Office installations include a built-in repair tool, and that’s the first place to turn when things go awry. The absolute worst case requires running a cleanup tool on the current Office installation, followed by a clean install of a new copy of Office. That has never failed in my experience, any time I’ve had to go that far. The steps to access the repair tool vary depending on your operating system.

Recover data when you can't open the workbook in Excel

Does anyone have any idea how this can be done? Instructions for repairing all seem to rely on them actually showing up as installed. Comments violating those rules will be removed. Comments that don't add value will be removed, including off-topic or content-free comments, or comments that look even a little bit like spam. All comments containing links and certain keywords will be moderated before publication.

Recover data from a corrupted workbook

If you’re not sure, the Installed Apps list we started with is a good place to look. If you’re coming from section 2, grab the download link for what Microsoft calls the "uninstall support tool" in its Support pages. Its filename is SetupProd_Offscrub.exe, so I’ve gotten in the habit of calling it "OffScrub" myself.

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If you have to go this far during actual Office repairs, my condolences. You’re probably feeling pretty frustrated by now. We’re going to download and run a tool that completely obliterates your current Office installation. Then you’ll download and install a fresh, new installation from the Microsoft Office download page. This process seldom takes more than one or two minutes.

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Just before the progress bar completed, a notification popped up to tell me that my Office install was complete. The installer window changed to an animated display that included what’s shown in Figure 8. The easiest way to determine this is to take the document to a different computer running another copy of Microsoft Office and attempt to open the document there. If it works, then it’s likely that your installation of Office is the problem, not the document. If it fails, it’s likely the document itself is at fault. Below the reset section in the Office Advanced Options (shown above) is an uninstall link.

• My spreadsheets will still be there no matter what.
• This sort of thing does occur from time to time, and it is often quite easy to repair.
• If you’re lucky, you’ll find your problem covered, and SaRA will fix it for you.
• The installer window changed to an animated display that included what’s shown in Figure 8.
• At least two computers at my workplace don't have Office (or its components) showing in the Installed Apps.

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Even on my 2012 vintage test machine, it was done in under a minute (on a healthy Office installation, I cheerfully confess). When the process read this post from Writeablog completes, the "Done repairing" window appears, as shown in Figure 6. Once you’ve clicked Change, you may see a User Account Control window asking for permission to run the repair program. Click Yes, and the built-in Office repair window appears. The Quick Repair option, as shown in Figure 2, is selected by default.



That’s good because that’s what you’ll try next. Note that it says "The app’s data will be deleted." This does not include your files. My spreadsheets will still be there no matter what. What a reset does is reset settings, history, and perhaps more that is specific to the configuration of the program. A recovery file of your workbook also helps ensure you'll have access to your data if your workbook is deleted accidentally or if it becomes corrupted.

Like many programs, Microsoft Office’s tools can be extended by third-party add-ons. You can try uninstalling or disabling any you’re aware of. Exactly how you do this will depend on the specific add-on.

A progress bar appears and shows progress while the repair happens. Once done, a checkbox will be added to the repair button. With a backup copy of your workbook, you'll always have access to your data if your workbook is deleted accidentally or if it becomes corrupted. Choose one of the following methods to help recover your data. You can also try third-party software solutions to try to recover workbook. This takes you to the same screen shown in Figure 11 above, so you can keep going from here.

It includes options for Teams, Office, the Outlook desktop client, Outlook on the web, advanced diagnostics, and more. When you run a Quick Repair operation, Office will attempt simple repairs using local files already on your PC. This usually takes a minute or two to complete. In about 4 cases out of 5, in my personal experience, this step alone is enough to repair Office properly and restore it to working order.