Excel found unreadable content

**crs245** · 10-21-2010, 11:37 AM

I have a macro-enabled spreadsheet with very few macros. The spreadsheet is mostly designed as an information center with a couple dozen worksheets. I have recently tried to open the file, and I receive the following error.

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

I click Yes... and then I receive the following log report.

Excel completed file level validation and repair. Some parts of this workbook may have been repaired or discarded.
Removed Part: /xl/sharedStrings.xml part with XML error. (Strings) System error: -2134162423. Line 242, column 52609.
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet2.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet3.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet4.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet5.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet6.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet7.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet8.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet9.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet10.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet11.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet12.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet13.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet14.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet15.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet16.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet17.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet18.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet19.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet20.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet21.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet22.xml part
Removed Records: Cell information from /xl/worksheets/sheet23.xml part

I have tried opening the file as read only, opening and repairing it, downloading an Excel repair tool, copying worksheets one at a time to a new workbook, copying and pasting special values, opening up the workbook in a text editor, and nothing has worked. I am afraid I have lost the information forever, but it seems like this problem is not that uncommon, so I am hoping my last-ditch effort to save my latest information will work! You can find the workbook on an external website because it exceeds the attachment limits here.

http://www.profsl.com/LV%20Changes.xlsm
http://www.profsl.com/LV Changes.xlsm

**crs245** · 10-22-2010, 10:13 AM

Almost 24 hours and no replies? Perhaps this was the wrong board as this was buried quickly.

**crs245** · 10-25-2010, 11:07 AM

Not one reply?

**6StringJazzer** · 10-25-2010, 02:20 PM

I looked but I'm afraid I can't help. You say that "this problem is not that uncommon" but I am not familiar with it. After some searching I did not see anything that could help in your particlular case, except the suggestion that editing the file in 2003 could, on rare occasion, cause it. That may explain why nobody has responded.

I downloaded your file. My system received it as a ZIP file, but when I changed the extension to XLSM it opened in Excel and I got the same behavior that you did.

Based on your post I can't tell what information has been lost.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Edit: Make a copy of your file and change the extension to ZIP, then open it, then open the worksheet folders. This may be a bit tedious but if you edit the XML for the sheets in a text editor, you may be able to find lost data. I am guessing that there is corruption in some XML tags that makes the data unreachable to Excel but might reveal itself to a human. However, I do not know all the XML tags and structure that Excel uses.

**RobSherratt** · 07-17-2014, 07:40 AM

In case this helps, I found a solution to a similar problem that I was encountering. I posted the details here:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/For...forum=exceldev

Best regards,
Rob Sherratt