Data is the new commodity that drives sales and finances. It helps businesses shape individual choices and draw insights to gain an edge over competitors. To leverage it, they rely on MS Excel – a staple tool that lets them simplify data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
As Excel files are critical to any business, losing them due to file corruption could cause setbacks for the operations. As a lot is at stake, it becomes vital for business units to have a robust Excel file recovery software at their disposal. Such a solution enables them to minimize operational setbacks by recovering mission-critical data from corrupted Excel files quickly.
What Causes Excel File Corruption?
A corrupted Excel file is of no use as it makes the data inaccessible. Here are some common causes behind Excel file corruption and subsequent data loss:
Cause 1. Unexpected System Crash
A computer could crash or shut down abruptly due to reasons like overheating, faulty hardware, or a sudden power outage. If this happens while working on an Excel workbook or making changes to the data, it could result in missing data or excel file corruption.
Cause 2. Malware Attack
Viruses infect a system and attack files on it. They can rename the files, change the properties, or encrypt the data with garbage, leading to a corrupted Excel file & data loss.
Cause 3. Large Excel Workbook
Large Excel workbooks are susceptible to corruption as they become slow or unresponsive while opening or saving. This happens because they contain a lot of data, such as tables, graphs, macros, formulas, links, etc., which increases the digital footprint of the file, causing it to work slowly. A large file could easily get corrupted if there is an interruption while it is saving or loading.
Cause 4. Bugs
Using outdated MS Excel could put the files at risk as any unresolved bugs in the application could trigger a problem, causing file corruption. Excel files can also become corrupted due to buggy third-party add-ins that might interfere with certain functions and prevent the workbook from saving.
Cause 5. Storage Drive Issue
Bad sectors on an HDD or SSD can be due to physical stress, aging, or mishandling. This could significantly impact the read/write performance of the storage drive and corrupt the files in the bad sectors, making them inaccessible forever.
DIY Excel Recovery Methods
MS Excel has a built-in utility – Open and Repair – to help users fix the problematic Excel file by eliminating minor bugs or corruption instances from it. It also has the Auto Recover functionality, which, if enabled, automatically saves the file at a default location after a fixed interval. This is very useful to recover an Excel file if the application or the computer is abruptly shut down.
But, if the Excel file is corrupted due to a reason such as abrupt shutdown, application crash, etc., these utilities may result in partial recovery of data, i:e., the recovered Excel file may have missing formulas, broken links, etc.
Another way to restore data corrupted Excel file data is to use a backup copy. However, it should be a recent one and not very old or it may not have the latest data in it.
Significance of an Excel Recovery Software
To overcome the limitations of the built-in utilities in MS Excel, businesses can incorporate a powerful Excel Repair software like Stellar Repair for Excel into their infrastructure. Such a software works flawlessly to ensure 100% accuracy while recovering data from corrupted Excel workbooks. Their algorithms are designed to handle inaccessible or damaged Excel files and restore the data into a new Excel workbook with complete integrity.
Therefore, businesses must have a robust Excel file repair software as it quickly repairs corrupted Excel files and helps streamline Excel file recovery, thereby minimizing the impact on business operations.
Benefits of Excel Recovery Software
An Excel file recovery software offers the following benefits to users:
- Repairs Excel files created using older (legacy) versions of MS Excel
- Supports all major Excel file formats including XLS, XLSX, CSV, XLTM, etc.
- Repairs multiple Excel workbooks in a single operation via batch repair
- Offers an intuitive UI that simplifies file repair procedure
- Lets users verify the data in the repaired Excel workbook before saving it
- Provides after-sales support for addressing various software-related problems
Tips to Prevent Excel File Corruption
An Excel recovery software provides an extra layer of security to critical data and prevents the loss of information due to file corruption. However, it is best to avoid file corruption in the first place. Here are some handy tips for this:
- Don’t leave Excel files open when not in use.
- Regularly save the changes in an Excel file.
- Use a UPS with the system in case of frequent power cuts.
- Keep the antivirus, MS Excel, and the OS updated.
- Don’t mishandle the computer or laptop.
- Avoid making a large Excel file. Make multiple small ones.
- Ensure a stable internet connection before working on an Excel file shared over a network before making changes to it.
Final Thoughts
MS Excel files are vital for a business as they help analyze the collated data and interpret it to make the right decisions. Data loss due to Excel file corruption could hamper business operations and impact strategic decisions dependent on the data. For such scenarios, a powerful Excel recovery software could play a significant role in quickly repairing the corrupted Excel file and securely recovering all its data into a new Excel file.