MS Excel is a popular spreadsheet application which provides you several features like macros, graphic tools, pivot tables and so on. Excel is commonly used as a widespread application for creating and managing necessary business information. People generally store excel files on external storage devices like CD or USB for moving files between different locations.

Let us consider a scenario in which you are trying to move Excel files on USB device. As you attach the USB to a Windows computer and try to view your files, you could not open the file and cannot copy xls files; it gives the following error message:

“Cannot copy .xls. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.”

Causes:

In the error, filename indicates the name of the file and .xls refers the file extension used in MS Excel 2003 and earlier Excel versions. After getting this error, you cannot copy the file. Such situations mostly occur due to corruption of Excel files. This error occurs generally if the file is not moved properly, USB device is infected by virus or the device is itself damaged. Such problems may also occur due to excel corruption caused due to system issues, ad-hoc usage and other external factors. With the occurrence of this error, you will not be in a position to perform any of your Excel operations.

How to fix cannot copy xls error:

In order to resolve the aforesaid error, you should try to open the xls file on a different computer. You can also try by using different applications for opening the Excel files. Another method which can help you in resolving this error is using the open and repair feature of MS Excel.

          

If these methods to fix the xls error fail, you can take the help of third-party Excel repair applications. These third-party Excel repair applications employ advanced techniques to repair xls files. It is capable of repairing all types of excel file components and resolving common Excel errors like cannot copy xls error in easy steps. These applications are very useful when excel file gets damaged due to hardware malfunctioning, internal program errors etc. Equipped with user-friendly, interactive and intuitive interface, these applications are extremely easy to use and as such there is no need of any prior technical knowledge for using it.