Error opening Word file: causes, troubleshooting

Unfortunately, even the latest versions of the "Office" periodically work incorrectly. An error opening a Word file can occur at the most unexpected moment, even if you just worked with the document just a couple of minutes ago. And all would be fine, but what if it contains important and valuable information? Consider the possible causes of the problem and ways to recover such files.

Why does an error occur?

When you try to open a document, you will see a notification on the screen that the application cannot read the file because it is damaged. Let’s say right away: this can happen even if you didn’t do anything with the document and worked as usual. As a rule, something from this list occurs:

1. The document contains a large number of tables, figures and formulas. An error opening the Word-file may occur if for some reason the codes of these elements were recorded incorrectly (in other words, the program cannot understand what needs to be shown).
2. Problems are associated with various formatting elements. For example, with those that were created using additional applications and add-ons on another computer.
3. The file was not saved correctly (in the wrong format).

By clicking on the "Details" button, you can get more accurate information - at which point in the document (row and column numbers) there are problems. True, this will not help much for inexperienced users. Therefore, we immediately turn to how you can open a damaged text file.

Recovering a document using Word

Few people know that in the text editor from Microsoft there is a function to fix damaged files. Therefore, if a Word error occurs when you try to open a file, first of all it is worth trying to restore the document using standard tools. What do I need to do?

1. Close the window with the error message.
2. Launch Word from the Start menu or by using the shortcut on the desktop.
3. Go to the menu "File"> "Open" and find through the "Explorer" the document that you want to restore. Please note that you do not need to open it!
4. Highlight a file.
5. Locate the arrow button at the bottom of the window, next to the Open button.
6. A drop-down list will appear on the screen. In this case, we are interested in the "Open and Restore" item.

Now, if all is well, the document will open and display in standard mode.

An important nuance: on the screen you will also see a message stating that some changes were made to the contents during the restoration process. By clicking on the "Show corrections" button, you will see a list of changed items. Be sure to look at what the program fixed, so that later you can manually correct the file.

Then you need to close the window and save the recovered document. After that, the error when opening the Word-file will cease to appear. But what if I didn’t get access to the document in this way?

Recovery Using Backup Converter

Great if this small utility is installed on your computer. This means that when you save the document in memory, a backup copy is also created. And now we will try to extract the undamaged version of the document:

1. Launch the editor through the Start menu.
2. Choose File> Open from the menu .
3. At the bottom of the window that opens, there will be a list of "File Types" (to the left of the "Cancel" button). Click on the arrow and open the list of all options.
4. If the converter is installed, you will see the line "Restore text from any file (*. *)".
5. Select this option and try opening the necessary file again.

If the error occurred while opening the Word 2003 (or other version) file, the document will open. However, the next time you start, the message "The table in the document is damaged" may appear. To fix this, you need to select the problem fragment, and then select "Table"> "Convert"> "Table to Text" from the menu .

If even after this an error occurs, check all the tables in the document and see if they contain cells and rows that contain too much text. Also, problems can occur if the document has an incomplete table.

Change Protected View Settings

Consider another option. It may work if the program does not open a Word file that has been downloaded from the Internet. The system automatically blocks the launch of documents that it considers to be potentially dangerous. You can disable protection in the following way:

1. Launch Word and go to File> Options .
2. In the window that appears on the left are the main tabs. We need the "Security Control Center" section.
3. In the "Center", click on the "Protected View" tab.
4. Uncheck all the items that are responsible for opening documents in restricted mode.
5. Save the changes, restart the program and try opening the file again.

Use this method with caution, and only if you are 100% sure of the security of the file.

Removing Microsoft Word Add-ins

Sometimes the problem is not with a specific document, but with the program in general. In practice, an error opening a Word file often occurs due to installed add-ons. In this case, the message "The program has stopped working" is displayed on the screen.

Our task is to disable all add-ons, including the one that causes errors. To do this, you need:

1. Launch MS Word. Most likely, a message will appear on the screen stating that a serious error occurred during the last launch, and the program will prompt you to start the editor in safe mode. Click OK.
2. Go to File> Options .
3. Go to the "Add-ons" tab.
4. At the bottom of the window you will see the inscription "Management: COM Add-ins". Click on the "Go To ..." button next to it.
5. In the window that appears, check the boxes next to all add-ons, then click "Delete" and confirm the action.

After that, you must close the program and try again to open the problematic document.

Format recovery

In many cases, an error opening the Word 2003-2013 file is associated with an incorrect save. To open a document, you have to restore the correct format.

Let's try to transfer the working information to a new, undamaged document:

1. Create a new empty file in Word and save it.
2. Close the program and go to the "Explorer".
3. Find the created file and turn it into an archive by changing the extension (for this you just need to rename the document and enter .zip instead of .doc).
4. The same thing needs to be done with the file you want to restore.
5. Open documents using any archiver.
6. Extract the "word" folder from the damaged document and copy it to the archive with the new document with the replacement of all files.
7. Rename the file from .zip to .doc or .docx back.

Now try opening the document in Word. The program will display a message that it is damaged and will offer to restore. After that, the contents of your file will be displayed on the screen.

Manual code editing

Just note that this option is suitable only for advanced users, at least with basic knowledge of HTML. When a Word error occurs when trying to open a file, the message about it always contains information about which part of the document is the problem (row and column number). That is, if you get into the file code, you can find and fix or delete this fragment. How to do it?

1. Open the document as an archive (see the previous paragraph).
2. Locate and extract the document.xml file.
3. Open the document in Notepad or Notepad ++. It is advisable that the text editor track the cursor position - show the row and column numbers.
4. Find the fragment that causes the error and edit it.
5. Download the updated document.xml to the archive instead of the old file. After that, open the document in Word.

It is important to understand the essence of the problem. Most often, this is the wrong order of tags in the code. In extreme cases, you can delete part of the text.

Recovering a document using Word Recovery

In addition to Office tools, you can use special programs to fix text files. They use their own algorithms for extracting information, so they can often cope with the task much better than standard tools. The most popular applications of this type are R-Word and Magic Word Recovery.

Useful Tips

Before you begin to fix the "broken" file, be sure to make a copy of it.

If you cannot restore the document in its native format (.doc or .docx), first try saving it as .rtf.

Sometimes when restoring a table, a warning is displayed on the screen that the computer does not have enough memory. In this case, you need to close all programs, folders and files, except for the Word itself.