Office 365 iOS App Corrupted Excel File

Anonymous
2023-03-18T18:37:50+00:00

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me with 2 xlsx files that have been corrupted.

I use iCloud to store my documents, I finished working on the 2 files in question on my MacBook in the morning and then later in the day successfully viewed them (not modified) on my iPhone using the Office 365 app.

When I came to open the files again, they are unable to be opened on any device using either numbers or excel. I have tried on my iPhone, MacBook and a Windows 11 PC. The error message is:

"Excel cannot open the file 'ABCDEF.xlsx' 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."

I have tried changing the file extension to xls. I've tried to open and repair the files using Excel on Windows however that hasn't worked either. I've used a couple of trial versions of recovery software and the preview shows the first sheet is there but the remaining sheets aren't which are vital to the spreadsheet.

Does anyone have any ideas or experience of this issue? I've noticed the timestamp of last saved has changed to the date and time I opened them on my phone. I'm not sure why Office365 resaved these files without me making changes or asking me.

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | iOS

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-06-25T08:11:37+00:00

    Having the same issue - removing excel and MS 365 permissions from iCloud on my iPhone may have solved it though too early to know for sure

    on iOS - Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Apps Using iCould "Show All" > untoggle Excel & MS 365

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-06-12T18:55:48+00:00

    Same here, but weirder. All started for me on Thursday, April 13. Worked on 2 excel files on iPad Pro. No issue. Came back in the afternoon and got error messages that “The folder may have been moved, renamed, or deleted.” I did none of these. I looked every place and they were no place, especially in recycle bin. I submitted a ticket to MSN (OneDrive) and heard nothing. Then, while in Mexico, at 9pm on May 12, 29 days, I get an email from an Escalation Manager that the files were in the recycle bin and I had only 2 hours to retrieve them or they’d be gone forever. ****. What if I missed the email? I got the folder and files back as I hurriedly recovered them, but similar things have been occurring since, like what I’ve read here that the file extension was incorrect. This is bogus. Now I’ve emailed the critical files to myself, and placed copies in Numbers. It’s an issue between iOS, OneDrive, and excel. This MUST be fixed before I have to renew my 365 Subscription. It’s bad that OneDrive or Apple hasn’t said a word, unless I missed it. Confidence? Shaky.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-08T13:14:45+00:00

    Same on my side. Lost very important data in one xlsx file after modifying one cell and save it back to iCloud from iOS Excel App. Used iCloud as backup. 3 Months work gone (this was the time of the last "manual" backup". FIX IT MS!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-07T19:55:30+00:00

    Also having the same issue with 2 xlsx files. Opened with Excel on iPad from directly from iCloud as I’ve been doing for years and now it corrupts everything I open. I’ve used two paid recovery services and they only managed to salvage some of the data(5 out of 11 tabs) and as fate would have it those are the ones with less important information. The very important information was not restored. This is really frustrating as iCloud is supposed to be the back-up and now it’s malfunctioned with no option to fix it as far as I can tell from the Microsoft and Apple sites.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-04-06T22:43:10+00:00

    Same for me. Only started happening in the last two weeks. Happeing for me on excel AND word. so annoying. lost 2 days work on my PhD proposal.

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