How to resolve ‘Unable to read file’ Excel 2002 error

Microsoft Excel is a renowned application which is used to store financial reports, statistical analysis tables, business and personal records. Like other programs, data stored in an Excel file is not completely safe. To elaborate, an Excel veteran must have encountered a corrupt Excel file, which worked fine one day, and then would not open the next time. To overcome this problem, Excel 2002 was introduced with Document Recovery task pane. If Microsoft Excel encounters a problem and stops responding, you can close the program in a controlled manner. The Excel file you were working on is analyzed for errors, and information in it is recovered if possible. This Excel repair feature gives you the opportunity to cope up a data disaster. But, in case of severely damaged Excel files, you have to rely on other repair workarounds including third-party software.

Consider a scenario, wherein, you receive the following error when you try to open an Excel 2002 workbook pertaining to your employees’ personal information:

Unable to read file.”

After you click OK button, the Document Recovery task pane does not appear, and the workbook is not recovered.

Cause

This happens when the Excel file contains damage to different portions of the file structure. In the above scenario, MS Excel 2002 detects the first signs of damage and tries to repair the file by starting Excel in safe mode. After doing this, Excel 2002 observes the remaining damages in the file, and then attempts to restart it in a minimal-load mode.

When this second attempt to restart Excel fails, the above error occurs. The behavior also points towards severe corruption in an Excel file.

Resolution

You can resolve the problem by following the below-mentioned Excel recovery steps:

  • You must download the latest service pack i.e. SP 3 for Microsoft XP
  • Alternatively, you must try the following methods to recover data from an Excel file
  1. Set the recalculation option in Excel to manual
  2. Open the file in Microsoft Word or WordPad
  3. Open the file in Microsoft Excel Viewer
  4. If a chart is linked to the corrupted file, use a macro to extract the data
  • If the above steps do not yield any result, then immediately opt for a professional Excel repair software.

Stellar Phoenix Excel Repair is a reliable utility which repairs corrupt or damaged Excel spreadsheets created with MS Excel 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000 versions. The Excel file repair utility also preserves the formatting whilst restoring all the components of a corrupt Excel file.

Data Lost – Fixing Excel File Error

Due to various reasons like incompatible upgradation, application malfunction, network issues, and improper coding your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets can get corrupted or damaged. To repair a corrupted spreadsheet, MS Excel performs automatic recovery and tries to repair the file. However, if MS Excel does not enter recovery mode, and the file remains corrupt, then you will need to repair manually by using ‘Open and Repair’ utility. But, if manually repair also fails to repair the spreadsheet, then you will need to restore the spreadsheet from an updated backup. However, in the absence of, or in case of deficient, or corrupted backup, you are not left with any other option, but to use a commercial Excel Repair application to repair the spreadsheet.

To thoroughly elaborate the above situation, consider a realistic situation wherein you encounter the below error message while trying to open MS Excel 2000 spreadsheet:

“File Error: Data May Have Been Lost”

The above error message does not allow the spreadsheet to open and makes all its saved records inaccessible.

Cause:

The above error message appears when your Excel spreadsheet is logically corrupted.

Resolution:

To get past the above Excel spreadsheet corruption error message, repair the file using the below mentioned steps:

  1. Click ‘Open’ under the ‘File’ menu.
  2. Choose the corrupt Excel file and click ‘Open’ button.
  3. Lastly, click on ‘Open and Repair’ option to repair the spreadsheet.

In case the spreadsheet remains corrupted even after following the above steps, and you have not maintained any backup, then you will need to repair the spreadsheet using an effective third-party Excel File Repair application. The repair tool is easily understandable and is absolutely non-destructive. It allows the user to save the repaired file at user-specified location.

Stellar Phoenix Excel Repair repairs and restores MS Excel 2000, XP(2002), 2003 and 2007 files, regardless of their cause of corruption. The tool ensures recovery of all Excel file objects, like charts, images, text, formulas, and more. Compatible with almost all Windows operating systems (7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000), the Excel Repair tool does not require any technical skill to perform repair.

Recovering corrupt or damaged Excel file in Excel 2003

MS Excel is the spreadsheet application from MS Office product suite. It enables you to create various kinds of spreadsheets such as bill vouchers, accounts files, etc. It employs several types of accounting and engineering formulas to assist you. However, sometimes the Excel file can get corrupt and inaccessible because of various reasons like virus infections, human errors, abrupt system shutdown, damaged operating system or MS Office, etc. In such cases, you should take appropriate corrective measures to resolve issues. However, if you are unable to do so then you should use a third-party Excel file repair tool to do the needful.

Consider a scenario wherein you open an Excel workbook, which was created in Excel 2002, in Excel 2003. However, you are unable to open the file. An error message is displayed, that is:

“Errors were detected in ‘filename.xls,’ but Microsoft Excel was able to open the file by making the repairs listed below. Save the file to make these repairs permanent.

Damage to the file was so extensive that repairs were not possible. Excel attempted to recover your formulas and values, but some data may have been lost or corrupted.”

Cause:

The root cause of this error message is that the Excel file has corrupted owing to various reasons mentioned in the first paragraph.

Resolution:

You can resolve this error message by:

  • Opening the file in Microsoft Word (or WordPad) or in Microsoft Excel Viewer.
  • Setting the recalculation option in Excel to manual.
  • Using external references to link to the corrupted file.
  • Using a macro to extract data, if a chart is linked to the corrupted file.

The above-mentioned methods will be able to provide a solution for the error message. However, if you are unable to rectify the issue then you should use third-party Excel repair software to repair Excel file. Such read-only tools are able to repair Excel file from any instance of corruption by scanning the file using fast yet sophisticated scanning tools thereby ensuring safe recovery of corrupt file.

Stellar Phoenix Excel Repair software is an Excel file repair tool that enables you to repair corrupted or damaged Excel files. It is able to repair Excel file by recovering various components such as text, color, formatting, engineering formulas, charts, macros, etc. This Excel repair tool is capable of repairing errors which even the ‘Open and Repair‘ utility is not able to resolve. It supports Excel 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2010 (Beta). This Excel file repair tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

How To Tackle Excel Crash Problems in Windows Vista

Crash problems in Excel can be caused by various reasons. Sometimes, Excel crashes when you attempt to close the program. At this time, the file that you are working upon is under threat of corruption. In the unfortunate event, if the Excel file gets corrupted, all the data will become inaccessible. In other words, you will not be able to either access or use the data saved in the Excel file anymore. Therefore, it is always recommended to keep a valid data backup file that can be used at the time of data loss. But, if in case, the backup is found to be unavailable, then use a powerful excel repair software to retrieve your data.

Think of a practical situation – On a Windows Vista-based computer, when you try to exit from Excel 2007, you observe that the program stops working, and eventually crashes. Furthermore, you may receive the following information for the error:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: EXCEL.EXE
Application Version: 11.0.8231.0
Application Timestamp: 48934d57
Fault Module Name: OLEAUT32.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6001.18000
Fault Module Timestamp: 4791a74f
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00004580
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
LCID: 1033
Brand: Office11Crash
skulcid: 1033

Cause:

This issue might be caused by the add-ins present in the program.

Resolution:

Following measures may help you resolve the issue:

Disable the add-ins from Excel and then test the program.
If this does not help, then try to change the value of LoadBehavior  from 3 to 0 under the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins

In most cases, you will be able to solve the issue after using the above mentioned measures. However, changing the registry key value can be be risky as any wrong entry can severely damage your system. Therefore, to solve all the problems related to Excel crash, it is recommended to use a good-quality excel repair software to repair the Excel file that got corrupt due to Excel crash. These sophisticated applications employ influencing scanning mechanisms to repair excel file systematically. Equipped with intuitive graphical user interface, these are user-friendly tools and you do not require any prior technical understanding to use these applications.

Error Messages While Opening a Workbook in Excel

A macro in MS Excel is a series of commands and functions stored in Visual Basic module. Macro  is basically used for automating tasks and can be run whenever you need to perform the task. But, there are times when a workbook in Excel refuses to open and prompts an error message.  Sometimes, the error message may even occur if the macros are not present in the file. It is also possible that the Excel  spreadsheet is corrupt. Due to this, you may face the threat of losing your data saved in the workbook. And, if the data saved in the workbook was critical, then recovery becomes important. Here, a powerful excel repair application will enable you to recover your data from the Excel file.

Consider a situations – Sometimes, when you try to open a Excel file, lets say a workbook, you encounter the following error message:

“The workbook you are opening contains macros. Some macros may contain viruses.”

You get three options after this error message, viz- Disable Macros (Default), Enable Macros and Do not open. This surprises you as you know that the workbook does not contain macros. Furthermore, while you are still worried about this error message, another error message appears:

“Unable to read file.”

The end result of the whole scenario comes out to be fatal as the data saved in the workbook becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

Possible reasons for the above error message are:

Norton anti-virus conflicting with MS Excel.
Some add-ins hinder in the proper functioning of Excel.
Excel uses files with .xlb extension to store toolbar information. Sometimes, these files get corrupt and the error message appears.

Resolution:

Since, the problem is caused by three different causes, there has to be a separate solution for all of them. Thus, to solve the problem, consider the following measures:

When an anti-virus like Norton is generating the problem, then you need to uninstall it.
If the problem is caused by add-ins in Excel, you need to disable them.
If the files with .xlb extension are causing the problem, then delete all the files. But, if the problem still continues, then the problem is most probably due to Excel spreadsheet corruption. In such a case, you will need to repair excel file to retrieve your data from the corrupted Excel file. This can be easily done by using an effective excel recovery application that employs sophisticated scanning mechanisms to repair the Excel file successfully. Designed with interactive graphical user interface, these utilities are user-friendly and self-explanatory.

Recovering Data After Excel File Corruption

Many of us use MS Excel to perform various financial calculations, statistical analysis, business or personal records. While we usually think that the data stored in Excel is safe, sometimes an Excel file gets corrupted. Corruption in Excel file occurs due to numerous reasons like improper system shutdown, virus infection, application malfunction, power failure, and many alike. The end result of corruption of the Excel file comes out to be fatal as the data in the Excel file cannot be accessed anymore. To access your data, you need to have a recent data backup file. However, if you do not have a backup, then a powerful excel repair application will enable you to retrieve your data from the corrupted Excel file.

For instance – In some cases, when you try to open an Excel file, you may encounter any of the below mentioned error message:

“Cannot find the file.”
“Unable to read file.”
“Unexpected Error (35012).”
“File format not valid.”
“The file *.xls caused a serious error the last time it was opened.”

After the occurrence of any of the above error message, the Excel file does not open and ultimately your data becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

The root cause of all the above mentioned error messages is the corruption of Excel file. This happens due to the following reasons:

When a computer shuts down, it closes all the open files. But, in case the computer crashes, then the open Excel files get corrupted.
Excel file corruption can also occur when the hard drive develops s bad sector and the Excel files are within that sector.
Some software problems like unexpected closure of the files cause corruption of Excel files.
Another reason for Excel corruption is virus infection.

Resolution:

To resolve the Excel corruption issues, you will need to repair excel file using an effective third-party application known as excel repair software. These applications employ high-end scanning mechanisms to ensure complete retrieval of your data from the corrupted Excel file. Embedded with rich graphical user interface, these tools are easy to use and understand.