Microsoft Excel allows you to fetch data from cells of other workbooks using links. A link is basically a formula that can be used to maintain information in a single workbook when you desire to use information of other workbooks also. When you open an Excel file that contains a linked workbook, the application reads the latest information from it. At times, when you try to open such workbook, it might prompt you an error that Excel cannot read the file. Such problems can be resolved by simply opening the linked workbooks before opening the actual workbook. But if the workbook is not using links and still giving the same file unreadable errors, the file might be corrupted. You should then use your recent file backup to restore the file or use advanced Excel Repair tools to repair the damaged Excel files.

As an instance, you might receive the below error message:

“Unable to read file”

Cause

You might encounter the above error if one of the following conditions is true:

•    You are trying to update links in an Excel workbook that is comprised of links to other Excel workbooks. The links are created when a Microsoft Access report is exported to Microsoft Excel.
•    You are trying to open an Excel workbook and the file is damaged at different portions of its file structure. MS Excel tries to open such files in two attempts: first by detecting the first portion of damage and then starting Excel in Safe mode in order to repair the file and second by examining the rest damaged portions and restarting in minimal-load mode. The above error occurs when the second attempt of opening the file fails.

Solution

To solve such problems, you need to follow these methods:

•    If the issue is encountered when you try to update the links, you should open the linked Excel workbooks before opening the actual workbook.
•    To fix file corruption, you need to use commercial repair excel software. Such repair excel tools use scanning algorithms to repair and restore damaged Excel workbooks.

Stellar Phoenix Excel Recovery is an advanced solution to repair damaged Microsoft Excel files. It supports excel repair for Excel 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. It can restore all file objects, such as hyperlinks, formulas, charts, pivot tables, macros etc. This read-only software is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, and NT.