How to repair Excel?

Since the error happens with every workbook, start with Excel and Office troubleshooting rather than repairing a single file.

1. Close Excel and other apps.
   • This error can occur when Excel does not have enough available memory, especially if other applications are consuming system memory.
2. Restart Windows.
   • If the message clears for a while after a reboot, that points to memory pressure from other running applications.
3. Test with fewer background apps.
   • Close unnecessary applications and test Excel again.
   • If needed, use a clean boot in Windows to reduce background processes.
4. Change the default printer temporarily.
   • Close Excel.
   • Open Devices and Printers.
   • Right-click Microsoft XPS Document Writer.
   • Select Set as Default.
   • Open Excel and test again.
   • Excel uses the default printer when it renders files, and printer issues can contribute to this error.
5. Temporarily test without antivirus scanning.
   • Antivirus can sometimes interfere with Excel files and cause random memory-related errors.
   • Temporarily disable scanning of Excel files or briefly turn off antivirus to test.
   • Re-enable protection after testing.
6. Repair Office if Excel still fails for all files.
   • Open Control Panel.
   • Go to Programs > Programs and Features.
   • Select the Office product.
   • Choose Change.
   • Run Quick Repair first.
   • If the issue continues, run Online Repair from Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft 365/Office > Modify.
   • Online Repair reinstalls Office components and can fix corrupted installation files.
7. If the problem is only with large workbooks, consider Excel memory limits.
   • In 32-bit Excel, there is a 2-GB limitation.
   • For large files, moving to the 64-bit version of Excel can help because it can use available physical RAM.
8. If one workbook is damaged, try workbook repair.
   • In Excel, go to File > Open > Browse.
   • Select the workbook.
   • Click the arrow next to Open.
   • Choose Open and Repair.
   • Select Repair.
   • If that fails, choose Extract Data.
9. If large workbooks still fail, reduce workbook complexity.
   • Test the workbook without external links.
   • If needed, break a very large workbook into multiple workbooks.

If the issue continues after these steps, consider opening a Microsoft support ticket.

References:

• How to troubleshoot "available resources" errors in Excel
• How to clean up an Excel workbook so that it uses less memory
• Double-clicking an Office file fails to open it in the correct Office program
• When I open an excel file it shows - We're sorry, but excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly, Excel will need to be closed as a result. would you like us to repair now? then shows the option "repair now","help","close" - Microsoft Q&A
• Repairing a corrupted workbook