MS Excel lets you create charts and workbooks which you can use for different purposes. MS Excel also offers different types of mathematical formulas and functions, which you can use for making calculations. In Excel 2003 or its earlier versions, files are saved in binary format, while the later versions like Excel 2007 uses Office open XML-based format.

Let us consider you have created a MS Excel 2007 file in .xlsx format and publish it to Excel Services. If you will use any browser to access the same file, you will get the following error message:

“Unable to Load Workbook

The workbook that you selected cannot be opened.
The workbook may be in an unsupported file format, or it may be corrupt.
Would you like to try and open this file in Excel?”

Reasons responsible for this error:

This error occurs if caret operator is used by you in the cells of workbook and you have inserted a space in the front. Corrupted workbooks are also responsible for such behaviors. Corruption of Excel workbook can occur due to various reasons like network issues, virus attack, application malfunctioning, unexpected system shutdown etc. Due to corruption, Excel files could not be accessed and you will have to face abrupt behavior.

How to fix “the workbook that you selected cannot be opened” excel error:

If you are getting the error due to incorrect use of space in the front of carat operator, you should remove the unwanted space. Also try to save the Excel file in non-XML binary format and republish it to the server. You may also get this error due to file corruption issues. If file corruption is the cause you should open the Excel file by using ‘Open and Repair’ feature and try to save the file in a different format. These methods will surely help you fix Corrupted Xls File.

          

However, if the aforesaid methods are unable to resolve ‘the workbook that you selected cannot be opened’ Excel error, you can take the help of third-party Excel repair tools . These third-party tools support all types of Excel versions like 2000, 2002, 2003, XP and 2007. They are non-destructive in nature and ensure safe recovery of Excel objects like macros, tables, images, hyperlinks and more. Moreover, these applications are built with extremely interactive and user-friendly interface which allows even a non-technical user to easily operate it.