Accidently delete files from hard drive? Mistakenly remove files using Shift+Delete key or obliterate files with DOS prompt command? If the files are important for you, how to recover deleted files will be the number one question in your head.

When you deleted a file, Windows do not delete it truly, it is only marked “deleted”. However, it is not until a new file is saved to the same location on your hard drive that the previous file is truly deleted. Therefore, you still have choices to recover deleted files.

According to the different scenario you deleted your files, you can retrieve deleted files with different methods.

Case 1: Mistakenly delete files and the files are moved to recycle bin.
Solution: If the deleted files are still in the recycle bin, you are lucky. Just find the file and use “Restore” option to remove the file to its original location.

Case 2: Delete files from recycle bin; Use Shift+Delete to remove files; Obliterate files with DOS prompt command; Hard drive was virus attacked or run any software application to rub out files. 
Solution: If the files were deleted by any of the above cases, they will bypass recycle bin. If you have a system backup, things will be easier, you can use the backup to restore deleted files.

For Windows Vista user

Open the Control Panel

Click on the “Backup and Restore” Center icon

Click on the “Restore Files” button to recover files

For Windows 7 user

Click Start button and click Control Panel

Click System and Maintenance and then click “Backup and Restore”

Click “Restore my files” to restore your files

However, some of us may forget to backup, in that case, you have to rely on the third party file recovery tool.

 Card Data Recovery is the powerful file recovery software. It can recover almost all popular file type including .doc, .txt, .docx, .pdf, .xls, .ppt, .vsd, .rtf, .zip, .rar, .tmp, .mdf, .mid, .iso, etc. Once files were lost, you should recover them as soon as possible, the earlier you recover them, the more likely to get them back.

Note: Never write new files to your hard drive in case that the deleted files were overwritten.
 

Excel is Microsoft Office’s in-built spreadsheet package. Over the past 20 years, Office has become so ubiquitous that their “.xls” file format has almost become a byword for a spreadsheet. Just as Word documents are saved as “.doc”, so Excel files are saved as “.xls”

Except that hasnt been the case since the release of Office 2007. The default file type in Excel is now “.xlsx”. This is because Microsoft changed the underlying architecture of their sheets and you may notice large files are a little smaller once converted to the new file type.

Although “.xlsx” is the standard default file setting, more recent versions of Excel also offer you the “.xlsm” format. The “m” at the end indicates the presence of macros. Macros are scripts that allow Excel gurus to program their own spreadsheets. If you receive an “.xlsm” file from an Excel beginner, it is unlikely they wrote the code themselves, so it is important that you trust the files original creator. Thats because macros can be used to delete important system files and download viruses.

So by introducing a second standard file type, Microsoft has provided an advance warning that a file contains Visual Basic scripts. Of course, there are still a lot of older “.xls” files in existence but if you have a spreadsheet in everyday use, it should be one of those three formats.

Of course, you may wish to import data into Excel. Often this would come from another database and be stored in a text based format, the most common being the “.csv” file. “Csv” means comma-separated values. That is to say that a comma marks the end of each cell of data, and each new line is a new row. The key point is that the file will not have any formatting and will only consist of a single sheet. At least it is laid out like a spreadsheet.

You can open regular text (“.txt”) files that have nominally been laid out as a set of data, but each entry may be distinguished by some other character, or a tab. Excel will ask you how the data is separated upon opening. Occasionally you will want to open data that is not in spreadsheet form at all e.g. a list of names, but that you could manipulate into a meaningful form using a combination of macros and formulas. That may require the guidance of an Excel support team.

Other formats tend to be workplace specific e.g. the “.xml” format can be extremely useful, but only if you have other applications that use it. There is one exception. That is the Excel add-in. The add-in was formerly the “.xla” format but it has now been extended to “.xlam”. An add-in is simply some pre-written code that allows you to perform a required operation at the click of a button. You will notice an “m” has been added to the end of the file extension to indicate the inclusion of code.

Add-ins differ from macros because a macro is stored in a specific spreadsheet, whereas add-ins can be instructed to auto-load whenever you open Excel. That means an add-in is always available and the code can be accessed from any files. They are most useful if you are attempting to perform a common task for which Excel has no built-in function e.g. if you need to remove duplicates from lists.

The only list longer than the number of file types you can open in Excel, is the number of formats into which you can save your spreadsheet. This is to ensure your work is compatible with any other feasible database or software.