This issue can occur due to reasons such as corrupted Microsoft Office Software, sudden system crashes, errors while changing file extensions, disk-related issues, etc. This article will assist you to repair your corrupted Word document along with some precautionary steps to avoid facing such issues in the future.
How to Fix A Corrupt Word File?
Prior to fixing the corrupted file, we need to verify whether the problem lies within the Word document or is influenced by other factors. You can try opening any other Word document to see if the problem still persists. You can also check by transferring the file to other computers and try opening the file on that system. If the problem persists then it confirms that the problem resides within the file itself rather than Microsoft Word or Windows.
Repair Within Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has an inbuilt Repair feature to fix files like these that get corrupted abruptly. To use this, follow the given steps:
Via Google Docs
Google Docs can also open Word documents including those which are corrupted. This way, you will be able to salvage the texts from the document. However, you will lose the formatting of the text in the process. To open a Word file in Google Docs, follow the given steps:
Use Draft Mode
The Draft view mode is used to extract the texts from the document for quick editing. So, we can also use this method to load only the text from the document. Before we open the document in draft mode, we should configure draft mode in Microsoft Word.
Place Text as Object
You can insert the text from the damaged file into a new document. Follow the given steps:
Update Microsoft Office
The newer versions of Microsoft Office may have fixed such underlying issues behind file corruption. If you were using an older version of Microsoft Word i.e older than Microsoft Office 2007 to create documents, You should upgrade to the newer version. For Example Microsoft Office later than 2013 or Office365.
Restore the File to A Previous Version
This method allows you to recover the file to the state when it was not corrupted. However, this fix will only work if you have enabled Automatic Backups on windows. To restore the file to its previous version, follow the given steps:
Repair Microsoft Word
If the word file can be opened in another system, then it is more likely that there are issues with Microsoft Word. In such cases, you can either repair the software or completely re-install a fresh version of the software. To repair Microsoft Word, follow the givens steps:
Open The File With Other Applications
Microsoft Word saves Word documents with the DOCX extension. DOCX files are collections of XML files. So, these files can be opened by other applications as well. You could try opening the damaged word file through applications such as Wordpad or Notepad. However, doing so will only recover the text, not the text formatting. Follow the given steps:
How to Avoid Word Document Corruption in Future?
There’s nothing more frustrating than losing hours of work in a Word document corruption. There isn’t a particular way to prevent random Word file corruption. However, there are some precautionary steps or good practices that you can use to avoid having to face such problems. They are listed below:
Saving or uploading your work in a cloud-based storage system or an external drive.Using a cloud-based Word processor like Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word.Installing a UPS system for PCs in case of power failures. In the case of laptops, ensure that the battery is in good condition.Install an antivirus to protect your computer from malware attacks.Using a newer version of Microsoft Word as newer they are tenacious against file corruption.Turn on the autosave feature in Microsoft Word.
title: “How To Fix Corrupt Word Document” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-11” author: “Tara Malone”
This issue can occur due to reasons such as corrupted Microsoft Office Software, sudden system crashes, errors while changing file extensions, disk-related issues, etc. This article will assist you to repair your corrupted Word document along with some precautionary steps to avoid facing such issues in the future.
How to Fix A Corrupt Word File?
Prior to fixing the corrupted file, we need to verify whether the problem lies within the Word document or is influenced by other factors. You can try opening any other Word document to see if the problem still persists. You can also check by transferring the file to other computers and try opening the file on that system. If the problem persists then it confirms that the problem resides within the file itself rather than Microsoft Word or Windows.
Repair Within Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has an inbuilt Repair feature to fix files like these that get corrupted abruptly. To use this, follow the given steps:
Via Google Docs
Google Docs can also open Word documents including those which are corrupted. This way, you will be able to salvage the texts from the document. However, you will lose the formatting of the text in the process. To open a Word file in Google Docs, follow the given steps:
Use Draft Mode
The Draft view mode is used to extract the texts from the document for quick editing. So, we can also use this method to load only the text from the document. Before we open the document in draft mode, we should configure draft mode in Microsoft Word.
Place Text as Object
You can insert the text from the damaged file into a new document. Follow the given steps:
Update Microsoft Office
The newer versions of Microsoft Office may have fixed such underlying issues behind file corruption. If you were using an older version of Microsoft Word i.e older than Microsoft Office 2007 to create documents, You should upgrade to the newer version. For Example Microsoft Office later than 2013 or Office365.
Restore the File to A Previous Version
This method allows you to recover the file to the state when it was not corrupted. However, this fix will only work if you have enabled Automatic Backups on windows. To restore the file to its previous version, follow the given steps:
Repair Microsoft Word
If the word file can be opened in another system, then it is more likely that there are issues with Microsoft Word. In such cases, you can either repair the software or completely re-install a fresh version of the software. To repair Microsoft Word, follow the givens steps:
Open The File With Other Applications
Microsoft Word saves Word documents with the DOCX extension. DOCX files are collections of XML files. So, these files can be opened by other applications as well. You could try opening the damaged word file through applications such as Wordpad or Notepad. However, doing so will only recover the text, not the text formatting. Follow the given steps:
How to Avoid Word Document Corruption in Future?
There’s nothing more frustrating than losing hours of work in a Word document corruption. There isn’t a particular way to prevent random Word file corruption. However, there are some precautionary steps or good practices that you can use to avoid having to face such problems. They are listed below:
Saving or uploading your work in a cloud-based storage system or an external drive.Using a cloud-based Word processor like Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word.Installing a UPS system for PCs in case of power failures. In the case of laptops, ensure that the battery is in good condition.Install an antivirus to protect your computer from malware attacks.Using a newer version of Microsoft Word as newer they are tenacious against file corruption.Turn on the autosave feature in Microsoft Word.
