FileFix

"This workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel" — next steps.

Excel showed "This workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt," which means its own repair path has already given up. FileFix uses a different rebuild — scanning surviving members and writing a fresh workbook — and shows the validated sheets and rows first. A one-time $14 — and only if the repair works.

Drop a broken Excel workbook here — the free preview shows what's recoverable before you pay.

Files up to 2 GB.

Free preview — pay only if you download ($14)

Your files auto-delete within 48 hours

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 a few minutes.

Starting upload...

Recovering what we can.

Analyzing your file...

Here's what we recovered.

Review the watermarked preview before checkout. Previews are capped at 90 seconds.

Repair your file

Choose a supported file to see what can be repaired before checkout.

You preview before you pay. If the download is materially worse than the preview you approved, we'll refund you.

Good news — your file isn't damaged. No charge.

There's nothing to repair. If it still looks broken, the issue may be the player, codec, or viewer on your device rather than the file itself.

We couldn't recover this one.

The file is too damaged to rebuild, so there is nothing to preview and no charge. You can try another file.

FileFix can't fix that kind of file yet.

Right now we repair video, audio, and document files (MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, AVI, TS, MTS, M2TS, MPG, MPEG, VOB, 3GP, WebM, M4A, WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, AIFF, XLSX, DOCX, ZIP, and PDF). We're adding support for more formats over time.

We store just your email and the file type — never the file itself. One message, when it's ready. No spam.

Something went wrong.

The request could not be completed.

Why this happens

This message is Excel's final verdict: it recognized the file as a workbook, attempted its built-in Open and Repair, and could not produce a document it would open. It does not identify which member is damaged or prove that every sheet is unrecoverable.

The cause is usually a damaged ZIP index or a worksheet and shared-string XML that Excel's parser rejects. Because Excel's repair works within its own strict rules, a package it declines can still hold readable members that a more tolerant rebuild can extract.

FileFix reads the local ZIP records directly, recovers worksheet and shared-string XML where possible, writes a new .xlsx, and validates it with an independent workbook reader. The summary shows the sheet names and row counts that survived, so you see the outcome before paying.

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

  1. Upload. Drop the file in. It uploads over an encrypted connection.
  2. We rebuild it. The repair runs automatically — no person looks at your file.
  3. Read the summary, then decide. You see exactly what we recovered — sheet names, row counts, and a small sample. If the summary shows what you need, unlock the repaired Excel file for a one-time $14.

You see a recovery summary built from your actual file before you decide anything — so you never guess.

Upload your workbook

Free recovery summary · files auto-delete within 48 hours

Upload your workbook

Questions

Is there any point after Excel's own repair failed?

Yes, when the failure is in parts Excel refuses to read rather than truly absent data. FileFix uses a more tolerant rebuild and only offers checkout when it can produce and validate a repaired workbook.

Why can another tool open a workbook Excel calls corrupt?

Excel enforces strict package rules and stops when a member breaks them. A separate engine can salvage readable members and rebuild a valid container, though it cannot restore parts that were genuinely lost.

Will I get every sheet back?

Only the sheets whose XML can be recovered are included; unrecoverable sheets are left out rather than faked. The free summary lists the sheets present in the validated output so the difference is visible first.