If an Excel file is corrupted is it always unopenable?

[9tanstaafl9]

I'm having strange issues with a workbook and I'm wondering if the issues could be caused by some sort of corruption. The reason I'm asking the question is because everywhere I look online it says corrupt files can't be opened, and these open and run just fine, they just do something strange.

The files are all copies of the same master file. They appear to be identical. But on some of the workbooks, refreshing the queries causes some of the formula references to jump down one cell, and on the other workbooks they don't. The formula in question is ='Tab Name'!B2. It references a query that only ever has one line, and B2 is the cell I want. But B3 (a blank cell) is the one I get on half the workbooks. Also, using $ or named ranges has no effect. The $ get ignored and the name range just moves to b3.

I've eliminated all logical sources of the issue: (that I can think of)

• It isn't the computer since the same computer & user has both working and broken files, in the same directory
• It isn't the data we are querying since the broken files always won't work no matter what data you use and the working files always work using that same data.
• They all connect to the same database using the same connection string with the same properties
• The formulas are all the same
• The macros are all the same
• The user has no add ons, and no other workbooks with macros
• All the files worked fine until the 9th of this month.

 

[Derek Brown]

Have you tried opening the workbook using "Open and Repair" from the File/Open menu?

 

[9tanstaafl9]

Have you tried opening the workbook using "Open and Repair" from the File/Open menu?

First off, sorry for not replying earlier, somehow my notifications went to my junkmail!

Secondly, no, I didn't. I didn't know that was an option. I tried repairing Excel itself, but not the file. Sometimes I think it's bad that I've been using Excel since it first came out (and by first I mean when it installed on two floppies on my Mac 512). There are lots of new features that I just hadn't noticed.

I'm going to get them to try this, and I'll post back what happened. Thanks so much for the suggestion. I'm sure other people thought of this but didn't mention it because they assumed, rightly, that I should've tried that already.

 

[Derek Brown]

It would be advisable to have a backup copy of the workbook before trying the "repair".
In fact, I would always advise making regular backups of important files.

 

[9tanstaafl9]

I know this is old but I wanted to post it here in case someone else came across this issue. It was due to a Microsoft update that some people had installed on their end but others (and I) didn't. Now it happens always and it's really a pain in the butt. If anyone knows a workaround let me know. As of now I have to remote into their computer and fix it there.