Database.xls' is in a different format

[parviainen]

One of my customers has an Excel 2003 document that appears to be corrupt.

When I open the excel document I get the following error:
"The file you are trying to open, 'database.xls' is in a different format than specified by the file extension. Verify that the file is not corrupt and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now?"

I click yes and the file does open but it has totally lost its formatting and has strange characters throughout the document - I believe it to be corrupt.

Example of contents:
€HƒÄ0_^[ÃÌÌÌÌÌÌÌÌÌÌH‰\$ UVWHƒìP3íH‹ñHƒË ÿH‰¬$€-HÿÃf9,Yu÷HD$xH [üÿÿE3ÉH‰D$@H„$ €E3ÀH‰D$8H‰l$0H ÇÁ€ÇD$( Û‰l$x‰l$ ÿ?úÿÿ‹ø…Àu'H‹Œ$ €DHHæûÿÿE3À‰\ $(H‰t$ ÿúÿÿ‹øH‹Œ$€H…Ét ÿßùÿÿ…ÿu‹ÅH‹\$p HƒÄP_^]ËÇH‹\$pHƒÄP_^]ÃH‹\$p·Ç

I have tried various methods of recovery to no avail:
- Opening with Excel and selecting 'Open and Repair'
- Trying to fix with Open Office
- Trying other file extensions in case its not actually a XLS
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can find online excel file repair tool?

Note:
Due to the content I cannot upload it. This is not a problem with displaying the ExtensionsHarde ning flag in the registry. Also, the customer does not have a backup.

[parviainen]

thanks for the help. but I did not succeed. if there are any ideas still?

[mackenna]

Try this from Microsoft Word:

File-->Open.
Down at the bottom, choose Files of type: Recover text from any file.
Open the Excel file.
You might at least get your data.

If this does not resolve the issue, you will have to use Excel Repair Kit to try to save the document. As you have no backup, then the other way, I do not see. http://www.excel.repair/

One last thing I am thinking of and maybe it is not relevant maybe your file is sitting on a bad cluster ??? try copying the file to an other location or folder or even an other hard disk or flash ram and try opening it from there.

[parviainen]

Thank you all for the help!

[JamesStewart250]

Repair corrupt or inaccessible MS Excel files (.xls or xlsx), I would like to refer Kernel for Excel recovery software. The software is easy-to-use, secure and accurate. To download the software, go to: http://www.xlsx.excelfilerepair.org

[anna1554568]

Hi,parviainen

Besides the ways you have tried,there are still several methods to recover an Excel file;

1、If 'Open and Repair' does not work,you can try to write a small VBA macro to recover your Excel file manually with Excel.
2、As OpenOffice failed,you can try to ues KingSoft Spreadsheets . This is a free Windows tool that can open Excel files.

3、 If all above methods do not work, then you may try third-party tools such as DataNumen Excel Repair

It provides a free demo version so that you can try to see if the data you want can be recovered or not.

Good luck!

[olafburch]

Repair corrupt Excel file

If you get the same error "The file you are trying to open, 'database.xls' is in a different format" when you are accessing files to read the site content. It means the file has been corrupted and could not be opened before repairing. You can try this Excel Repair tool to view the Excel file content. Read more datarepairtools (dot)com/excel-recovery.html