Excel files in Time Machine are corrupt

Question

Excel files in Time Machine are corrupt

None of the Excel files in my Time Machine backups will open. I get a message box: "Excel could not open [file name] because some content is unreadable. Do you want to open and repair this workbook?" Then, if I click "open and repair", the message box reads: "the workbook cannot be opened or repaired by Microsoft Excel because it is corrupt."

My Word files in backup will open normally.

I would appreciate some assistance in troubleshooting this. Many thanks!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

Posted on Nov 27, 2015 10:41 AM

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Answer 1

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rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Nov 27, 2015 11:27 AM in response to paul_springfield

Paul,

You post sounds like you are attempting to locate a file in Time Machine and launch it while still in Time Machine. If that is correct, your work flow will not work. Time Machine is a backup and restore system. If you have an Excel file to restore then use Time Machine to do so and then double click it and it will open in Excel. This assumes your copy of Excel is working okay otherwise and is up-to-date.

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Answer 2

Dec 1, 2015 9:45 AM in response to paul_springfield

Thanks. This helped me understand how to work better with Time Machine. I get it now.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Dec 1, 2015 9:50 AM in response to paul_springfield

Your welcome!

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