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You may receive "Unreadable Content" when opening files from within Excel 2007, if you have a shellstreams.dll file

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by Andrei Dikai

During November 2012, it has come to our attention that an increasing amount of customers have problems with unexplainable "Unreadable Content" error messages when opening files from within Excel 2007:
"Excel found unreadable content in <filename.xslx>. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes."

If you think you are affected by the problem mentioned above, you can test searching your computer for the following .DLL:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\ShellStreams.dll
or
C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services\ShellStreams.dll
For our most affected customers, renaming this particular .dll file, or uninstalling the application that put it there, has been a workaround to this problem. (If you find a ShellStreams64.dll instead, most likely it will not help renaming it and you need to check the other folder instead.)

If you do not have this ShellStreams.dll, and if all the below facts don't apply, the problem that you have encountered is not the same as the one described in this blog post, and most likely has another cause.

Here are the facts we have gathered about this particular problem:
1. The files showing the problem can normally be opened on colleagues' machines, suggesting that the files are not actually damaged.
2. It seems that these problems usually do not occur when attempting to double-click files from inside Windows Explorer. The scenario that we have encountered was when attempting to open files from within the Excel application, using File - Open.
3. It seems that the files with the problem are usually in .XLSX formats. If you save as .XLS instead, you will not have the problem.
4. Repairing Windows or Excel, or starting Windows or Excel in Safe Mode, does not prevent the issue
5. This has been seen regardless of where the files have been stored, e.g. local drive or network location. But it seems to happen mostly with older files, and not newly created ones.
6. It seems that this only happens with Excel 2007. Excel 2010 or Excel 2013 don't have this problem.

As mentioned above, if you do not have this shellstreams.DLL on your computer, and if all the above facts don't apply, the problem has another cause.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Aasif,
    If you do not have this ShellStreams.dll, the problem that you have encountered is not the same as the one described in this blog post. I would suggest opening a support case for investigating it.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Maarten: I remember investigating a similar issue a long time ago. We ended up running the files in separate Excel.exe instances to get around it. You may want to ensure that the quite similar issue support.microsoft.com/.../929766 does not apply as well. Nanditha: There are very many reasons why files can become corrupted, many of them unknown, and there is not a single cause or a single solution for this. It depends on what actions you perform that lead up to the corrupt file state. You can always open a case with Microsoft Support: support.microsoft.com/.../more However, please note that data cannot always be rescued from corrupt files, and that it will be much harder to investigate unless you know the steps for creating such problem files.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Eric,
    As mentioned, if you do not have this ShellStreams.dll, and if all the below facts don't apply, the problem that you have encountered is not the same as the one described in this blog post, and most likely has another cause. I would recommend following this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/820741 or opening a support case to have it properly investigated.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Chris,
    Regardless if it is an Explorer or Excel crash, renaming this DLL will likely affect the application that installed it there.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    thanks for your question. per my tests, renaming it into any other name will prevent it from loading into Excel 2007.

  • Anonymous
    December 07, 2012
    The issue has been briefly explained in french on my blog here. : vincent-lecomte.blogspot.be/.../excel-2007-probleme-de-reparation.html . Thank you Microsoft ;-)

  • Anonymous
    March 05, 2013
    Renaming the ShellStreams has solved this and similar problems perfectly in all users affected. Great solution!!!

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2013
    i dont have sheelstreams.dll, what could be another cause?

  • Anonymous
    June 05, 2013
    I have a similar problem, but it isn't caused by the shellstreams.dll cause I can't find that file. The problem occurs when I try to open a file that contains a pivot table with a data connection after I had already used a data connection in an other file. Exemple: I open a new file, I use a data connection to an SSAS-cube. Afterwards, When I try to open an existing file that also has a dataconnection, it can't be openend and I recieve the error message 'found unreadable content...'. If I try to recover the file, all pivottables are displayed as plain text. When I try to open exact the same file after restarting excel, the file opens without any problems. Any idea how to solve this problem? Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    June 10, 2013
    Thanks Erik! I'll pass the information to our IT-departement in the hope that they can fix the problem.

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2013
    The DLL files are only on your machine if you have installed Icloud. If you haven't and you have the same error, the problem lays elsewhere.

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2013
    Rename to what? How shall we name the ShellStreams.dll file?

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2013
    GREAT!!! Problem solved... Thanks!!!

  • Anonymous
    October 16, 2013
    Hi heidi please let me know how did you resolve the issue. I can't find shellsheet.dll file in my system.

  • Anonymous
    October 17, 2013
    Please refer to the beginning of the post for the known location and exact file name. If all conditions listed in the post above don't apply, the problem likely has another cause.

  • Anonymous
    October 18, 2013
    Hi Andrei Dikai, I have saved existing .xlsx file as .xls & it has resolved the problem.. Thanks a ton mate :)

  • Anonymous
    October 18, 2013
    @heidi: Save existing .xlsx file as .xls and it will resolve your problem..

  • Anonymous
    November 03, 2013
    Thanks a lot. Solved the problem. There were several files named ShellStreamsXXX.dll, but only one ShellStreams.dll. I have to search the entire computer, but as soon as I renamed, the problem was gone.

  • Anonymous
    November 08, 2013
    Problem solved. Thank you!!!! Some of these fixes are super obscure!

  • Anonymous
    December 18, 2013
    Problem solved. Thanks alot!

  • Anonymous
    January 17, 2014
    Thank you so much!! Couldn't find a fix anywhere else!

  • Anonymous
    January 21, 2014
    Wow what a great solution for a strange problem!I had the problem for all .xlsx files opened by Excel 2007 in Windows 8.1 (new pc).Renaming ShellStreams.dll into ShellStreams.old and restarting Excel helped - great!

  • Anonymous
    February 19, 2014
    This fix (renaming the ShellStreams.dll from Apple!?!) also worked in Excel 2003. Thanks for solving a very worrying intermittent error opening an important .xlsx file every month! :-)

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2014
    I had a user getting instant windows explorer crashes. Launch explorer and watch it crash. I enabled explorer.exe crash dumps and saw this. "STATUS_BREAKPOINT_80000003_ShellStreams.dll!DllCanUnloadNow" Renaming shellstreams.dll stopped the crashing...

    What does this break?

  • Anonymous
    July 16, 2014
    HI,
    I use a macro enabled Excel Template (.xlsm file) which is used by my customers. None of the machines have the dll that you have mentioned. While the template is opened, I get this error and when the user says yes, the data loads and the operations could be performed successfully. However, I would like this error to be removed. Please suggest a solution for this. We are currently using MS Excel 2007 only!

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2014
    Thanks Erik. Could you please provide me the link where I can open a support case?

  • Anonymous
    September 06, 2014
    Hi
    my excel file cannot open i saw following massage.
    "excel found unreadable content in .......xlsx. do you want to recover the contents of this work book?if you trust the source of this workbook,click yes" so how can this open please help me?

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2014
    HELLO DON'T I SPEAK ENGLISH

    Si les sirve de algo ami me sucedio lo mismo pero identifique que sucedia cuando incluia en una formula (") al inicio
    el archivo me quedaba bien con la siguiente formula =M23&""&M25&""&M27&""&M29 pero cuando incluia al inicio "" me genero error ""&M23&""&M25&""&M27&""&M29 lo borre y quedo OK.

    espero les funcione

    me Email

    Fredyvgr@hotmail.com

  • Anonymous
    September 25, 2014
    Thanks ! it was the Apple dll problem for me !!!

  • Anonymous
    November 19, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 20, 2014
    Found an easiest solution to resolve this error : http://repairwordfile.blogspot.com/2010/03/fixing-word-found-unreadable-content.html

    Hope this will help to MS word users !

    J. Brown

  • Anonymous
    January 20, 2015
    my .xlsx and .jpg files are showing .xlsx.dmvltnm and .jpg.dmvltnm
    1. 34i2xko.JPG.dmvltnm
    2. Capsuling Sheet of 12.01.2015 P Music.XLSX.dmvltnm
    i removed .dmvltnm, but i unable read file in excel.
    Please any body can suggest me.

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2015
    Here is a simple solution that resolved this problem in my case: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/resolving-excel-found-unreadable-content-bookname-seo-expert-delhi

    Jack

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2015
    Now, you can easily recover/repair your complete data from corrupted or damaged Word file. Kernel for Word repair utility gives you facility to repair your corrupted Word file. This utility efficiently recovery/repair .doc, .docx, dot, .dotx, .docm, and .dotm formats from corrupted Word file. For more information visit here : http://en.wordrepair.org

  • Anonymous
    February 20, 2016
    I was experiencing the similar issue in my MS Excel file and fixed with the help of this excel repair tool:
    http://repairmsexcelfile.blogspot.com/

    It's really great utility if you are unable to repair your damaged excel file through manual methods!

    - James