- The “Recovering data” error is more common than we would like and, although it can respond to various circumstances, it almost always has to do with damaged or corrupted files of Excel
- There are some tricks that you should try, because surely some will solve the matter
Office does not usually have major bugs, and it is that we have been interacting with the Microsoft office suite for years and, in general, the experience is fluid and stable. However, like any program, those that are part of it may show some alteration. In most cases, the good news is that there is a way out of it. Precisely, this time we show you what is the solution to the error “Retrieving data” in Excel.
We are talking about those specific situations where when you try to copy some data from Excel, it shows a message indicating that the application is “Retrieving data” and does not go from there.
What is the Excel Data Recovery error about?
The Excel Data Retrieval error tends to be present in the Excel Web App, specifically when the user tries to copy data from their spreadsheet to paste it elsewhere. When executing the Paste function on the destination, instead of actually pasting the data the message “Recovering data” appears and there it remains.
There is no doubt that it is a bug that can be very frustrating on a day-to-day basis, especially since we use Excel for things like study or work, and not being able to export data in this simple way wastes time.
Fortunately, there are some tricks that you should try because one of them will surely fix the issue.
And how to solve it step by step?
As always, we are going to recommend that you follow the steps as indicated in the following lines.
Try copy and paste again
The first thing is to try copy and paste again. Sometimes it is an anomaly that is fixed as it occurred. We mean, without an apparent explanation. This may have to do with a somewhat low RAM memory, difficult to cope with the demand of executions like this. If the error persists, move on.
Switch to a different browser
Since you are working from a browser, regardless of which one it is, failures directly related to it cannot be ruled out. The way to tell if it has something to do with it is to switch to a different browser. It will only take you a few seconds. So you will find out if you can copy and paste the data without problems or not.
Use the desktop app
Problems associated with the Excel Web App accessing data copied from a spreadsheet can be resolved by opening the spreadsheet in the desktop app, if it is available. Do the following:
- Open the file you want to copy data from in the Excel web app
- In the upper right corner, click Edit
- Select Open in desktop app
- The Excel desktop app will start and open the file.
- Once the file is open in the desktop app, try to copy and paste again
Download the spreadsheet and edit it locally
Another potential fix for this mess is to download the spreadsheet -with all its data- and edit it locally. Since the system will no longer be copying the data from the Internet but from your computer, it should not crash now.
- Open the file you want to copy data from in the Excel web app
- Click on the File menu
- In the menu on the left, select Save As and choose Download a copy
- Once the file is downloaded, locate it on your PC and open it in the desktop version of Excel
- Once the file is open in the desktop app, try to copy and paste again
Additional Excel Tips and Tricks
With a bit of luck, surely one of the above suggestions will have been helpful in giving you a hand. This Data Recovery error is more common than we’d like, and while it can respond to a variety of circumstances, it almost always has to do with damaged or corrupt files in the version of Excel you’re running.
That said, if you’re a little short on time and the data you have to copy isn’t too extensive, you can manually enter the information so you can spend another time figuring out what was going on with the office suite.
Otherwise, Excel has many other interesting features that can be useful in various contexts. Remember that we have a free online course in which you will find all kinds of tutorials to make the most of it.
