If You Cannot Open Your File
If your workbook is corrupt to the point that you cannot even open it, open your spreadsheet in Microsoft Word or via the Spreadsheet viewer, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site, then copy your data from the open file (note that much of your formatting, formulas, etc, will be lost). Next, open a new workbook and create an external link to the corrupt workbook e.g., ='C:\Documents and Settings\Raina\My Documents\[ChookSheet. xls]Sheet1'!A1. Copy this link down as many rows and across as many columns as needed. Do the same for each worksheet in the workbook. If you cannot remember any of the names of the worksheets, create any old sheet name using the correct filename path, and Excel will display the sheet names for you when you press Enter.
One final thing you can do is visit the OpenOffice.org web site and download the free version of OpenOffice.org. Except for different names for different tools and commands, OpenOffice.org is very similar to Excel. OpenOffice.org is based on the same basic spreadsheet structure as Excel, making it simple for Excel users to use. In fact, about 96 percent of the formulas used in Excel can be created and applied by using the spreadsheet in OpenOffice.org.
To download the free version of OpenOffice.org, go to http://download.openoffice.org/index.html and download it from the FTP site of your choice. Then install the program. OpenOffice.org is also available for Macs.
In many cases, your Excel data can be recovered. However, no VBA code can be recovered due to incompatibility between OpenOffice.org and Excel. Sadly, if none of these methods works, you probably will have to pay to try to have your workbook recovered with special software. One source where such reputable software (for Windows) can be purchased belongs to the authors of this book and is located at http://www.ozgrid.com/Services/corrupt-file-recovery-index.htm.
After purchase and installation, run the ExcelFix program. Click Select File, select a corrupt file, and then click Diagnose to recover the file. You should now see the recovered file in the workbook viewer. Click Save Workbook to save the workbook into a new readable file that you can open from Excel.
Also available is a demo version that does not enable you to save the file, but all versions of the program enable you to start again and recover as many files as you want.