I accidentally saved an XLS file as an XML file, and now it won’t open in Excel.

Anyone got any clues on what I can do now to get the XLS file open?

Can you ‘save as’ an xls file again?

here

Excel won’t even open the xls.

Have you tried the import data from xml file option as well as directly opening the file?

If it won’t open or import I’d suggest checking the syntax of the xml file. Open it in a text editor (eg notepad) and copy/paste the text into an online xml validator. See if that flags up any errors.

have you tried simply renaming the file with the .xls file extension, Excel might be able to sort itself out automatically.

renaming has the same effect as trying to open with excel. doesn’t like it.

I’d second the XML validator route.
Strip out all the guff, might take an age to do mind..
Or…
Own up, get another copy of the file. 😉

We’ve all been there at some point. I screwed up an important file, due next day, got a strip torn out of me, took me three days to sort it.. 😆

Ohhh the days !!

I’ve just tried it with my excel – saved as .xml, closed, reopened no bother at all

reckon you may have more than just the wrong suffix going on there

? try openoffice ?

Try opening it in a text editor, then re-saving it from there. Given that you can’t even change the extension, it sounds like you’ve got a corrupt file. It might not be salvageable.