How to Use S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel (formerly Excel Recovery)

S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel — Complete Guide (formerly Excel Recovery)S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel (formerly Excel Recovery) is a specialized software suite designed to repair, recover, and restore damaged or corrupted Microsoft Excel files (.xls, .xlsx, .xlsm and related formats). This complete guide explains what the tool does, when you should use it, how it works, step-by-step instructions for common recovery scenarios, tips to maximize recovery success, limitations, and alternatives.

What S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel does

S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel provides functionality to:

• Repair corrupted Excel files that won’t open or display errors.
• Recover lost worksheets, formulas, formatting, and cell values from damaged workbooks.
• Extract data from partially corrupted files when full repair isn’t possible.
• Support multiple Excel file formats, including .xls, .xlsx, and macro-enabled files (.xlsm).
• Preview recoverable content before saving to help you verify results.

When to use S2 Recovery Tools

Use S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel when you encounter any of the following situations:

• Excel reports file corruption errors on open (e.g., “Excel found unreadable content”).
• Files open but contain missing data, garbled text, or broken formulas.
• Files were damaged by system crashes, sudden power loss, virus activity, or moving files between storage media.
• Recovery from older Excel formats or partially overwritten files is necessary.
• You need to extract specific tables or ranges from a corrupted workbook.

How S2 Recovery Tools works (technical overview)

S2 Recovery Tools uses a combination of file-structure analysis and content-level extraction:

• It scans the file container (ZIP structure for .xlsx/.xlsm or BIFF structure for .xls) to locate intact parts such as shared strings, worksheets, styles, and workbook metadata.
• For ZIP-based formats (.xlsx/.xlsm), the tool examines individual XML parts (e.g., workbook.xml, sheetN.xml, sharedStrings.xml) and attempts to reconstruct them when fragments are intact.
• For legacy BIFF (.xls), it parses binary records and rebuilds worksheets by reassembling rows, cells, and formula records.
• Heuristics identify and skip malformed segments that prevent Excel from opening the file, extracting salvageable content rather than failing the whole process.
• A preview stage lets users inspect recovered values, formulas, and formatting before saving an output file.

Step-by-step: Recover a corrupted .xlsx file

1. Install and launch S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel.
2. Click “Open” (or “Select File”) and locate the corrupted .xlsx file.
3. Choose recovery mode: “Quick Scan” for minor corruption, “Deep Scan” for serious damage.
4. Wait for the scan to complete; progress indicators show scanned parts.
5. In the preview pane, inspect recovered sheets, tables, and cell contents.
6. Select the items you want to restore (entire workbook or specific sheets/ranges).
7. Click “Save Recovered File” and choose a new filename and location to avoid overwriting the original.
8. Open the recovered file in Excel and verify formulas, formatting, and links.

Common recovery scenarios and tips

• If formulas are missing but values remain, export recovered sheets to CSV to preserve data, then reapply formulas manually or via Excel’s intelligent fill.
• For macro-enabled workbooks (.xlsm) that lose macros, try extracting the VBA project separately if the tool supports it, or import .bas/.cls files into a new workbook’s VBA editor.
• When only specific worksheets are needed, use the preview to extract just those sheets to reduce the chance of reintroducing corrupt elements.
• If Excel still refuses to open the recovered file, try importing the data into a new blank workbook via Data > Get Data > From File > From Workbook (Power Query).
• Always save recovered files to a different drive than the original if hardware failure is suspected.

Maximizing recovery success

• Work on copies — never attempt recovery directly on the only existing original file.
• Use “Deep Scan” when initial scans fail; it takes longer but can reconstruct more complex corruption.
• Keep multiple backups and enable Excel’s AutoRecover and Version History (OneDrive/SharePoint) to reduce future reliance on recovery tools.
• If corruption occurred after a software update or plugin installation, try disabling third-party add-ins and opening Excel in Safe Mode (excel /safe).

Limitations and what may not be recovered

• Completely overwritten data or files truncated during saving can be impossible to reconstruct.
• Some complex formatting, charts, embedded OLE objects, and VBA macros may be partially lost.
• Password-protected workbooks: if you don’t have the password, S2 Recovery Tools may not be able to access encrypted content.
• Logical errors (e.g., incorrect formulas that produced wrong results before corruption) cannot be fixed by a recovery tool — they must be corrected manually.

Alternatives and complementary tools

• Excel’s built-in “Open and Repair” (File > Open > select file > Open dropdown > Open and Repair).
• Power Query and Excel’s import features to extract data from corrupt files.
• Other third-party recovery suites with strong track records for Office file repairs.
• Backup/versioning solutions (OneDrive, SharePoint, enterprise backup) to restore prior versions without using repair tools.

Pricing, licensing, and support (general notes)

Pricing models vary by vendor; S2 Recovery Tools is typically offered as a paid product with a trial version that allows previewing recoverable content before purchase. Enterprise licensing and support options may be available for organizations with many users or large-scale data recovery needs.

Final checklist before you start recovery

• Create a copy of the corrupted file and work from that copy.
• Note the Excel version and file format (.xls vs .xlsx/.xlsm).
• Disable syncing services (OneDrive/Dropbox) while recovering to prevent conflicts.
• If possible, check disk health (chkdsk or disk utility) before moving files to new storage.

S2 Recovery Tools for Microsoft Excel can be a powerful way to salvage data from damaged workbooks. While no recovery tool can guarantee full restoration in every case, following best practices above increases chances of a successful recovery.