Excel file won't open? Error messages and recovery guides.
FileFix recovers data from Excel (.xlsx) workbooks that won't open or show “Excel found unreadable content”. Upload the workbook and see watermarked pages of the recovered worksheets before you pay; you pay only if it shows what you need.
Repair an Excel file onlineFree preview — pay only if you download ($14 USD)
Your files auto-delete — delete them sooner anytime
No person looks at your file as part of repair
Uploading your file.
Keep this tab open while the file transfers. Large files can take longer.
Starting upload...
Recovering what we can.
- Upload received
- Repair in progress
- Result ready
Analyzing your file...
Here's what we recovered.
Review the watermarked preview before checkout.
Repair your file
Choose a supported file to see what can be repaired before checkout.
Simulated checkout — no payment is processed.
Optional — we'll email your private download link.
You preview before you pay. If the download is materially worse than the preview you approved, we'll refund you.
Your files auto-delete — delete them sooner anytime
No person looks at your file as part of repair
We couldn't recover this one.
The file is too damaged to rebuild, so there is nothing to preview and no charge.
What stopped you continuing? One tap tells us why.
Try a deep repair
The repair engine can try a longer pass on the file you already uploaded.
Machine-only processing; no human views files; nothing is sent to an outside AI.
Have another clip from the same device?
A healthy video recorded on the same device — ideally the same settings — gives the repair engine a template to rebuild from. It can unlock repairs that fail on their own.
Unrepaired files are kept encrypted for up to 30 days, then deleted.
FileFix can't fix that kind of file yet.
Right now we repair video, audio, document, and image files (MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, AVI, TS, MTS, M2TS, MPG, MPEG, VOB, 3GP, WebM, FLV, M4A, WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, AIFF, XLSX, DOCX, PPTX, ODT, ZIP, RAR, PDF, AI, HEIC, and HEIF). We're adding support for more formats over time.
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Why Excel workbooks stop opening
An Excel workbook holds your worksheets, text, and formatting together in one file. If the information Excel needs to open that file is damaged, it may refuse to show any of the worksheets.
An interrupted save or transfer can leave a workbook incomplete. Damage to one worksheet can also stop the whole file from opening, even when data on other sheets is still there.
FileFix looks for worksheet data that is still readable and uses it to build a new .xlsx workbook. We check that the rebuilt workbook opens before showing you watermarked worksheet pages from it.
The watermarked preview shows pages from the repaired worksheets. Missing data cannot be recreated, and this repair does not support old .xls files or password-protected workbooks. Formulas, styles, charts, and other workbook features may not survive.
You never install anything, and you don't create an account to try it. You upload, you view the watermarked preview, you decide.
What we can and can't recover
We can usually fix
- Files that show "Excel found unreadable content"
- Files Excel calls an invalid format or extension
- Workbooks cut off mid-save or mid-transfer
- Files that show the right size but won't open
We can't fix
- Password-protected/encrypted workbooks
- Genuinely empty (0-byte) files
- Deleted or formatted files (that's data recovery, a different job)
- The old binary .xls format (this repair is for .xlsx)
How it works
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Upload Drop the file in. It uploads over an encrypted connection. The repair runs automatically — no person looks at your file.
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Free watermarked preview You see watermarked pages of the recovered worksheets.
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Pay & download If the preview shows what you need, unlock the repaired Excel file for a one-time $14 USD.
You see watermarked pages from your rebuilt workbook before you decide anything — so you never guess.
Browse by problem
Questions
An .xlsx file is a ZIP container of XML parts. FileFix scans the parts that are still readable, repairs malformed worksheet and shared-string XML where it can, writes a fresh workbook container, and verifies that the result opens as an Excel workbook before offering it.
It shows watermarked pages of the recovered worksheets from the rebuilt workbook. The preview is a limited, view-only sample of what was recovered.
The engine preserves readable package parts, but the preview only shows watermarked pages of recovered worksheets. It does not promise that every formula, style, chart, relationship, or embedded object survived. Review the downloaded workbook in Excel before relying on those features.
No. This repair is for the modern .xlsx format. The older .xls format is a different binary structure and is not handled by this engine.
No. Encryption prevents the repair engine from reading the workbook parts. FileFix does not remove or bypass workbook passwords.
The rebuilt workbook contains the worksheet parts the engine can recover and validate. The free preview shows watermarked pages of recovered worksheets, so you can decide from that evidence before checkout.
A one-time $14 USD — and only if the repair works. The watermarked preview is free, and a file that does not produce a validated repaired workbook is not offered for checkout.
No. Upload, repair, validation, and preview generation are automated. Originals of repaired files are kept encrypted only until your repaired file is deleted, at most 2 days after you pay, then deleted; unrepaired files are kept encrypted for up to 30 days, then deleted.
No. The repair runs on FileFix's servers. You will need a compatible spreadsheet app to review and use the downloaded .xlsx file.
File repair can reorganize bytes and XML that still exist; it cannot recreate cells that never reached the file. If the engine cannot build and validate a readable workbook, there is no checkout.
Yes, when a clean source or version history is available. A complete original is better than any repair because no repair can recreate bytes that are absent. Keep the damaged copy until you have verified the replacement.
No. The preview shows watermarked pages from the rebuilt workbook. It does not test external links, queries, data connections, macros, or recalculation behavior.
No. FileFix reads the uploaded file and creates a separate repaired workbook. The source file on your device is not modified.