I have an excel file which includes multiple tabs. In each tab, there are functions, vlookups and figures, etc. The file suddenly closed and attempts to open it was not successful.
I am using Microsoft 365.
The error message that I receive when trying to open the file:
"There are one or more circular references where a formula refers to its own cell either directly or indirectly. This might cause the to calculate incorrectly. Try removing or changing these references, or moving the formulas to different cells."
What I have tried so far:
Repair office.
Checking if the file opens on another computer: it did not open.
In new excel file: go to file/options/formulas/circulation options/select to manual. The go to target file, open using "open and repair" option. Select extract data. Select recover formulas.
I really appreciate any help
First, that's really frustrating (I know, I've been there). Second, what often works is to disable Excel's automatic formula checking temporarily. Open a blank file in Excel. Then go to File -> Options -> Formulas -> Calculation options -> then switch it from automatic to manual. That should stop Excel from checking for the error and hence from preventing you from opening your file.
Related
I recently created an automated Excel utility (using Microsoft Office 2019), in which I've extensively used data validations, VBA code, named ranges and formatting. It was working well until one day I received an Excel prompt message that read:
When I click on Yes, it gives me another pop-up where it says it recovered the file, and also gives me a link to the error log XML file. I click on it and open the .xml file using my default browser, and it shows the following details:
Looks like it is removing data validations from a particular sheet, and I realize that is true when I navigate to that sheet in the UI. To work around this unwarranted and repeated data-validation removal that Excel application is enforcing, I created a macro code that will re-instate all these data validations as required. The real problem arises when this Excel file is opened on a different computer with Microsoft Office 365. Looks like it is removing not just data-validations but also other components like named ranges and buttons. There could be other things that it might be removing, which I am unaware of at the moment. So the macro created to re-instate the data-validations is no longer useful.
Why does this problem arise? And why is different version of Excel behaving differently? How do I solve this? Appreciate your kind help. Thank you!
As rightly suggested by Ron Rosenfeld and e_conomics, the issue was with the data validation lists, whose sources were strings of comma separated values that were going beyond 255 characters. Apparently, that is a limitation with Excel.
When I replaced the sources of data validation lists (string of comma separated values) with the ranges containing the corresponding values, the problem resolved itself. The repair dialogue never appeared again.
I am getting an error when opening excel: We found a problem with some content in XXX. Do you want us to try and recover as much as we can? if you trust he source of this workbook, click Yes."
clicking Yes, "fixes" the issue but deletes a lot of VBA code, two weeks worth.
Whatever the issue it was introduced yesterday, I do not want to redo two weeks worth of coding. Is there anyway I can view what was removed, or open the VBA in notepad++ or something without opening the excel?
I opened another excel workbook and tried all the different options for the argument XlCorruptLoad in the Workbooks.Open to open the corrupt workbook. I noticed that there were two non existing sheets created in the project explroer of the corrupt workbook that had the code in there. I am not sure if it did that s a result of what I did or it was there all along and I did not notice it
Note that the reason I had a corrupted data is because the code was extracting a list and putting it in a cell validation formula..i guess I overloaded it.
The problem
I have eight Excel documents that are stored on a Sharepoint site. One of those documents (“receiving file”) contains formulas/cell references to the other seven documents (“source files”) on Sharepoint.
Everything works when the references are created.
Once the workbooks are saved and closed and then reopened, the receiving file no longer updates the values from the source files.
The files are synced in Windows Explorer and opened in the desktop version of Excel. Also, all eight files are opened at the same time.
The reference will first look something like this
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
After closing and reopening, the references will look like this
='https://somecompanyname.sharepoint.com/sites/SitefortestingExcelreferences/Shared Documents/[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
If I now change a value in the source value, the change will not appear in the receiving file.
What I tried so far
Setting “Calculation” to “Automatic.
Click “Calculate Now” and “Calculate Sheet”.
Double-click into the cell with the reference and hit enter.
In “Data > Queries & Connections” click “Refresh all”
In “Data > Queries & Connections > Edit Link” I clicked on update values. It did not help. However, I tried to rebuild a simple system with just two files and a single reference, and here it did work
Starting from point 5) I programmed a little macro that updates all links in all open workbooks (it did not help either):
Option Explicit
Sub UpdateAllConnections()
Dim wbWorkbook As Workbook
For Each wbWorkbook In Application.Workbooks
wbWorkbook.UpdateLink Name:=wbWorkbook.LinkSources, Type:=xlExcelLinks
Next wbWorkbook
MsgBox "Update complete.", vbInformation, "Complete"
End Sub
If I remove the path to SharePoint, so the formula looks like this
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
It works again (until I save and reopen).
I found the following on Microsoft Answers (about OneDrive but it's probably the same issue):
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/excel-value-links-not-updating-on-onedrive/e48a7680-71e6-4a77-9eb1-e03ec7f0e3e0
I contacted the official O365 support desk and they told me this is built into the connection between Excel and OneDrive.
They have received thousands of complaints and there is no fix for it.
No option to tell Excel/Office/OneDrive to link to local copies of files on 1D by default.
No fix is planned as this is not how MS envisions how Excel/1D should be used.
My question
Any suggestions? Are there any tools in Excel that can be used to update the linked cells automatically or manually? Might SharePoint settings prevent the update?
If not, since removing the file path to SharePoint seems to work is there a way (using VBA) to remove the full file path from all cell references, so
='https://somecompanyname.sharepoint.com/sites/SitefortestingExcelreferences/Shared Documents/[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
becomes
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
I could probably loop through all cells and simply replace the path with nothing, but that would only work if I know the file path beforehand and if all the files are stored in the same SharePoint folder.
I had the same issue and here is my workaround: I can open the source file on the Sharepoint site by clicking ... and then Open in App (as opposed to Open in Browser) The referecence cell in the receiving file will become ='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1 again and get automatically updated.
My workaround would be to consolidate external links onto a single sheet, and manually or use a macro to copy / hard paste to another identical page that you use for the links.
Just run the macro when you have the workbook open on your desktop to update the values.
Even simpler, you could also have a sort of database with linked values in a column and hard copies pasted into another column. This would be simpler than two identically sized sheets.
BUT, you could also go crazy and have named ranges like quarterly_total_formula and an analogue somewhere else called quarterly_total_valueonly and then write a macro to iterate over each with a for each looking for things "LIKE" *_formula and hard paste each result into the complementary *_valueonly spot... but then you'd need a macro to check that they were all paired... and by that point you might as well not waste your time in Excel and develop in Power BI, Tableau, RMarkdown, or heck learn Adobe Illustrator or work directly in HTML.
I realised I was working on a csv file in excel 2013 and inserting some formulas in this csv file columns.
After I saved and came back to it, the changed values persist but the formulas do not show anymore and I need to recover these.
Is there a way? Does excel maintain formulas after it is saved and file is closed and re-opened?
is there any way I can get it back?
Probably not but you can check at: File → Open → .
That should have given you a warning by default, but if not you can enable the warning in:
<kbd>File</kbd></sup> → <sup><kbd>Options</kbd></sup> → <sup><kbd>Save</kbd></sup> : <sub>![dataloss msg][2]</sub>
Yes...
It may be possible. If it is Office 2010. Try this:
Open your excel
Go to File
Go to Manage Versions
Click Recover Unsaved Worksheets
Put your computer username in the following blank region.
C:\Users\ ______\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel
Copy the above address then
Paste in the address bar
Select the appropriate folder and see the file
Thanks
I am using Excel 2010 and am having difficulty with one old workbook created in Excel 2003. Lots of symptoms to report!
No other workbooks are giving me this problem. This problem file usually causes "MS Excel - (workbook name.xls) [Compatibility Mode] (Not responding) and a blank screen apart from the task bar and this Excel message on a single line across the top of the screen. Waiting doesn't solve the problem. If I close Excel and choose the "Close program" option, it sometimes shows me the file as I remember it for a couple of seconds, then the program closes. Re-opening the file just gives the same behaviour again. During the first few seconds of loading, I can see the message "Contacting server for information" at the bottom of the Excel screen.
In Task Manager I can find EXCEL.EXE *32 running. I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.
This is a file I use regularly in projects as a specialised calculator, and so I re-copy it each time and save it to save the calculation records in the project file. I've found that versions of the workbook created even several years ago and have given no trouble until now all suffer this problem, so it looks like a problem with Excel 2010. This is the first time I've tried to open these files since migrating from a Win XP computer running Excel 2003.
Please can anyone help me to open the file and to resolve the problem?
Thanks
There might be a calculation or a marcro activated on start up that messes things up.
Try the following:
Open the Excel application, with a blank workbook. Set calculation to manual. Now look up your Macro settings and set these to "disable with notifications".
With these things set, open your misbehaving workbook again and see what happens now. Dont let the macros (if any) start yet! Open the VBA Editor window and check for a script in Workbook called Workbook_Open. If that is present check its content or put a break in and debug it.
Let us know what you find, if any.
UPDATE:
It sounds like there is a database link to an external source that is trying to refresh on startup but isnt working correctly (anymore). I now remember likewise behaviour when I had an Excel workbook with tons of SQL queries in it that (in case of showing a complete table or view by applying SELECT * FROM ...) could overlap other data and that would create autoshutdowns for me. Change the option in the Trust Center for External Content to Disable when you open this workbook and let us know!
I have a client with the same issue. The problem was resolved by removing all the logo's (Images) from the sheet. It appears that the logo contains a link to some web site. I copied the logo into paint and copied it back.
Problem Solved!
It appears that an object placed in the sheet can have its own links embedded in it???
I hope this helps!