Excel found unreadable content

[AndyNZ]

I have a workbook with three sheets.

It was created on computer A.

If copied to Computer B and C, an attempt to open results in message:
Excel found unreadable content. Do you want to recover the contents of the workbook.

If I answer Yes, the workbook opens normally.

If I then save it on computer B, I can then open the saved version on computer C without an error message.

My conclusion is that, once Excel has 'recovered the contents' it will open on any computer.

All computers run Windows 10 and Excel 2007.
There is nothing really unusual about the workbook except that it uses references to other sheets in the same workbook: Vlookup and countifs, e.g.
=IF(LEN(TRIM(D2))>0,IFERROR(VLOOKUP(H2,'#Codes'!A$2:E$11,2,FALSE),"?"),"")
=COUNTIFS(Members!G:G,"<>BL",Members!H:H,"="&A3,Members!U:U,"=1")

It also uses data validation in some fields, there are some hidden columns and the sheets are protected.

I would really like to know if there is any way in which I can identify the 'problem' detected by Excel. I might then be able to adapt the workbook in order to avoid it. This would be helpful as I have over 80 similar workbooks which I have to send to various individuals,

Andy

 

[jmacleary]

Hi Andy. I have had this issue from time to time as have many others (if you google your title you will see 280,000 hits). There is a tutorial here which may help - it seems to do much the same thing as your scenario above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6bn0e6zOWE
I have found the error occurs for me when I have multiple data queries in the workbook, one of which has become corrupt, but that doesnt sound like your issue. Also, when you say yes, normally excel will report on what it did to fix the issue. As you don't seem to be getting any report, maybe it was able to recover from the phantom problem without removing or changing anything!