XL: Linking to Data in a Damaged File (5.0 and Later)

ID: Q147216

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, versions 5.0 and later, you may be able to extract the values from a damaged file by using external references to link to the file.


MORE INFORMATION

To extract the values from a damaged file, use either of the following methods.

Method 1

  1. On the File menu, click Open. Then, change the current folder to the folder that contains the damaged file, and click Cancel.


  2. If you are using Microsoft Excel 7.0, Microsoft Excel 97, or Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, click New on the File menu, click Workbook, and then click OK.

    -or-

    If you are using Microsoft Excel 5.0, click New on the File menu, and then click OK. If the New dialog is displayed, click Workbook, and then click OK.


  3. Type "=<File Name>!A1" (without the quotation marks) in cell A1 of the new workbook, where <File Name> is the name of the damaged workbook. If the Select Sheet dialog box appears, select the appropriate sheet, and click OK.


  4. Select cell A1, and on the Edit menu, click Copy. Then, select an area that is approximately the same size as the range of cells that contain data in the damaged file, and then click Paste on the Edit menu.


  5. With this range of cells still selected, click Copy on the Edit menu.


  6. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special. Select Values and click OK.


This step removes the links to the damaged file and leaves only the data.

Method 2

  1. If you are using Microsoft Excel 7.0, Microsoft Excel 97, or Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, click New on the File menu, click Workbook, and then click OK.

    -or-

    If you are using Microsoft Excel 5.0, click New on the File menu, and then click OK.


  2. Create a second new workbook by repeating step 1.


  3. In the first workbook, select cell A1. Then, click Copy on the Edit menu.


  4. Click the second workbook and select cell A1. Then, click Paste Special on the Edit menu and click Paste Link.


  5. Select cell A1 and remove the dollar signs from the formula.

    For example, if the formula bar displays the text

    "=[Book13]Sheet1!$A$1"

    (without the quotation marks), remove the dollar signs. The formula bar should display the following text:

    =[Book13]Sheet1!A1


  6. Select cell A1 and click Copy on the Edit menu.


  7. Select an area that is approximately the same size as the range of the cells that contain data in the damaged file (for example, select A1:H100), and then click Paste on the Edit menu.


  8. With this cell range selected, click Links on the Edit menu.


  9. In the Links dialog box, select the file name of the first workbook, and click Change Source. When the Change Links dialog box appears, select the damaged file and click OK. If the Select Sheet dialog box appears, click the appropriate sheet and click OK.


  10. In the Links dialog box, click OK.


  11. With the cell range still selected, click Copy on the Edit menu.


  12. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special. Select Values, and then click OK.


This removes the links to the damaged file and leaves only the data.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q142117 : Excel: Summary of Methods to Recover Data from Corrupted Files

Q75818 : XL: Linking to Data in a Damaged File (4.0 and Earlier)


REFERENCES

"Getting Results with Microsoft Excel for Windows 95," pages 45-46

"Microsoft Excel User's Guide," version 5.0, pages 159-164, 171-174, and 715-716

Additional query words: 5.00c 5.00a 8.00 97 corrupted recover link worksheet XL7 XL97 


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbtool xlloadsave 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 12, 1999