Corrupt MS Word doc. Tips to salvage the contents?

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Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#110542 11-Oct-2012 09:08

Hi guys,

Im trying to salvage a word doc for a friend but no joy so far. Am getting the following message with MS Word which is one I haven't seen before

I've tried:

MS Word "Open & Repair"
MS word "Recover text from any file"
Opening with Word, Wordpad, Notepad & Acrobat, Chrome, Open Office
Restore previous versions
Convert to pdf
Opening with Office.com and Google docs
Searching for the error "> expected" with no joy
Swearing at the computer

Where yould you suggest I go from here? I can pm someone the doc itself if that might help?

Thanks!

BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#699497 11-Oct-2012 09:38

Try changing the suffix from .docx to .zip. Then open it like a compressed file, this will let you see the component xtml files which you might be able to do something with.

wellygary

8335 posts

Uber Geek

#699503 11-Oct-2012 09:45

Try this,

Change the file extension to .zip, and if possible open it

then open the document.xml file inside the zip archive, this should have the text of you document, ( it may have a whole lot of other junk you will need to dump, but a copy and paster job is much more fun than a retype

Edit: D'oh snap +1

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#699505 11-Oct-2012 09:51

Thanks guys. Tried that but when i get to the xml file mentioned in the error message I get a "file failed CRC check" error within IZArc (my zip program). Other xml files within the doc will open but not that one...

wellygary

8335 posts

Uber Geek

#699511 11-Oct-2012 10:01

Asmodeus: Thanks guys. Tried that but when i get to the xml file mentioned in the error message I get a "file failed CRC check" error within IZArc (my zip program). Other xml files within the doc will open but not that one...

Rather than using IZarc, try opening using windows explorer, ie "open with" windows explorer, and go from there,

It might help , but it sounds like the document.xml file could be stuffed,

Time to go back to the most recent backup......

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#699517 11-Oct-2012 10:05

Tried that but get a "Cannot open file is invalid" error before I even get to any xml docs.

My friend doesn't have backups I don't think as she was using the doc on a memory stick and has no other copies.......

D'oh!

GDM

30 posts

Geek

#699525 11-Oct-2012 10:12

Have you tried opening it with a text editor such as notepad?
Otherwise download a hex editor such as this: http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm. This type of base level editor may ignore file corruption errors and let you copy the data out - you will need to do a fair bit of editing though.

If you keep getting file corruption errors with these then you will probably need a professional file recovery program - at cost...

gzt

17159 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#699526 11-Oct-2012 10:13

Asmodeus: Thanks guys. Tried that but when i get to the xml file mentioned in the error message I get a "file failed CRC check" error within IZArc (my zip program). Other xml files within the doc will open but not that one...

First get the earliest copy of the file (before all the fix attempts) and start again with that one using the zip method above.

All archive utilities have an option to extract a file without using a crc check. Find out how to use that option for your archiver.

After you extract the file using that option - the corruption may not even be in the body or may be as small as a single character or it may be really really horrible, but open it with chrome and internet explorer and notepad and see how it looks.

Perhaps after this if it is not really bad you could repack the archive and see if Word will deal with it for you from there.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#699532 11-Oct-2012 10:20

Tried the hex editor and no joy, just garbled junk

The file she has sent me is only 4kb which makes me think that the data is simply gone, corrupt or not. The file should be a fair bit bigger as it is supposed to have a whole assignment on it.

Thanks for the help but it looks like this one will be chalked up as a lesson to keep backups of important docs on our hard drive and online!

gzt

17159 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#699538 11-Oct-2012 10:27

Good idea to check her machine for temporary copies and parts of the archive.

Editing on a flash drive is not a great idea.

Many operating systems flush data so users do not have to think about this but the only safe way is to eject/stop the device using operating system functionality before removing it from the machine.

I'm sure disasters are common in this area.

wellygary

8335 posts

Uber Geek

#699542 11-Oct-2012 10:29

Asmodeus:
The file she has sent me is only 4kb which makes me think that the data is simply gone,

As they say, "Well there is your problem" I just saved a blank page in Word and it generated a 13Kb file,

I think it is safe to say there is nothing in this document......

Asmodeus

1015 posts

Uber Geek

#699600 11-Oct-2012 11:42

Murphy's Law wins! Flawless Victory!