"The file is corrupt and cannot be opened" error on office 2010 Excel while opening .xls files

Anonymous
2010-08-07T08:54:12+00:00

I recently upgraded my office to 2010 from 2007 after that i am unable to open any .xls files created by previous version

no issue with the files because i can open it in 2003 sp3 and 2007 sp2 versions

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-08-08T06:28:33+00:00

Try the following steps:

  1. Open Excel 2010.

2. Click on File > Options.

  1. Select Trust Center > Trust center settings.
  2. Select Protected view.
  3. Uncheck all the options under Protected View > OK.
  4. Restart Excel 2010 and try to open Excel documents.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-06T12:26:02+00:00

    Thanks for your response Richard B. I did try the open and repair option. Sorry - I forgot to add that to my list of things that I tried. We ended up recreating the file. Thank goodness it was possible.

    Thanks for the additional links.

    Joni

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-04T07:27:32+00:00

    Hi Joni,

    Have you tried opening it and repairing the file?

    When you have the Open dialogue box 

    File/Open/

    File Open/Computer (For 2013 users)

    Bottom left click the drop down arrow and choose Open & Repair

    Hope that helps

    If not here is a similar thread on TechNet that might help

    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/51bde1c2-ab35-4716-afa9-8e3207b2d7f5/error-excel-cannot-open-the-file-xlsx-because-the-file-format-or-file-extension-is-not-valid?forum=excel 

    Kind regards

    Richard B

    If you found that helpful, here is a useful resource with some free Excel training manuals

    http://www.microsofttraining.net/excel-training-london.php#resources

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-03-13T19:52:46+00:00

    Please help! I am trying to access a file on our network.  I get this error: "Excel cannot open the file...because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and the file extension matches the format of the file."

    I have tried all suggestions on this five years long post: renaming the file ".xlsx"; unchecking the options in the "Protected View"; unselect all boxes in the "File Block Settings"; adding a folder on my hard drive in the "Trusted Locations" to download it to; and emailing the attachment to myself so I can download the file from Outlook on the web rather than the desktop version. Still no success. Any more suggestions?

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-26T12:08:52+00:00

    A year and a bit later but thank you for this suggestion! :)

    I work on a Servicedesk and one of our users was experiencing this problem with Excel 2010, problem is the exact same file worked for me with our settings both being the same. With that in mind I was reluctant to change any Trust Centre settings but this did the trick.

    Thank you again!

    Kind Regards,

    Marc

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