How to Restore ‘Errors Detected While Saving Excel’ on Windows 10

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Excel is a spreadsheet application used to manage large amounts of numerical data. In addition to managing numbers, Excel allows us to create charts, graphs, formulas, pivot tables, etc., and store our data in many different formats. However, there are times when we encounter problems during the process of creating, editing, or saving an Excel document. If you find yourself facing one of these issues, follow the instructions below to solve the issue.

What are the reasons for ‘errors detected while saving excel’?

Various technical problems can cause errors in your Excel 2020 / 2021. In general, these are temporary inconveniences rather than apocalyptic errors. They can range from Excel errors to network or antivirus problems. Here are some of the main reasons most Excel users encounter them.

• There is the problem of version incompatibility.
• Excel problems when working with large files.
• The case of large images and other Excel file properties.
• Windows Server tweaking.
• The file-sharing property itself is a problem.
• The use of storage media infected by a virus, such as flash drives and external drives.
• Incorrect system shutdown.
• System error.
• A problem with the hard disk drive.

Once the cause of the error is figured out, it’s time to get to the root of the problem. Read on for some simple solutions to fix your Excel error.

How to repair errors detected while saving excel?

Save the Excel file and discard the changes

When you try to save an Excel workbook with unsaved changes, it may give you error messages like “Excel cannot open the file ‘filename’ because there are problems with the format.” Or, “The file could not be opened because there are problems with its contents.” These errors indicate that the file you’re working on needs repair.

In some cases, you can simply save the file again without making any changes to the existing data. This method works most often when you’ve accidentally added columns or rows to the wrong sheet. If you’re just editing one cell, however, you might want to consider discarding the changes and starting over.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook where you’ve encountered the error.

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Check the box next to “Discard All Unsaved Changes.”



Create a new Excel document and save the data there

When you make a change to a workbook, there are several ways to keep track of those changes. One way is to use the Copy command to move the data to another location. Another option is to save the workbook and name it something different simply. If you do not want to lose the original version, you can quickly restore it later by copying the old one over the new one.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbook where you want to store the backup copies.

2. Select all the cells in the workbook.

3. Press Ctrl+C.

4. Paste the copied information into a new Excel document.

Repair the corrupted workbook

If you have an infected worksheet on its opening, Microsoft Office Excel automatically launches the File Recovery mode. This feature allows you to access the corrupted workbook without losing the data. In case you are unable to repair the corrupted workbook, here we present you a step-by-step guide to do it manually.

1. Start MS Excel

2. Select the corrupted workbook from the list of opened files

3. Press Ctrl+O key combination on the keyboard to open the file

4. Now, press the F1 key combination on the keyboard to launch the File recovery window

5. On the File recovery window, choose the option “Repair.”

6. A dialog box will pop up asking whether you want to continue or cancel the process. Confirm the action and click OK to proceed further.

Edit the corrupted workbook with WordPad or Word

When opening a corrupted Excel spreadsheet in Microsoft Office 2010 — even in Excel 2007 — you are presented with a dialog box asking whether you want to open the file or save it. If you choose “open,” you’re prompted to select where you’d like to save the file. But what happens if you don’t know where the original file resides? What if you’ve lost access to the original file? Or worse, what if you accidentally deleted the original file? In such cases, you’ll likely end up saving the corrupted workbook to the exact location as the original file. This could lead to severe problems down the road. Here’s how to fix it.

1. On the General tab, under Miscellaneous, make sure that the option “Always use the most recent version of the file format” is selected.

2. Close the options window.

3. Select the correct file format and name for the new file.

4. Click OK.

The hotfix package must be installed

1. Download the third-party hot fix tool.

2. Double-click the downloaded file to start the installer.

3. Select Yes to agree to the terms and conditions.

4. Click Next to continue.

5. Enter the product key found inside the folder where the software was saved.

6. Click Finish to begin the process.

7. Once finished, restart your computer.

Remove any Visual Basic for applications from your computer

Microsoft recently added a useful feature to help you clean up your PC. If you’re having trouble deleting macros or code from your documents, it might be because there are still some leftovers in the system. To make sure everything gets cleaned out, follow these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.

2. In the opened window, select the View tab.

3. Under Hidden files and folders, check Show hidden items.

4. Select OK.

5. Now, open the folder where you want to delete the unwanted stuff.

You can save the file as a different Excel format

To fix this issue, you must save the file as a new file type. This will prevent Excel from opening the original file again. If you want to open it again, you can use the following steps.

1. Click the File menu button and select Open.

2. Choose the location where you saved the file and click OK.

3. You can now open the file without getting the error messages.

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