Monday, March 18, 2013

Repairing Corrupt Microsoft Word Files


As per the Microsoft Tech Support guidelines, a damaged file typically shows repagination, incorrect layout and formatting, unreadable characters, error messages, along with the inability to load or view the file. Imagine a situation where you cannot open the document after you have done all the work! However, an initial error message on a document need not mean you will never be able to open the document again.

How to repair a corrupt file that can be opened

Navigate to the File menu and choose Open. A dialogue box will be displayed and you can choose the name of your file. Click on the file, then click on, and hold down the Open button at the bottom right hand of the screen. A drop down menu will pop up. Choose Open and Repair from the options.
Save the document as a separate file format and convert it back to a Word document file. Try to save the document either as a rich text format or as a web file. These file types will preserve formatting. After you save the document under any of these file types, close the file and open it again in Microsoft Word. Again, save the file as a .DOC file. Either you can save it in a word processing format or a text only file.
Insert the document into another Word document. Open a new document. From the Insert menu, choose File. Locate the corrupt file and click twice over the same to insert it.
Use a separate program to open the corrupt file. You can try other word processor applications like word perfect, text pad, or Open Office.
Now, copy the undamaged portions of text to a new document.

How to repair a corrupt file that cannot be opened

Open the file in draft mode without updating the links. Choose to open the Word and then click on the View menu and choose Normal.
Choose Options on the Tools menu. A dialogue box will pop up.
Click on the View tab and make sure there is a check mark in the boxes beside picture, placeholders and draft font.
Click on the General tab. Make sure the Update automatic links at open is unchecked.
Click OK on the Options screen to close the box and finally save the settings. Open the document and check if there is any damage.
You can follow these instructions to repair the corrupt files in Microsoft Word as given by Microsoft tech support.