Cannot save .doc as .docx

[denriddy]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel None of the other threads I can find in the forum address this problem. I'm working with Word 12.2.3 in OS X Leopard 10.5.8.

I have a very large manuscript that originally was a .doc file, which contained images and links, then at some point (through many revisions and attempts at debugging Word hang-ups and saving problems), it got saved as a .docx files.

Then Word started arbitrarily refusing to save the document in the .docx format, with the error message about needing to check disks or network (neither of which had any problem whatsoever), but I finally was able to save it, somehow, as a .doc document again.

I'm now trying to get it back to .docx format, but when I do a Compatibility Check, Word claims that "Word 6.0/95 compatibility options are set"--which is absolutely false--and tells me to go into Preferences and "change the compatibility options to Microsoft Word 2000-2004 and X." But that's what it's already set to!

I've gone through clicking on "Defaults" for 2000-2004 and X, have quit and restarted, have repaired permissions, and have even completely uninstalled and reinstalled Office and done all updates again, but if I try to save this as a .docx file, I get the dreaded error message:

"A file error has occurred. Check your network connections to make sure the disk is properly inserted and not defective." Well, if THAT were really the problem, how can it save a .doc file to THE SAME DISK?!?!?

I have wasted probably 10 hours trying to work around and deal with this saving madness with Word, and I cannot find ANY relevant or helpful information anywhere. I don't actually hold out much hope that anyone here can resolve it but as a last ditch effort I'm trying.

Denriddy

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Then Word started arbitrarily refusing to save the document in the
.docx format,

It looks to me like your document is badly corrupted.
You could try several things:
- A round trip in another application capable of opening and saving
back in docx (OpenOffice, Pages...): open the document there and
perform a Save As...
- select all and copy in a new document (might work - though not the
safest way)
- select all BUT the past paragraph mark and copy in a new document.
Now this is safer (since a lot of potentially corrupted style info
comes with the last paragraph mark as you copy), but it might lose some
formatting.

Corentin

 

[denriddy]

Thank you, Corentin, for your suggestions.

It looks to me like your document is badly corrupted.

I don't doubt that. The sad point is that it has to have been Word itself that corrupted it, and it apparently is entirely incapable of undoing its own damage.

I've tried laundering it through Pages, but unfortunately the client is fanatical about Track Changes, and my experience so far is that Pages can't accurately preserve them when saving back out as a Word document.

I also tried the copy and paste methods at one point, including omitting the last paragraph mark, but all was in vain.

The document had all kinds of ridiculous styles in it that had been applied almost randomly throughout, some of them the result of the author dragging text in from the web. I have invested hours deleting all of them--with Word often hanging endlessly, requiring force quits, in the process--and finally managed to clear them all out, but something still has the document corrupted, and the most infuriating part of all is that Word provides no way of finding out what it is and simply expunging it.

I vow I will never, under any circumstances, use this bloated cow again for a professional job on a long MS. It has cost me a fortune.

Denriddy

 

[John McGhie]

Well, there comes a point when we run into the limitations of the software,
and I guess you just found it.

I don't doubt that. The sad point is that it has to have been Word itself that
corrupted it, and it apparently is entirely incapable of undoing its own
damage.

Yes, that's correct.

I've tried laundering it through Pages, but unfortunately the client is
fanatical about Track Changes, and my experience so far is that Pages can't
accurately preserve them when saving back out as a Word document.

Neither can Word. That would be what broke your document. There is a limit
to how many tracked changes a document can store before it corrupts. There
is no way to tell what that limit is: it's usually one less than the number
you have now.

As soon as a document starts to play up, accept all revisions then Maggie it
or you will lose it.

The document had all kinds of ridiculous styles in it that had been applied
almost randomly throughout, some of them the result of the author dragging
text in from the web. I have invested hours deleting all of them--with Word
often hanging endlessly, requiring force quits, in the process

Yeah, when you get the kind of "style salad" I often see in unskilled
author's documents, you get long chains of dependency: styles based on
stayles based on other styles. If you delete something from the middle of
the chain, Word is often unable to join the ends of the chain together and
it hangs.

but something still has the document corrupted,
and the most infuriating part of all is that Word provides no way of finding
out what it is and simply expunging it.

That's because it IS corrupted, so Word can't read it, and that's the
problem. Likely candidates are: The Styles Table, The Bullets and
Numbering Table, the Tracked Changes links, or the Object Store.

All are essential parts of the document structure: if you removed any of
them, the document wouldn't open.

I vow I will never, under any circumstances, use this bloated cow again for a
professional job on a long MS. It has cost me a fortune.

I've been using it for 20 years, and it has made me a fortune I have
found that Word is almost twice as good as the next closest competitor for
heavy-weight professional applications.

The next closest competitor is FrameMaker (not available on the Mac) and I
double the quote if I am forced to use it because I cannot work anywhere
near as efficiently as in Word (and it crashes more often!).

Making money in documentation is not easy (if it was, everyone would be
doing it...). You need to know Word at a very advanced level: we're happy
to help you with that. But more important than anything else is "Managing
the customer".

Trust me, any of my customers would have paid full rate for every single one
of those hours. Nothing teaches them to use Word properly like "Repairing
corrupt document: $700.00" on their bill

Cheers

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Have a look at the additional methods of uncorrupting:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html

Although it can happen occasionally, Word typically doesn't create the
corruption. The manner in which the features are [mis]used ‹ especially
repetitive & continuous revision while tracking changes ‹ and how the file
is managed are what causes that tangled mess to eventually collapse.

If you need to deal with long documents on a routine basis you may benefit
from Clive Huggan's notes on how he uses Word [quite successfully & over
extended time frames & revisions]. It hasn't been updated for Word 2008, but
except for references to macros most everything applies in a similar
fashion. "Bend Word..." may also be worth passing on to others with whose
work you must contend:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Have a look at the additional methods of uncorrupting:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html

I always forget about Save as Web Page. You can also save as RTF. It
usually preserves the look and feel of the document.

If it indeed is Word that is corrupted, you need to use the uninstaller
to uninstall, then reinstall on a clean system (clean permissions,
clear font cache and eliminate bad or duplicate fonts). Then install,
update, and clear the new duplicate fonts...


Corentin