What is a corrupt file in word

In this post, you will learn the how to determine that your MS Word file is corrupt by looking at various signs highlighted here and what you can do to recover it.

MS Word is one of the popular word processors in the world. It allows users to craft important documents ranging from academic papers to legal agreements. Unfortunately, these documents can be corrupted and become inaccessible. This article highlights key signs to look out for in a corrupt MS Word document and how to recover it.

Signs that your MS Word document is corrupt

If you have a Word document that is behaving unusually, there is a chance that it is corrupt. These signs include but not limited to:

• A computer becomes unresponsive when you open the document
• Document formatting and layout keeps on changing
• Unreadable characters appearing all over the document
• The document cannot load and gives you an ‘Unspecified error’ message

It is important to note that other underlying issues may cause these errors. Such factors may include a corrupt computer registry, a virus attack, or problems with the MS Word application. Therefore, open other Word documents and see if they behave the same. If the other documents are behaving properly, then there is a probability that your target file is corrupt. Also, try to open the document on another computer. If it opens correctly, then your operating system or Word application could be the problem.

How to fix a corrupt MS Word document

Once you have confirmed that your Word document is corrupt, make a copy of the file and save it in a separate drive. This is a precautionary measure to make sure you do not lose your data should the repair process fail.

If you can open the document, go to the File menu and click ‘Open’. Under options, select ‘Open and Repair’. Once the process ends, verify whether the errors have been corrected. If not, copy the sections of the document that are not damaged excluding the page breaks and paste them on a new blank document. This allows you to salvage part of the document. If the damaged section is not large, you can opt to re-do it quickly.

If the problem still persists, try to change the file format by saving the document in rich text, plain text or Html, then convert the new document to a Word file. In some instances, you will recover all text but lose the formatting.

When you cannot open the file, recovery software such as DataNumen Word Repair can come in handy. The good news is that you will not need to bother with complicated and time-consuming procedures. This is because the software features a simple design that is easy to use. Once you load the application, select the file that you wish to recover, choose the output drive, and enter the name of the recovered file. When you click the ‘Start Repair’ button, the repair process starts. You can monitor the process on the progress bar.

This application allows you to recover most features of your document including tables, text formatting, lists, and hyperlinks. It also allows you to repair multiple files, thus increasing your productivity, especially if you are working on a large project.

Read time 8 minutes

Microsoft Word comes bundled with the popular Office Suite developed and maintained by Microsoft. Just like other components (Excel or PowerPoint), MS Word also holds significant importance among various working professionals and individual users.

Microsoft Word is one of the widely used commercial word processors. Users often use it to draft documents and text files based on their professional or personal use. But like other file formats, .docx files also has some flaws in it. Often, while accessing a previously saved or downloaded Word file, user face error that says – ‘The file is corrupt and cannot be opened.’ In this article, we will focus on some crucial aspects like What causes this error? and how to open corrupt Word DOC and DOCX files in MS Word?

There can be several reasons behind inaccessibility of Word files ranging from round-tripping (the process of the converting the file format back and forth) to change of different Office versions. Most often, users face this error when they try to open a Word 2007 file using Word 2010 version.

Reasons behind this error

We have listed some of the most common reasons behind inaccessibility or corruption of Word files.

• Disrupted Internet connection
  Fluctuation in internet connection while downloading or transferring may result in corruption or damage of word files.
• Inappropriate installation of the software
  Incorrect installation of the Microsoft Office Suite restricts proper workflow of the application. This situation may affect files based on different components including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
• Header Corruption
  Corrupt or damaged header components often leads to inaccessibility of Word files.

This kind of error is not limited to a particular MS Office module like Word; instead, you may encounter this issue in Excel and PowerPoint as well. We have listed some of the most common methods to recover corrupt Word Documents.

Method 1: Try to open with another application

The best method to check whether the content of your Word document is safe and sound from corruption is to open it with some other application like Notepad or WordPad. These come in handy with any Windows operating system.

Method 2: Use the ‘Open and Repair’ utility

In order to fix the error “The file is corrupted and cannot be opened in Word”, there is an extremely helpful in-built feature of MS Word which will prove to be successful in repairing minor damages in the Word file. Browse the particular file and click on the ‘Open and Repair’ option.

Method 3: Change the Protected View Settings

The Trust Center settings deals with the security and privacy aspects of any Microsoft program.

Given below are the steps to change the Protected View Settings in MS Word.

Step 1: Launch MS Word and click New > Blank document.

Step 2: Go to File > Options.

Step 3: In the Word Options window, select the Trust Center tab. Then, click on the Trust Center Settings button.

Step 4: Select the Protected View tab and uncheck all options under the Protected View Settings. Then, click OK to save the changes.

Restart MS Word and try loading the affected Word file again. If you are still unable to access your file, go for other options to fix the error.

Method 4: Change the manual Settings of ‘Component Security’

Change these settings to default settings by following the steps given below.

Step 1: Press Win + R to launch the Run Command dialog box. Then, type ‘dcomcnfg’ and hit the OK button.

Step 2: Expand Component Services from the Navigation Pane. Then, expand Computers and right-click on the My Computer icon > Select Properties.

Step 3: Select the Default Properties tab and make the following changes:

Default Authentication Level: Connect

Default Impersonation Level: Identify

Click OK to save the changes.

If all the above methods fail to resolve the error, try using a trusted third-party tool to repair your corrupt Word files. Kernel for Word Repair Tool is one of the most recommended tools to recover data from your corrupt MS Word files.

Benefits of using Kernel for Word Repair:

• You can recover multiple .doc/.docx files at the same time.
• The tool works efficiently even with large sized Word files.
• Repairs corrupt Word files without affecting the original format.
• You can preview data before saving the files to your local directories.

Kernel for Word Repair – How the tool works?

Download and install the application in your computer system and follow these simple steps to recover your corrupt MS Word files.

Step 1: Launch Kernel for Word Repair tool.

Step 2: Click Add File(s) option to navigate to the folder containing the corrupt MS Word files. Select the files and click Open.

Step 3: Click Repair Files(s).

Note: You can remove unnecessary files by selecting the files and choosing the Remove/Remove All options.

Step 4: Select a destination folder to save the recovered MS Word files. Then, click OK. Click Repair again to start the recovery process.

Step 5: The tool processes the files for recovery, wait until the process gets completed.

The recovered files get saved to the specified location.

Conclusion

The article digs deeper into finding a solution when MS Word throws the error “The file is corrupted and cannot be opened”. The manual way includes modifications in system component settings/disabling the protected view settings which adversely makes your system prone to unwanted threats and intrusions. Kernel for Word recovery doesn’t require any such change of setting to your system components. Moreover, it requires a minimum number of steps to recover your corrupt data. Within a few seconds, the tool provides you stunning results for your data recovery task.

It’s one of the most terrifying error messages imaginable: “Word was unable to read this document.” Whether you use Word for school, work, or creative exploration, you use it for something important—and a damaged or corrupt file can have serious implications.

But what is file corruption, exactly, and why does it seem to happen to Word documents so often? More importantly, is there a way to stop the issue from happening?

The good news is that if you’ve got a corrupt Word doc, you can probably save it (to a degree). You can skip to that section if you’d like some quick answers, but first, let’s look at how corruption occurs.

Word Document Corruption: The Causes, and a Few Solutions

To put it simply, document corruption occurs when a program writes something incorrectly, or when a write process is interrupted before it can complete. That leaves a bit of data that doesn’t make sense to the program.

Why is that an issue? The application doesn’t have the resources to present your file. In Word, the file’s header often becomes corrupt, so it doesn’t seem like a valid file.

Several factors can increase the likelihood of document data corruption:

• The Size of the File. Larger files put more stress on the application, raising the chances of a failed write operation. Generally, this only becomes an issue when a file crosses the 200-kilobyte threshold.Using images and other non-text elements can quickly increase the size of your files, so be careful. Use compressed image formats wherever possible.

• The Document File Format. The newer .docx format is much more stable than the old .doc format, so if you haven’t switched over for some reason, do it.

• Complex Functions. Features like Track Changes, which prompt the Word software to write more frequently, can cause issues. Likewise, corruption is more likely to occur when moving images, applying formatting, or performing other advanced functions.

• Direct Formatting. “Wait,” you’re probably saying, “applying formatting causes corruption?” Well, no, but in large documents, it complicates things. Defining the paragraph and character styles can give you the same effect without putting the same strain on the application.Plus, if you suddenly need to change formatting across your entire document, you can do so easily.

• File Location. It’s possible that the file corruption occurred due to an issue with your storage media (a hard drive, solid-state-drive, or flash drive). If you’re sure that this is the case, don’t run CHKDSK or similar utilities; contact a data recovery company. 

  Usually, if your storage media is encountering issues, you’ll notice some slowdown or other odd behaviors. Hard drives might also make noises. Again, if that’s the case, don’t go further—shut down your computer immediately and call a professional.

• User Behavior. If you suddenly shut down Microsoft Word without going through the proper process, if you have 1,000 other programs open, or if you unplug your computer/storage media, you might create corruption by interrupting the write process.

Here’s the most important tip in this entire article: make regular backups of important files. That’s true regardless of the version of Word you’re using—and even if you’re using Google Drive or another cloud solution. No document is completely safe from corruption, so keep multiple copies.

Fixing Word Document Corruption: What To Do, and What Not To Do

Okay, so you’ve got a corrupt Word document. Are you out of luck?

Probably not, but before we start, take note: if the data is absolutely vital, call a data recovery company. While the chances of accidental damage are pretty slim, they’re worth consideration if you’re dealing with a document that has significant financial or sentimental value.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s what to do. First, make a copy of the corrupted file (in Windows, right-click, select “Copy,” then right-click on a blank space on your desktop or in any other folder and select “Paste”) . Work from the corrupted copy.

If your computer is experiencing any other issues such as abnormally slow operation, you should move the copied file to removable media and work on another machine. Note that corruption can occur as a hard drive starts to fail (and this type of corruption might not be fixable with the methods outlined below).

To recover the corrupt Word document, you can try one of the following methods:

Open and Repair. Newer versions of Word support this function, which addresses common issues with corrupted files. From the “Open File” dialog box, right-click on the corrupt document and select “Open and Repair.”

Restore a Shadow Copy. Newer versions of Windows create backups, or “shadow copies,” of certain files, and documents often fit the bill. Try right-clicking on the original file (not the copy), then selecting “Restore Previous Versions” if the option’s available. You’ll lose some data, but the majority of the file should be accessible.

Rebuild the File Header with a Hex Editor. This is an advanced technique, and we won’t get into it here, but if you’re comfortable with a hex editor, you can often manually rebuild the Word document’s header to restore the file.

Open the File as a TXT. Change the file extension to .txt and open the file with a simple text editor (such as Notepad). You can also convert files to .rtf, which is a rich text format; you’ll lose some formatting. Search for an online file conversion tool if you’re going this route.

You’ll fix most corrupt Word documents with one of the first two methods listed, but the others are also options. Feel free to leave us a comment if you’ve found another way to restore corrupt files, and we’ll edit this article with any great suggestions. Good luck!