I don't know of anyone who can tell if the file is corrupted -- or close to
corruption.

OpenOffice has opened many files that excel couldn't and may remove the
corruption--I don't know for sure.

Good luck.

> Dean wrote:
>
> Indeed some good advice is not profound. I should have said it was not that
> helpful. Behind door #1, I have a repaired file that EXCEL says may not have
> been fully repaired, and it has lost all cell formatting. Behind door #2 is a
> file that was last saved 7 minutes before the 'file crash' - I also have daily
> backups as the file evolved. Numerically, they both seem to be identical in
> every way, something that is next to impossible a cell was compromised, so I
> feel reasonably comfortable that the only remaining corruption may be in the
> formatting. Still, if I am wrong, the results would be disastrous.
>
> I do backup very often but, when a file becomes corrupted, rather than EXCEL
> crashing, how can you ascertain what the real source of the corruption is,
> especially when the repaired file says it may not have been able to fix all
> the corruption. How do you then know whether a prior file version was (and
> is) already close to corruption. It is not enough to know that a revised file
> is not crashing. I need to feel comfortable that it is producing the intended
> results, as programmed.
>
> If I conclude that the corruption is in the formatting only, I guess door #2
> is the best choice as I only need to redo 7 minutes of formatting, as opposed
> to door #1, which might involve days of formatting.
>
> The questions I am left with are:
>
> Are both files likely corrupted, in which case I may need to rebuild from
> scratch, but then is there something I must avoid to guard against the same
> eventual outcome? I fear that, although the event happened at a specific
> point in time, it may have been merely a straw that broke the camel's back
> and, hence, is likely to return, if I just pick up with a 7- minute old
> version. I was looking for guidance on all this. I have had this happen in
> the past, albeit in much earlier versions of EXCEL that did not purport to
> self-repair. Though one can never be sure, it is my strong belief that, after
> days of re-doing formats, those files never seemed to fail again. This almost
> suggests that corruption in EXCEL has a certain random component and is often
> limited to cosmetics.
>
> Basically, I was looking for insight from anyone who has some expertise in
> EXCEL file corruption.
>
> I would appreciate any advice.
>
> Thanks for your help, Dave. I didn't mean to offend you. I did not
> communicate my needs well enough.
>
> Dean
>
> "Dave Peterson" <petersod@verizonXSPAM.net> wrote in message
> news:4408ADFE.71714DEF@verizonXSPAM.net...
> >I would think that the only person who could decide which version to use is
> > you. But I may be wrong.
> >
> > My feeling is that any excel file, in fact, any file is subject to
> > corruption/deletion. Personally, I don't have much experience with excel
> files
> > greater than 20 meg and they were stable. The one file that was troublesome
> was
> > about 1-2 meg.
> >
> > Another not so profound statement--backup, backup, backup.
> >
> > Just because statements aren't profound, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be
> > followed.
> >
> > Dean wrote:
> >>
> >> Thanks for responding so quickly. Actually, I had already done what you
> >> suggested and also posted again. Though your advice is appreciated, it is
> >> not very profound.
> >>
> >> Kindly read my follow-up post and let me know what you may know about how
> >> random (or predictable) future file crashes are (for the prior saved
> >> version), after you've had one (on a slightly updated version of the same
> >> file).
> >>
> >> I notice that the repaired file, which is totally devoid of formatting is
> >> about 8MBs, whereas the prior file was about 9MBs.
> >>
> >> At what size are EXCEL files considered potentially unstable?
> >>
> >> Are there experts on this subject who don't work at Microsoft?
> >>
> >> Thanks much!
> >> Dean
> >>
> >> "Dave Peterson" <petersod@verizonXSPAM.net> wrote in message
> >> news:44088ED2.1F88E27@verizonXSPAM.net...
> >> > Save them both as different names.
> >> >
> >> > Then look at them to see which one you want to keep.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >> Dean wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> My EXCEL crashed and when it recovered, in addition to an original, it
> >> >> offered
> >> >> me a 7 minute old version and a pretty current "repaired" version.
> >> >>
> >> >> When it crashed, I was in the midst of mostly inserting and revising
> cell
> >> >> comments and miscellaneous formatting stuff. I wonder which is the
> >> >> better
> >> >> file to use going forward. Is there anyway to find out what the repair
> >> >> was,
> >> >> which might help me to decide?
> >> >>
> >> >> This is a monster file I have been developing for months!
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks!
> >> >> Dean
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> >
> >> > Dave Peterson
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dave Peterson

--

Dave Peterson