A common error message that usually occurs when someone tries to open an Excel file in Windows is Excel cannot open the file because the file format or extension is not valid. Make sure the file is not corrupted and that the file extension matches its format. This error message is encountered especially when the file is either not compatible with the Excel version or it is corrupted. Let’s try to fix this issue. Show
Protect PC from Threats with Anti-Malware Check your PC for malware your antivirus may miss and get threats safely removed with Auslogics Anti-Malware Auslogics Anti-Malware is a product of Auslogics, certified Microsoft® Silver Application Developer DOWNLOAD NOWSometimes, this error could be due to incompatible or unsupported file formats. Versions of Excel since 2007 use Office Open XML as the primary file format but are backward-compatible with the earlier versions of Excel files. A glance at the file extension will tell you straight away whether the program can open that file. If the file you’re attempting to open is in one of these formats, it won’t open because it’s been corrupted. That’s because the file extension is compatible with Excel: Excel Workbook. xlsx Excel Macro-enabled Workbook. xlsm Excel Binary Workbook. xlsb Excel Macro-enabled Template. xltm Excel Add-in. xlam Spreadsheet. xls Excel Template. xlt Excel Macro. xlm In addition, documents in these non-Excel file extensions can be opened by the program, though functionality might be reduced in some fashion: XML. Spreadsheet 2003 or XML formatted files. xml Lotus Spreadsheets. prn Tab delimited/Unicode text files. txt Comma-separated values files. csv Data Interchange Format files. dif Symbolic Link Format text files. slk dBase Data Files. dbf OpenOffice Files. ods XML Paper Specification Files. xps Portable Document Format files. pdf Note that this isn’t an exhaustive list. Excel can open files with other extensions, including html. How to Fix the “Excel Cannot Open the File Because the File Format or File Extension Is not Valid” Issue on Windows 10Sometimes, when opening a file in Excel, the program displays this error message instead: Microsoft Excel Excel cannot open the file [File Name] 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. If you encounter this error in any version of Excel since Excel 2007, three options are open to you:
Let’s explain each option in more detail. Solution 1. Check the File ExtensionIf you’re unable to open the file, it could be due to an unsupported file extension. To be frank, this is very rare nowadays since most spreadsheets use a format Excel can open. However, if you’re trying to open the document on a pre-2007 Excel program, you can have issues with certain files. There are two scenarios here:
In both instances, the solution is the same. Open any Excel file (or just launch the program and open a blank spreadsheet) and click the File tab. Next, click Open > Browse and locate the file you’re trying to open. Now, look under the file name field and change the file extension. If you’re trying to open an xlsx document in a legacy Excel version, change the extension to xls. If you’re trying to open a document in an unsupported or less common file format, change the extension to xlsx or xls. Save the change and then try opening the file again. If everything is done right, the file should open now. Solution 2. Repair the FileWhen you get the “Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid” error, it’s likely because the spreadsheet is corrupt. If you manage to open the file anyway, there might be multiple errors and we’re sure you don’t want that. It is better to try repairing the file first and that is exactly what we’re going to do.
Excel will attempt to repair the file and then open it. Solution 3. Change Group PermissionsIn rare instances, the “Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid” error happened because the file has special permissions. Removing this permission will allow your Excel program to open it without issues. How do you fix Excel Cannot open the file because the file format or extension is not valid?Step 1: Launch Microsoft Excel on your PC. Step 2: Head to the “files” section, and click “Export.” Step 3: In the section, select “change file type” and click on the file with the error. Step 4: Change the file extension and save the file.
How do I verify that an Excel file has not been corrupted?Open MS Excel and Go to the “File” menu. Now, select the “Open” tab and click on “Browse.” Choose the file which you want to open, but instead of opening the file directly, choose the “Open and Repair” option from the below right side of the opened window.
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