Excel File Recovery: How to Recover Deleted XLSX Files Without Effort

This page covers comprehensive solutions to help you recover deleted, lost or formatted Excel XLSX or XLS files. You can recover XLSX files from Recycle Bin, using an XLSX recovery tool, or from Windows previous versions.

How to Recover Deleted XLSX File

Did you ever think about how to recover lost .xlsx/.xls files? This is important for users that keep their work in the Microsoft Excel workbook and haven't made a backup. 

There are a variety of problems that can lead to Excel file data loss. This can happen due to power failure or file system corruption, which means, that all of your documents, including Microsoft Excel files, may not be accessed.

If your .xlsx or .xls files are lost due to any one of the above reasons, now you can find three simple Excel file recovery solutions to recover your lost files.

Method 1. Restore Deleted Excel from Recycle Bin

If you accidentally deleted your excel file - .xlsx or .xls file into Recycle Bin, you can directly undelete them from the recycle bin on your own:

Step 1. Open Recycle Bin and find deleted .xlsx or .xls files inside it.

Step 2. Right-click on lost XLSX/XLS files and select "Restore". Then the deleted .xlsx or .xls file will be restored to the original location on your PC.

Method 2. Use Excel File Recovery Software to Recover XLSX File

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one of the best Microsoft Office file recovery software for recovering deleted or lost Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

This professional MS Office Excel file recovery tool has the following salient features.

• Restore lost XLSX/XLS file due to accidental deletion, device formatting, partition loss, etc.
• Recover corrupted Excel files in XLSX/XLS formats
• Restore Excel data including table, chart, formula, chart sheet, and more
• Real-time preview of recovered Excel file
• Supports MS Excel 2019/2016/2013/2010/2007/2003/XP/2000/97/95 versions

Free download this XLSX recovery tool and follow the step-by-step guides to perform Excel file recovery. The process for recovering lost Word document is the same.

Step 1. Select location and click "Scan"

Choose the drive or a specific folder on Desktop or somewhere else where you lost the excel files, and click the "Search for Lost Data" button.

Step 2. Locate your excel files

To quickly find the Excel files from the scan results, click the "Documents" option in the left panel. Choose "xls" or "xlsx", and click "Preview" to check if the Excel files are the wanted ones.

Step 3. Recover Excel files

Finally, select the desired Excel files and click the "Recover" button. Then, select a folder to save the Excel files to another location in your local drive or cloud storage.

Method 3. Recover Deleted XLSX File from Previous Versions

If you don't like using the third-party XLS file recovery software, you can try another way to recover deleted XLSX file in Windows 10 with File History.

Previous versions come from File History or from restore points, you need to enable the file backup function in advance.

Step 1. Right-click on the folder that contained the deleted XLSX/XLS file.

Step 2. Choose "Restore previous versions". Choose the correct version from the list.

Step 3. Click "Restore" to recover XLSX file at any location on the system.

What's the Best Way to Recover Deleted XLSX File

To sump up, you can learn three ways to recover Excel XLS or XLSX file:

• Restore deleted Excel from Recycle Bin if you haven't emptied the files
• Recover lost or permanently deleted Excel file with EaseUS Excel recovery software
• Retrieve XLSX files from previous versions if you have Enable Windows File History

Among the three solutions, the Excel file recovery tool is strongly recommended. EaseUS EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can recover lost or deleted photos, videos, audios, documents, emails, and other files in complex data loss situations. It can recover permanently lost files at a high recovery rate.

Useful Tips to Prevent Excel Data Loss

To prevent the Excel file loss issue from happening again, here are some recommended tips that may be helpful:

1. Turn on the AutoRecover feature to automatically save Excel: 

• Open an Excel file, click File at the left top corner > Options.
• In the Save category, check Save AutoRecover information every box under Save workbooks, and enter a number of minutes of how frequently you want to save Excel automatically.
• In the AutoRecover file location box, enter the location where you want to save the recovery file.
• Uncheck Disable AutoRecover for this workbook only box.

2. Backup Excel regularly

It also matters a lot if you have created an Excel file backup when an accident or error occurs.

3. Turn to the right solution to different Excel loss issues.

If you are facing Excel file deletion, relax. Scroll up and take those methods on this page to resolve most Excel .xlsx or .xls file recovery.