Need to recover file after Excel crash

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a large-ish spreadsheet (2.3mb), one of several linked spreadsheets that I have been working on.  Three times today Excel has crashed.  The first two times, it allowed me to create a recovery file (XLSB).  The third time, after I had made regular saves of the spreadsheet to avoid all the complicated work to re-work the recovery files, it did not offer a recovery, presumably because I had saved it seconds before it crashed again.  However, my main file is now totally unreadable by Excel.  It refuses to open, giving a message 'Excel cannot open this file - The file might have been damaged or modified from its original format.'  I have the latest patches, have tried deleting the Office 2008 directory in the Preferences folder, and also tried renaming the file to xls and xlsb with no joy (this sometimes works, particularly xls). <br><br>The stupid thing is, Apple Numbers will open it (albeit with fixed tables as it does not support Pivot Tables), as will Apple Quick View! <br><br>Any ideas?  I lost two hours work in the last crash, so I am a little reluctant to do it all again, as I have made little progress today! <br><br>Also, another related question:  What is the simplest way to keep external workbook references intact?  Because I have numerous linked workbooks, if I rename them, the linked tables remain connected to the old names.  This is one of the problems with recovery files.  The best I can think of is to keep a sheet with links to the external workbooks that I can refer to in cells, though I have not tried this. <br><br>Many thanks in advance! <br><br>Andrew

Hi Andrew:Only bad news, I am afraid.

Hi Andrew:

Only bad news, I am afraid.

Excel crashed because there is something in the file that it does not
understand.

Apple Numbers will open it because it is not trying to read that bit,
because it does not have the function described.  Any application reads an
XML file by parsing it, and reading in only the parts it understands.

Whatever you have been doing in that file, or the way you are doing it, is
beyond the capability of Excel 2008.  I do not know what it is that you are
doing, but there is "something" about it that Excel does not like.  Sorry...

Note that the extension on a file name tells the computer what kind of data
the file contains.  "Re-naming" a file is a really bad idea, because now you
are telling the application the file contains a data type that it does not:
you will normally make a bad situation worse by doing that.  If it was going
to open, it would open on File>Open with the correct extension on the file.

To quickly change links,

1) Goto Edit | Links
2) Then change source
3) In the file selection select the current workbook.

Hope this helps


On 17/03/10 3:54 AM, in article 59bb5569.-1@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0,


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John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:john@mcghie.name

Thanks John. I managed to recover the file with OpenOffice.

Thanks John.  I managed to recover the file with OpenOffice.  The only bits I had to re-work were parts I had not worked on for a while (one of several pivot tables), which was surprising.  Otherwise, everything else was fine.  All the same data and functions etc. as before, so I am saving several copies now to be sure! <br><br>I know about Links, but as there were a number of links, I was trying to short cut this. <br><br>Thanks again. <br><br>Andrew

Hi Andrew:Yeah, I know that managing links are a PITA.

Hi Andrew:

Yeah, I know that managing links are a PITA.

Hopefully the Link Editor will be a lot better in the next version of Excel.

Even if it is not, VBA will be back, which means you can quickly run up a
little routine to fix them all.

Cheers


On 17/03/10 12:16 PM, in article 59bb5569.1@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0,


This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word); Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia.
Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410; mailto:john@mcghie.name