Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
The document may be corrupt or damaged. Use either the Recover Text converter or the Open and
Repair feature. Both are available from the Open dialog.
NOTE: If you have opened a file that is attached to an e-mail message, it is recommended that you save
the file to a local hard disk first before attempting to recover or repair the file.
The Open and Repair feature is available from the Open dialog box. To open and attempt a repair,
click the File tab, click Open, and then navigate to the damaged file and click it once. Instead of clicking
the Open button at the bottom right of the dialog box, click the down arrow to the right of the button
and select Open and Repair from the menu. If the file can be recovered, it will open and appear in the
document work area.
The Recover Text converter is available from the Open dialog box and appears in the Files of type drop
down list. It appears in the drop-down list as: Recover Text from Any File (*.*).
The Recover Text converter has its limitations. Document formatting is lost, along with anything that is
not formatted as text. Graphics, fields, drawing objects, and so on, are not converted. However, headers,
footers, footnotes, endnotes, and field text are retained as simple text.
File permissions may be set so that you cannot access the file (read denied). It is also possible that you
do not have permissions to open anything within the drive or folder that contains the file. In this case,
contact the owner of the drive or folder and request permissions to access the file.
It is possible that you have run out of system resources (disk space or RAM), or that another program on
your system has consumed all the available memory. It is also possible for a program to have a memory
leak that is using up large quantities of memory. The best method to recover memory that has been
consumed by a memory leak is to restart the computer. It may be possible to shut down the offending
program by using the Task Manager, but it is not recommended since it may further destabilize the
system.
There may be a read lock on the file that you are attempting to open. Another user may have the file
open, or another application that has a link to the file may have placed an exclusive lock on the file,
preventing Word from opening the file. If a custom application has opened the file, it may have opened
the file using an incorrect method.
The file that you are attempting to open may require a file converter that is not installed on your
computer. Most converters are installed by default, but optional converters are available from the Add or
Remove Programs utility (in Control Panel) for your version of Office (requires performing an advanced
customization install and searching the feature tree for Office Shared Features \ Converters and
Filters). Other converters are available from the Office Resource Kit. Search the www.microsoft.com
Web site for "Office Converter Pack".
For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 918429.
How to identify a damaged document
Many damaged documents exhibit strange behavior. This behavior may be related to damage to
the document or to the template on which the document is based. This behavior may include the
following:
If the document shows any of these symptoms, or if you cannot open the document, go to
method 2.
Sometimes, this behavior may be caused by factors other than document damage. To eliminate
these other factors, follow these steps:
If any of these steps indicate that the problem is not in the document, you will then have to
troubleshoot Word, the Office suite, or the operating system that is running on the computer.
The Document template box will list the template that is used by the document. If the template
listed is Normal, go to step 2. Otherwise, go to step 3.
Step 2: Rename the global template (Normal.dotm)
Follow the steps for the operating system that you are using:
1. Exit Word.
2. Click Start .
3. In you operating system search for the normal.dotm, usually it’s found at:
%userprofile%\appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Options.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
You can use the /a switch to start Word by using only the default settings in Word. When you
use the /a switch, Word does not load any add-ins. Additionally, Word does not use your existing
Normal.dotm template. Restart Word by using the /a switch.
1. Exit Word.
2. In your operating system search for Run. In the Run dialog box type in winword.exe /a.
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Open.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
Verify that the strange behavior no longer occurs. If the strange behavior persists, restart
Windows, and then go to method 6.
Method 5: Change the document format, and then convert the document back to
the Word format
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Open.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
1. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Save as.
2. In Word, click Other Formats.
3. In the Save as file type list, click Rich Text Format (*.rtf).
4. Click Save.
5. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Close.
Step 3: Open the document, and then convert document back to Word file format
Step 4: Verify that converting the document file format fixes the problem
Verify that the strange behavior no longer occurs. If the behavior persists, try to save the file in
another file format. Repeat step 1 to step 4, and then try to save the file in the following file
formats, in the following order:
Note When you save files in the Plain Text (.txt) format, you may resolve the document damage
problem. However, all document formatting, macro code, and graphics are lost. When you save
files in the Plain Text (.txt) format, you must reformat the document. Therefore, use the Plain
Text (.txt) format only if the other file formats do not resolve the problem.
Method 6: Copy everything except the last paragraph mark to a new document
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Open.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
Step 3: Copy the contents of document, and then paste the contents into the new document
Note If your document contains section breaks, copy only the text between the sections breaks.
Do not copy the section breaks because this may bring the damage into your new document.
Change the document view to draft view when you copy and paste between documents to avoid
transferring section breaks. To change to draft view, on the View tab, click Draft in the
Document Views group.
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Open.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
Step 3: Copy the undamaged parts of document, and then paste the undamaged parts to
the new document
Note If your document contains section breaks, copy only the text between the sections breaks.
Do not copy the section breaks because this may bring the damage into your new document.
Change the document view to draft view when you copy and paste between documents to avoid
transferring section breaks. To change to draft view, on the View tab, click Draft in the
Document Views group.
1. In the damaged document, locate and then select an undamaged part of the document's
contents.
2. On the Home tab, click Copy in the Clipboard group.
3. On the View tab, click Switch Windows in the Window group.
4. Click the new document that you created in step 1.
5. On the Home tab, click Paste in the Clipboard group.
6. Repeat steps 3a to 3e for each undamaged part of the document. You must reconstruct the
damaged sections of your document.
If the document appears to be truncated (not all pages in the document are displayed), it might be
possible to switch the document view and remove the damaged content from the document.
1. Determine the page number on which the damaged content is causing the document to
appear to be truncated.
1. In Word, click File on the Ribbon, and then click Open.
2. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
3. Scroll to view the last page that is displayed before the document appears to be
truncated. Note the content that appears on that page.
2. Switch views, and then remove the damaged content.
1. On the View tab in the Document Views group, click Web Layout or Draft
view.
2. Scroll to view the content that was displayed before the document appeared to be
truncated.
3. Select and delete the next paragraph, table, or object in the file.
4. On the View tab in the Document Views group, click Print Layout. If the
document continues to appear to be truncated, continue to switch views and delete
content until the document no longer appears truncated in Print Layout view.
5. Save the document.
Method 1: Open the damaged document in draft mode without updating links
1. Start Word.
2. On the View tab, click Draft in the Document Views group.
3. In Word, click the File Menu, and then click Options and then Advanced.
4. In the Show document content section, click to select the Use Draft font in Draft and
Outline views and Show Picture placeholders.
5. In the General section click to clear the Update automatic links at Open then click OK
and close Word.
1. Start Word.
2. In Word, click the File Menu, and then click Open.
3. Click the damaged document, and then click Open.
If you can open the document, close the document and then reopen it by using method 6, and
repair the document. Otherwise go to method 2.
1. In Word 2010, click the File Menu, and then click New.
2. Click Blank document, and then click Create.
Note You may have to reapply some formatting to the last section of the new document.
1. On the Insert tab, click Insert Object, and then click Text From File.
2. In the Insert File dialog box, locate and then click the damaged document. Then, click
Insert.
Note You may have to reapply some formatting to the last section of the new document.
1. Right-click the linked text in the document, point to Linked Document Object, and then
click Links.
2. In the Links dialog box, click the file name of the linked document, and then click
Change Source.
3. In the Change Source dialog box, click the document that you cannot open, and then
click Open.
4. Click OK to close the Links dialog box.
Note The information from the damaged document will appear if there was any
recoverable data or text.
5. Right-click the linked text, point to Linked Document Object, and then click Links.
6. In the Links dialog box, click Break Link.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes:
Note The "Recover Text from Any File" converter has limitations. For example, document
formatting is lost. Additionally, graphics, fields, drawing objects, and any other items that are not
text are lost. However, field text, headers, footers, footnotes, and endnotes are retained as simple
text.
After the document is recovered by using the "Recover Text from Any File" converter, there is
some binary data text that is not converted. This text is primarily at the start and end of the
document. You must delete this binary data text before you save the file as a Word document.
Note: If you are using Word 2007 there is not a file button in the User Interface, please choose
the Office Button and follow the directions when necessary.
Properties
Applies to
Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Word 2013, Word 2016
Keywords:
Feedback