Microsoft Excel file open error " Not a valid single file web page"

[Whelan]

When opening an excel file, I get an error message filename.xls is not a valid single web file page. The file came from an e-mail from which I am able to open it. However, after saving the file to My Documents, I cannot open it. Does anyone know of a way to open this file? Thanks for any help

[Panop]

I found a work around by making a copy of the file and changing the file extension to .mht. After doing so, it should open in your browser when you try to open it. From there, you can save it as a .txt file which you could then import into Excel using the text import wizard. Depending on how much formatting the original file had, this should work if it was text and minimal.

[mesterio]

If the Excel attempts to open a file that is not an excel file then it tries to guess what kind of file it is. Most of the time it guesses wrong. So try to go to Tools > Options > General and tick mark "Confirm conversion at Open". After ticking this box you can try to open a file which is not an Excel file. Excel wont try to guess what type of file it is but you will get a list of file typse from which you can select.

[Solomon]

Try to save the Excel file in Web Page format and check if that works. Incase it doesnt reset the Internet Explorer's web settings by then try to run the Fix it from this link and see if that works - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737. Usually the reset internet explorer settings feature deletes temporary internet files and cookies and will also clear the browsing history, saved form data, etc.