and check if the solution works.
Microsoft provides a built-in, powerful fix in the Office component. It is the Open and Repair feature.
Step 1: Open the undamaged excel file on your PC.
Step 2: Click the File button on the ribbon, and then click Open. In the right part of the window, click Browse.
Step 3: Find and select the corrupted excel file. Instead of opening the file directly, click the arrow next to "Open" to expand the drop-down menu. Click on Open and Repair to repair the file.
Step 4: At the prompt of the Microsoft Excel pop-up window, click Repair.
Changing the file type may work to resolve an unreadable file error in MS Excel.
Step 1: In Excel 2007: Click the Microsoft Office Button and then select Excel Options. In Excel 2010, Excel 2013, and Excel 2016: Click File > Options.
Step 2: Select the save option in the left pane, then in the right pane, click the bar next to "Save the file in this format" under the "Save Workbooks" section to pop up the drop-down menu, select the type of file you want to modify. Click OK to save the changes.
iSunshare Excel Repair Genius is a powerful Microsoft Excel repair and recovery tool that can repair corrupted XLSX files without any content modification. It can also create a new .xlsx file to save the recovered Excel content, and you can save the recovered file to wherever you want.
Step 1: Download and install Excel Repair Genius on your PC or laptop.
Step 2: In the main screen of the software, click the Open button. Select the excel file from your local computer that cannot read the file. Click Open again to input your excel file.
Step 3: Click the Restore button in the bottom right corner.
Step 4: Then the software will begin repairing the damaged excel file.
Step 5: When the repair is complete, a box will appear indicating that the file is restored, click OK to close the dialog box.
Step 6: If you want to view the repaired Excel file, you first need to save it. Click on the Save option under the progress bar and select a location on your computer to store the repaired excel file.
Step 7: After saving is complete, you can click Yes to open the repaired Excel file.
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