If you have enabled the autosave feature in advance, you can safely use this method to eliminate the error “Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid”. Use Excel previous version to open the file You need to directly change the file extension depending on the version of Excel installed.Ĭheck if the error “Excel cannot open the file” is resolved. Then select Options -> Export -> Change File Type. Open Excel and, on the taskbar, select File. Therefore, all you need is to modify the file format and it will become available. But Excel since 2007 saves files in the XLSX format.Ī mismatch between file extension and Excel version may cause the error “Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid”. In all versions of Excel until 2007, documents were saved in the XLS format. If you still get an error message that Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid, there are some great methods to fix it! Method 1.Change the file extension! The document was edited several times in different versions of Excel.The document is damaged or incompatible with the current version of Excel.This may occur for the following reasons: While working with Excel, you may see the message: Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid.
