Last Sunday, my friend and I were preparing for our project submission. While I was working, I heard a sudden scream that caught my attention.

My friend was flustered by an Excel workbook that she was trying to open on her PC. Instead, she was getting an error message saying that her file was corrupted. All her hard work was now gone, which made her quite anxious.

While I knew nothing much about what was in the workbook, I knew what I had to do to help her open the corrupt Excel file. A quick Google search for a free online Excel repair tool led me to a simple tool that actually worked. I was able to use it to repair her corrupt Excel file, and voila! She was able to open it again.

She finally heaved a sigh of relief, and I gave her a suggestion to make a copy of her Excel file on her Dropbox account. Problem solved.

But why did it happen?

Reasons behind Excel File Corruption

I got curious and dug a little deeper to find the root cause. During my research, I found multiple reasons that could have corrupted my friend’s Excel file. Here are some reasons behind Excel file corruption that I found:

• Unexpected power loss
• Sudden system or application crash
• Forcefully changed the extension of an Excel file
• Improper file transfer from one device to another
• Hardware issues, such as bad sectors on the hard drive
• A malware or virus attack on the system

Is It Possible to Repair an Excel File Online?

Based on my experience, I would definitely say that it is possible to repair a corrupted Excel file online. There is an abundance of online tools on the internet that can repair Excel files. But they have their limitations. During my search, I came across a few online tools that I found genuinely helpful. I have mentioned them later in this post.

Why Use an Online Excel Repair Tool?

Not just students, but many people first look for a free online tool to resolve problems with their Excel files because:

• An Online Excel repair tool is simple to use
• Users are not required to download an additional installer to run the tool
• They are fast and take less time to repair a workbook
• No purchase is required to repair corrupted Excel files

How to Repair an Excel File Online for Free?

I tested a couple of online Excel repair tools to see which works well. The free Excel tool that helped my friend repair her Excel file was fast, accurate, and 100% reliable.

Here is what I did:

• First, I registered with my email ID on the product’s webpage.
• Once registered, I uploaded the corrupted Excel file online.
• The tool automatically started to scan & repair the problematic Excel file.
• After it repaired the corrupted Excel file, it showed a preview to verify the data.
• After verifying the data, I saved the file to a location of my choice on my PC.

While this tool was fast, I searched for more such free tools. I found two free online tools that worked really well for repairing Excel files. These are:

• Repair
• Aspose Online Repair Tool

Both the above tools are simple to use and offer quick results. A great thing about Excel.Repair is that it is also capable of repairing files of other formats, such as Access, AutoCAD, Word, Illustrator, and much more.

Tips to Prevent Excel File Corruption

Here are some tips that could help prevent Excel file corruption and subsequent data loss.

• Save the Excel file after making a change.
• Take a backup of important Excel files on an External drive and cloud storage.
• Keep the antivirus updated
• Avoid abrupt shutdowns due to power cuts or system crashes.
• Enable AutoSave
• Use Open & Repair in case of minor issues with an Excel file
• Always create a backup of important Excel files on a separate external storage drive and cloud storage.

What if an Online Excel Repair Tool Doesn’t Work?

Online tools are free and can help resolve basic problems with an Excel file. But they have limitations, which can prevent you from repairing your file. These are:

• Repair a limited number of Excel files within the defined file size limit.
• They require an active internet connection. They don’t work offline.
• Some tools require you to purchase the full version to save the repaired Excel file.

If you want to repair a large number of Excel files in bulk or just a single large file, you can download and install an Excel repair software on your desktop. Such a tool lets you repair unlimited Excel files without any hassle. You can also use this tool to repair an Excel file without an internet connection, which makes it ideal for repair Excel workbooks on the go.

Conclusion

There are a number of tools available online that can help you repair corrupted Excel files for free. The free online tools offer an efficient and quick way to repair Excel files without spending a dime. In most cases, online tools should suffice for your needs. But these tools offer limited functionality and thus may not support severely corrupted Excel files. For such a scenario, you can always download a desktop version of a powerful Excel repair tool to address the issues.

There are tools to help you repair corrupt Excel files. Still, it is better to prevent unwanted file corruption or data loss by following the tips shared above.