Can I extract data from a severely corrupt excel file

Hi,
I was changing out hard drives and operating systems and discovered my excel file will not open. Can anyone suggest something that could allow me to recover the data (all text, no formulae)? Thank you in advance for your time.

File originally created with Excel 2000, then upgraded to Excel 2010 and re-saved the file as a .xslx file.

Here is the "error message" when trying to open: "Excel cannot open the file 'maint_log.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file."

Here is what I have tried:

opening with WordPad (result: a bunch of gibberish)
opening in office online (would not open...corrupt)
opening in open office
opening in google sheets
Excel open and repair
changing file extension to .xls
creating new workbook and referencing columns/cells/etc. (problem with reference)
looking under "...\AppData\...\UnsavedFiles" (nothing in the folder)
opening excel in Safe mode
extracting contents (all unreadable)
stellar Excel Repair (would not produce preview, chat confirmed it is unrecoverable with software)
DataNumen Excel Repair

Have you tried right clicking on the file name, then selecting "Restore Previous Versions" ?

There are no previous versions available.

The attached file is not an Excel file. It's a PNG image.

Artik

Huh ! ???????????????????

This blows me away. Somehow, my maintenance spreadsheet was replaced by an image file (i was actually looking at images of replacing an in-tank fuel filter, which this file is one of). Weird, but great find! I have no idea how to find my excel file as there is no backup file.

Hi paintgauge,

If none of the methods are working in this case while repairing the file, you can try to extract data from the corrupted file through Macros.
Follow the steps given below for the same:

1. Open Excel, but don't open the corrupted workbook.
2. Set the calculation mode to Manual.
3. Choose Macro from the Tools menu, select Security, and choose the High option.
4. Open the corrupted workbook. If Excel opens the workbook, you'll see a notice that the macros are disabled. If Excel shuts down, this method won't work.
5. Press [Alt]+[F11] to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
6. Using the Project Explorer (press [Ctrl]+R), right-click a module, and choose Export File.
7. Enter a name and folder for the module.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 as many times as necessary to export all the modules.
9. Close the VBE and exit Excel.
10. Open a new blank workbook (or the newly constructed workbook that contains recovered data from the corrupted workbook) and import the modules

Thanks,
Cheryl