A deleted Excel workbook may be available in the Recycle Bin, a cloud recycle bin or an existing backup. If no copy remains, scan the readable storage that held it and save candidates elsewhere. Opening an XLSX is only the beginning of verification: the required worksheets, formulas and supporting data must also survive.
Find a complete saved copy
In Windows Recycle Bin, search for the workbook name and inspect its original folder and deletion date. Restore the matching item, then copy it to a recovery working folder. If it was stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, check that service under the correct account. A local synchronization folder does not show every service-side deleted item.
Ask collaborators for the last copy they actually opened, and inspect sent attachments or exports. A CSV or PDF may preserve useful values but will not replace a workbook’s formulas, multiple sheets and editing structure. Keep those as partial reference copies rather than renaming them to XLSX.
If the original folder was backed up by File History, open an available historical folder and copy the workbook out. Do not replace a useful current version blindly. This requires a backup from before deletion; Microsoft’s File History instructions explain the route.
Scan the original storage when no copy is available
Reduce writes to the affected disk and choose a separate physical device for recovered output. In XRecovery, scan the identified disk or partition, inspect the former directory and document-type results, and search by name where available. Avoid very strict date filters until you have checked candidates: recovered metadata can be incomplete.
Preview supported files to identify the workbook, then export selected candidates. Keep results from different paths or scans separate even when their names match. If the file never existed as a saved workbook, switch to Excel’s unsaved-workbook workflow; a disk scan cannot invent calculations that remained only in memory.
Open the workbook without changing its recovered values
Open a copy in Excel. Leave macros and external links disabled until you understand them and trust the file. Before refreshing connections or recalculating extensively, record the visible values that matter; a live data source may change them and obscure the recovered state.
Check the sheet list, including hidden sheets when expected. Inspect important input cells, formulas rather than only their displayed results, named ranges, tables, charts and pivots relevant to the task. Confirm that external-workbook links point to the intended files. A workbook that opens with a missing sheet has only partially met the task.
When Excel reports corruption
Keep the unmodified recovery output and look for another complete candidate. Excel’s native repair route is available through File > Open > Browse, selecting the file and using the arrow beside Open > Open and Repair. Microsoft’s repair instructions distinguish repair from extracting data.
XRecovery also supports repair of listed Excel formats. Save repaired output separately and repeat the worksheet/formula checks. Extracted values can be valuable, but they should not be described as full workbook restoration when formulas or structure are missing.
For the next step, see Document Recovery: Deleted, Unsaved, Overwritten or Damaged?.