Microsoft's spreadsheet program is one of the most popular in the world, and has been used for decades both academically, professionally and personally. But, when we work with this tool we also encounter certain problems. For example, when we receive the message that Excel cannot open the file because the file format or extension is invalid.
If you were working and this message appeared, don't worry, because there is more than one way to solve the error and we are going to tell you about them.
What does it mean that Excel can't open the file because the file format or extension is invalid?
What this message wants to tell us is that the program cannot open the file because there is some type of problem, but it does not tell us what. This can happen for several reasons:
- Incorrect file format. It is possible that you are trying to open a file whose extension cannot be opened in Excel, or that it is damaged. For example, if you try to open a .doc document.
Make sure your file has compatible formats such as .xlsx or xls.
- Incompatible version. It happens if you try to open a file generated with one version of Excel with a newer or older one. So, you have a file created with Excel 2019 and you want to open it on a computer that has an older version of the program installed, you may have problems viewing the content.
- Damaged or corrupt file. It is one of the reasons that can give you the most headaches, because it implies that the file has been damaged and you may have to find another copy or, failing that, prepare the document again.
- Format conversion problems. If you used another spreadsheet program to create your file and then renamed it with an Excel extension, you might experience some problems accessing it.
Excel cannot open the file because the file format or extension is invalid: possible solutions
Since the origin of the problem is not always the same, we are going to analyze different solutions. But first we recommend do a test to verify that the cause is not in the program. Take another file with a valid extension for Excel and try to open it. If there are no problems, then you can try the following alternatives to access that file that is causing problems:
Change the file extension
It is the simplest option and, in many cases, it resolves the issue, so let's start here. It is about converting the file we have to a .xls format (for Excel 2004-2010) or .xlsx if we use later versions of this program.
- We open Excel.
- Let's go to “Files” > “Export”.
- We select the “Change file type” option and click on the file that is giving us the error.
- We change the extension and save.
- We try to see if we have been lucky.
Restore previous version
Let's consider that the message Excel cannot open the file because its format or extension is invalid appears because the version we are trying to work with has some type of problem. In this case, we will try to restore the previous version of the file.
- We look for the infected file.
- We click on the right button and click on “Properties”.
- We go to “Previous Versions”, select one of them and click “Accept”.
- If it works, keep in mind that the previous version may not have all the changes that the final version of your document had.
Fix Excel cannot open the file because the file format or extension is invalid, using Open and Repair
Microsoft Office includes a functionality (Open and Repair) that aims to resolve any incidents that may exist regarding the files.
- Open Excel.
- In the “File” menu, click on “Open” and select the file that is inaccessible.
- Click on “Open” > “Open and Repair”.
Recover an unsaved book
It is possible that the message Excel cannot open the file because its format or extension is not valid may appear because while we were working an error occurred while saving or the computer was turned off unexpectedly, which could cause damage. the file. The solution in this case is to use the functionality of recovering an unsaved book.
- Open Excel and click on the “File” tab.
- Select “Information”.
- Click on “Manage book” > “Recover unsaved book”.
- From the file displayed, open the file and save it again.
Open Excel file in safe mode
In this case what we are going to do is run the program in safe mode and disable the plugins. To do this we follow these steps:
- We click on the “Windows + R” key to access the “Command Prompt”.
- When it starts, we write “excel.exe/safe” in the search field and press “Enter”.
- When we open Excel we go to the “File” tab and from there to “Options”.
- We select “Add-ons > “COM Add-ons” and click on “Go”.
- We delete the plugins from the displayed list and click “Accept”.
Try another program
If Excel continues to give you problems opening the file, the last option is to try opening it through another spreadsheet program. You can directly use Google Sheets. If you can open it, from this application you can download it again in a format compatible with Excel and try to see if it works for you now.
In short, the message Excel cannot open the file because its format or extension is not valid can appear for different reasons. Since the system does not tell us exactly what is happening, we will have no choice but to try the options that we have seen in this article until you find the one that definitively solves the problem. If after trying everything nothing works, try opening the file on another computer, or check the installation of the program on your computer in case the problem is there.