Cannot open an Excel file

I have a problem opening just one odd excel file. this is a .xlsx file, and I am using Office 2013. Office program fully up to date.
I have tried all the amateur workarounds (I have limited computer know how) inc office has been repaired.

On opening the file, there is a message to say cannot open, there is a problem. Would you like to try recovery. Try this but no go.
Second message then appears to say file either moved, deleted, or wrong format.
Realistically am I on a lost cause here?
Your comments would be welcomed - thanks

WIN10 1909 (OS Build 183.815

This may help
Repairing a corrupted workbook - Excel

Thank you so much SoFine409
that is some comprehensive info. I will have to take some time slowly trying to absorb what is written here.
I am very grateful for your help.
Thanks again
C

A question: did you create that particular file or did it come to you in some manner? If you received it there's a possibility of corruption along the way or if from another drive of yours still possible something happened to it.

Thanks for your response Berton.
I should have given more detail in the original post. This file was sent to me by a friend (he created it, and has been using excel for years).
It was sent to me to see if My setup would open it. It was showing as corrupted on his gear, whereas on mine the format issue is shown as a possibility. The file was on a portable USB external drive at his end - BUT I do know that he does use this disk on another PC. This he has done without any negative issues for a long time. Hope this clarifies the situation.
Thank
C

The Office formats changed with Office 2007, identified with the x added to the file extension. Any later suite should be able to open them. I keep LibreOffice installed, mostly because it still open Microsoft Works files that a number of clients have left over from their earlier computers that they had created recipe files in. But it also is good for verifying whether Office files can be used, only thing it doesn't include is comparable programs for Outlook and Publisher.

Your description of your friend's procedures does lend credence to the possibility of corruption, not easy to correct.

Thank you Berton,
your reference to Libre Office reminded me that I have this installed as well as Office 2013. I tried to open via Libre, and this time the program specifically confirmed that the file was corrupt.
So it appears game, set and match on this occasion.
Thanks to all for your valued help.
C

C,

Probably game, set & match as you say. But could you ask your friend if there is anything personal in the file? If not then post it here in the hope that somebody can force their way into it.
How to upload and post screenshots and files - TenForumsTutorials

If it is too personal then you can try what I would try.
1 Add .zip to its filename-extension then open it in WinZip, 7Zip or similar. This might help to recover some worksheets.

Code:

Test.xlsm

becomes

Code:

Test.xlsm.zip

and looks like this in WinZip [the sample workbook has 4 worksheets]


2 Just as a test but using a non-corrupted file, I successfully recovered sheet3 - that sheet's contents & format were all correct. So you could work on four copies - one to recover sheet1, another for sheet2, ...

3 In my sheet3 test, I deleted

Code:

sheet1.xml, sheet2.xml, sheet4.xml

and, in the rels subfolder, I deleted

Code:

sheet1.xml.rels, sheet2.xml.rels, sheet4.xml.rels

then I saved the zip file, closed WinZip and renamed

Code:

Test.xlsm.zip

back to

Code:

Test.xlsm

and Excel opened it albeit with some complaints - sheet3 was entirely correct. [A blank sheet4 was also included but was not intended for that test and was not of any use]

4 If the corruption is within a worksheet rather than the overall workbook structure, I'd expect this method to succeed with all the non-corrupted sheets. You might also be able to recover the content of the faulty worksheet but it would just be a list of cell contents without any understandable data about their original cell address. You could ask your friend if that would be any use or not - perhaps only the whole thing is any use at all.

Denis

Thank you so much Try3, for your response and time taken. In all honesty you kind response is way above my head, I am a very novice PC user.
I will do a line by line study, but have little hope of 'getting there' in the end.
Thanks again
C

C,

So does the file contain anything personal or can you post it?

Denis