Repairing a Corrupted Word File

But what about those users whose document was damaged due to certain circumstances? In this article, I will look at what are the options for damage, as well as how to repair a damaged Word file.

What are the damages?

Damaged Word documents behave unexpectedly. This can be caused by damage to the document itself or the template that is used as the basis for all other types of documents. Damage manifests itself in the following forms:

1. Broken page numbering in the document.
2. Repair page breaks in a document.
3. The document displays unreadable characters when opened.
4. Incorrect formatting and structure.
5. PC freezes after launching the file.
6. Crash when trying to open content or other unexpected behavior.

Advice! Unexpected behavior of the document may be due to other factors, such as damage to the Word program itself or the Microsoft Office utility package, opening the document with an earlier version of Word, infection of the operating system with a virus. To make sure otherwise, check how Word works with other documents.

Word file recovery

A damaged document may or may not open. Let's move on from this. As an example, I'll use the Word 2016 trial that's included with Office 365 Home.

Advice! If one of the methods did not help, go in order to the next one.

If the document opens

Work with document and template settings. I will consider the possibility of solving the problem in stages. If the error is not isolated and occurs in every file created, read this first.

Force restore

Try to force restore the corrupted file:

If not, restart your PC and proceed to the next step.

Double conversion

Let's convert the file to another format, and then return to the previous state:

1. Go to "Word" → Open → Browse → select the corrupted file and click "Open".
   
2. Click "File" → Save As → Select the file type to be saved "RTF Type" (.rtf).
   
3. Close the file and open again. Convert it back to a "Word Document" (.docx) in the same way.
   

Advice! If the problem persists, you can try converting to other formats. When converting to .txt text format, all pictures, diagrams and formatting are lost. Remember this.

Copy to a new document

Select the contents of the file, except for the last paragraph, and copy it to another document. If your document has section breaks, copy the text between the breaks. To avoid inserting breaks when copying text, turn on the draft mode of the new document:

Deleting corrupted content

For cropped documents that do not display all content, you can switch to another mode and delete the corrupted data. Determine the page on which the file is truncated and remember the contents of this page. Then:

1. Switch to Draft or Web Document view.
2. Scroll through the content until it is cut off.
3. Select and delete the next paragraph or object.
4. Switch back to Layout view and check if the document is displayed in its entirety.
5. Delete content in this way until it is displayed completely in the "Page Layout" mode.
6. After the done manipulations, save the document.

Change the template

Relevant if you switched to a new version of Microsoft Office, and all old documents are damaged. First, determine which template is being used:

1. Open Word, on the File menu, click Options.
   
2. Select "Add-ins", from the bottom in "Manage" select "Word Add-ins" and click "Go".
   
3. If “Normal” is displayed in the “Document Template” field, follow the instructions further, if another template, go to step 9.
   
4. To rename the template, close Word.
5. Go to Explorer and in the line write the command: %userprofile%\appdata\roaming\microsoft\Templates

   If the document does not open

   When the document gives an error when opening directly, try to open using the built-in features of Word.

   Opening with Draft mode

   First, start Word:

   1. Go to "File" - "Options".
   2. Open "Advanced", go down to the "Show document content" section and check the box next to "Show picture placeholders".
      
   3. Scroll down to the "General" section. Check the box next to "Allow document to open in draft mode."
      
   4. Apply the change and click OK.
   5. Restart Word, choose File → Open, and run the corrupted file.

   Using the Converter

   When using a converter:

   • document formatting is not preserved;
   • pictures, charts and other graphic elements are not saved.

   Go to Word and open the corrupted file using "Recover text from any file" as shown in the picture below.
   

   Recovery using third-party services

   There is an online service online.officerecovery.com. With it, you can try to recover files:

   1. Upload the corrupted file to the site.
   2. Wait while the file is processed and downloaded to the PC.
   3. Check the functionality of the document.

   Another program is called RecoveryToolboxforWord . The principle of use is similar.

   If you have any questions while reading the article, ask them in the comments. Also use to contact the administration.