Excel freezes opening a specific file, excel online can open the file.. what to do?

Hi all,

I have an excel file which could not be opened anymore from one day to next. The loading bar usually stops at ~80% and then excel freezes and is not responding anymore (according to task manager). CPU workload and memory usage are both below 15%, respectively.
Using excel online, the file can be opened. If I save the file in excel online as ODS, the file can be opened with excel desktop. However, as soon as I save the file as xlsx or xlsb, it cannot be opened anymore.
I checked and the file does not contain any links or broken name formulas.


I am using excel 2016 (64 bit). The file size is ~22mb as xlsx and ~5mb as ods.


Any suggestions from your side?

Thanks!

ps: due to sensitive corporate information, I cannot post the file here.

pps: The same question was posted on mrexcel.com

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