How do I resolve the error "Excel found unreadable content in (filename)"?

Sometimes when I open certain worksheets in Excel 2010 I see the message in the title. Excel then asks if I want to repair the file. I say "Yes" and Excel reports that the file is repaired. A log file says something about removed records.

However, there does not seem to be anything missing from the file, and all sheets and VB macros in the workbook work just fine.
Any suggestions?

Solution 1:

As Posted here and verified by me.

I don't have what I'd call a "satisfactory" resolution, but I do have a workaround (kindof!) Round trip the file using Excel 2003 to remove corruption if the work book will not repair in 2010:

1. Open the file in Excel 2003
2. Go to File: Save
3. Change the Save As type to Web Page (.html), save and close the file
4. Open the .html file in Excel
5. Save the file as a .xls (with a new name so the original isn't lost)

I do not know where the actual "corruption" comes from. Evidently Office 2010 is much more "picky" about checking files for issues than office 2003. According to Microsoft:

“Please keep in mind that it's often quite difficult, if not impossible, to determine where corruption comes from. Corruption can exist in the "shell" of the workbook, or in certain areas, such as a PivotTable, styles, defined names, objects, or the calculation chain/formulas. Corruption can be caused by many different scenarios, for example, a network glitch while saving, a power surge, copying and pasting in corruption from another file, the list goes on. You can compare file corruption to getting a nail in your tire. The nail may be stuck in your tire for a long time without you even noticing, and then all of a sudden your tire goes flat, or the file becomes unreadable or displays strange symptoms.”

I think it's a poor analogy, but I hope this helps. Before you import the file from other system, change the name of the worksheet of the workbook. Longer names cause problems in conversion

Solution 2:

I also encountered a similar problem when trying to open up .xlsx files sent to me from another coworker. I'm using Office 2010 on Windows 7.

Upon trying to open up the file it would say:

Excel found unreadable content in 'filename.xlsx'. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes.

I click 'Yes' and then Excel pops up a message saying: The file is corrupt and cannot be opened.

Solution: Go the the file in Windows Explorer, right-click on the file, select Properties and at the bottom there's an area called Security, click on Unblock.

I hope this helps others who run into this using Excel 2010 on Windows 7.