I have an excel file in which I track my family's finances. I access it
several times per day. When I started up my computer this evening and went
to open the file, it opened up empty. None of the worksheets are present.
It is identical in content to a new (i.e. freshly created) file. When I
examine the file properties, the date created suggests that it is the same
file I have been using all year. The file name is unchanged. But the file
size is only 13.5KB, the same size as any other brand new, empty excel file.

Any thoughts on what might have happened or how I recover this file?

For what it's worth, when I started up the computer this evening, it
displayed a number of inexplicable problems. The most persistent of them
was that I could not click on a single file/folder within a parent folder
without several other files/folders also automatically selecting themselves.
I don't know whether this has any bearing on the problem.

As this is a critical file, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Danny

I think I'd start looking for a file with a similar name (or modified in the
last week (or two)).

Maybe you saved the real copy to a different location.

You can use windows start button|Search to look for it.

If you were unlucky enough to overwrite the real file with a wrong (blank) file,
then unless you have a backup, your file is gone.

Any chance you've backed up to a CD/DVD/floppy?

======
It kind of sounds like your mouse or keyboard was sticking. If you ctrl-click
on another file, it adds to the selection (in windows explorer). Shift-click
will extend the range.

I'd gently tap the ctrl-keys, shift-keys, and even the mouse buttons (right,
left and wheel mouse button if you have a wheel mouse).

Danny Cazier wrote:

I have an excel file in which I track my family's finances. I access it
several times per day. When I started up my computer this evening and went
to open the file, it opened up empty. None of the worksheets are present.
It is identical in content to a new (i.e. freshly created) file. When I
examine the file properties, the date created suggests that it is the same
file I have been using all year. The file name is unchanged. But the file
size is only 13.5KB, the same size as any other brand new, empty excel file.

Any thoughts on what might have happened or how I recover this file?

For what it's worth, when I started up the computer this evening, it
displayed a number of inexplicable problems. The most persistent of them
was that I could not click on a single file/folder within a parent folder
without several other files/folders also automatically selecting themselves.
I don't know whether this has any bearing on the problem.

As this is a critical file, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Danny

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Dave Peterson