File format or extension is not valid excel

Are you the one facing the Excel Cannot Open the file error, because the Excel file format or file extension is not valid?

Well many Excel users like you caught complaining about this error while trying to edit or open their Excel files in Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.

Here in this article, we are going to describe some very effective methods to fix Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid error easily.

What Does Excel Cannot Open The File ‘(Filename)’.Xlsx’ Error Mean?

Before explaining anything I want you to take a look over the error message:

“Excel cannot open the file ‘filename.xlsx’ because the file format for the file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.”

Error Screenshot:

After reading the complete error message you can easily identify that either the Excel file is got corrupted or maybe the Excel file format or file extension is not valid.

So this means, Excel cannot open the file ‘(filename)’.xlsx’ error can either be resolved by solving the corruption issue or  Excel file format or file extension issue.

Best Software To Resolve Excel Cannot Open The File Issue:

As I said, this error can be fixed by resolving the corruption issue. So to resolve Excel file corruption I want to recommend you all to go with the experts recommended solution.

If you are eligible to perform manual methods to fix Excel file corruption then you can try the solution listed here: 13 Best Ways To Repair Corrupted Excel File Effectively.

But if you don’t want to follow such lengthy procedures then use the MS Excel Repair Tool to fix Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid error automatically. This tool is designed with an advanced algorithm to fix any sort of corruption, errors, damages in the Excel file, and recovers data. It can easily restore entire Excel data includes cell comments, charts, worksheet properties, and other related data. The corrupt Excel file can be restored to a new blank Excel file.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

This is a unique tool to repair multiple files at one time and restore them even without modifying original formatting. It is easy to use, even a novice user can use it.

Steps To Utilize MS Excel Repair Tool:

Why I Am Getting This Excel Cannot Open The File Error?

• The file is not compatible with the version of Excel that is used.
• If the Excel file gets corrupted
• Or else the error is often seen with the emailed Excel files – especially forwards of forwards.
• If an Excel file is being edited by multiple people running different Excel versions.

Well, these are some of the reasons due to which you encounter Excel cannot open the file ‘(filename)’.xlsx’ because the file format or extension is not valid error.

So to get rid of this Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid here follows the manual as well as the automatic solution.

How To Fix Excel Cannot Open The File Error?

1. Change The Excel Sheet File Extension:

In some cases, it is found that users are getting the error due to the unsupported file extensions of the file, so it is worth trying to alter the Excel sheet file extension. Follow the steps to do so:

Method 1:

• Verify the support of xlsx extension and then go to ‘My Computer’.
• After that browse Tools > Folder Options > File Types.
• Now, check the ‘xlsx’ extension is included there or not. If in case not, then rename the file and change ‘.xlsx’ to ‘.xls’.

Method 2:

• Launch your Excel application
• Hit the File tab from the menu.
• After that choose the Export option from the listed menu list.

• From the export section, choose the Change File Type.
• Hit Workbook (*.xlsx) option present within the Change File Type.

After completing all this, once again open your Excel application to check whether the Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid error is gone or not.

Hope this will help you to resolve the Excel Cannot open the file error but if not then make use of the second manual solution.

2. Utilize The Open And Repair Utility

You can make use of the inbuilt open and repair utility to fix Excel cannot open the file because the extension is not valid error, follow the steps to make use of it:

• First, click on “Open” in the File Menu.
• From the list, select the Excel file which is showing the Excel cannot open the file error.
• Next from the drop-down list of the “Open” tab > select “Open and Repair”

• And finally, click on the“repair” button to repair the excel file.

However, it is found that it is unable to solve the severely damaged file and errors, so in this case, make use of the automatic solution.

Conclusion:

We have tried our best to provide an ample solution to fix Excel cannot open the file .xlsx in Excel 2007 or 2013. Hope that by following the given solution you are able to fix Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid error and start accessing the Excel file.

That’s it!!!