Contents of Word document replaced by code/gibberish

[82412]

I have a Word document which has been used/added to regularly, for months,
without any problems. Suddenly, on opening it, I find that all of its
contents have been replaced by this sort of thing (very small sample)

“)- ‰˜æº‰° A7rµJRB¥ª hª¨€fSp/.–<)ÃR_ÞHwŸÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿ )DÊ ˆ(ó:à—„a¸fîâ€p‚
0gìèÈ+J Ÿ­ÈØÑ ävðTnd F |(Hô§ðŒ uÃ#’5ÉÊóӎßk7/ëëDñ ° õ˜è O7
[Ãì‘Zï
V1Hùf³ Wô6†§ !SF¢Pì—Ì ;cÇ'+ô, qK )W¤Ó yíF%ª3~–õsÇ ,öxw£YfC ¹
k¡±^q/©œ+þËìè©š ?&*HÄ å Ôãƒo —qödHLNa÷³ +?‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èì" ºÔžg.ü•i
vM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ}…[8ô >¢¦†’PÊqX…yÃ+ ?—ÙØó »,,‚ ðâ€f& è¸

None of the standard Word converters are able to do anything with to it.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

 

[Stefan Blom]

Have you tried Open and Repair?

 

[82412]

I have Detect and Repair and I have Open and Convert (Word 2000). Neither
of these helped. I do not have Open and Repair.

Have you tried Open and Repair?

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

I have a Word document which has been used/added to regularly, for months,
without any problems. Suddenly, on opening it, I find that all of its
contents have been replaced by this sort of thing (very small sample)

")- ?~æº?° A7rµJRB¥ª hª¨?fSp/.-<)ÃR_ÞHwYÃ…t¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿ )DÊ ^(ó:à-"a¸fî"p,
0gìèÈ+J Y­ÈØÑ ävðTnd F |(Hô§ðO uÃ#'5ÉÊóÓŽßk7/ëëDñ ° Ãfµ~è O7
[Ãì'Zï
V1Hùf³ Wô6?§ !SF¢Pì-Ì ;cÇ'+ô, qK )W¤Ó yíF%ª3~-õsÇ ,öxw£YfC ¹
k¡±^q/©o+þËìè©s ?&*HÄ å Ôãfo -qödHLNa÷³ +?<"k)ÓoÒúU [òK-Þ|¸ èì" ºÔžg.ü.i
vM½VÔòï{« "ÚÒWÃ}.[8ô >¢¦" 'PÊqX.yÃ+ ?-ÙØó »,,, ð"f& è¸

None of the standard Word converters are able to do anything with to it.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

 

[Stefan Blom]

It's been awhile since I used Word 2000, so I'm not sure if the feature I'm
referring to even existed in that version. :-(

*If* there is a method to repair damaged files in Word 2000, it should be
accessible via the Open dialog box: Click File | Open, select the damaged
file. Click the arrow on the Open button, and choose Open and Repair (or
something similar).

If the repair option doesn't exist, you could try opening the file after
having set the file type to "Recover Text from Any File"; that way, you may
be able to recover the text, or at least part of it.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

I have Detect and Repair and I have Open and Convert (Word 2000). Neither
of these helped. I do not have Open and Repair.

Have you tried Open and Repair?

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

I have a Word document which has been used/added to regularly, for
months,
without any problems. Suddenly, on opening it, I find that all of its
contents have been replaced by this sort of thing (very small sample)

")- ?~æº?° A7rµJRB¥ª hª¨?fSp/.-<)ÁR_ÞHwYÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿ )DÊ
^(ó:à-"a¸fî"p,
0gìèÈ+J Y­ÈØÑ ävðTnd F |(Hô§ðO uÏ#'5ÉÊóÓZßk7/ëëDñ ° Ðfµ~è O7
[Ãì'Zï
V1Hùf³ Wô6?§ !SF¢Pì-Ì ;cÇ'+ô, qK )W¤Ó yíF%ª3~-õsÇ ,öxw£YfC ¹
k¡±^q/©o+þËìè©s ?&*HÄ å Ôãfo -qödHLNa÷³ +?<"k)ÓoÒúU [òK-Þ|¸ èì"
ºÔzg.ü.i
vM½VÔòï{« "ÚÒWÐ}.[8ô >¢¦" 'PÊqX.yÐ+ ?-ÙØó »,,, ð"f& è¸

None of the standard Word converters are able to do anything with to
it.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

 

[tedmi]

I also don't remember if this exists in Word 2000, but here is the sequence
from 2002:
In Tools > Options > General, turn on Confirm conversion at open
Open the damaged file through the File > Open dialog.
When prompted for conversion, choose Recover text from any file
You may have to restore some formatting.

 

[82412]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately I have already tried all the things
you suggested. Part of the problem is that this document was sent to me as
an e-mail attachment in its present state, so from a purely technical point
of view there isn't actually anything wrong with the copy I have, it has been
saved that way. I guess what I need is a programme of some sort which can
read that code (if it is code and not just gibberish).

 

[Stefan Blom]

Ask the sender to send you a new copy. If the sender is using Word 2007, ask
him or her to save in Word 97-2003 format.

 

[82412]

The sender is using Word 2002, and in my copy of Word (2000) I have already
tried selecting the Confirm Conversion option followed by Recover text from
any file. It makes no change to the document.

 

[82412]

Sorry, my last post was slightly misleading. The Recover text from any file
procedure does still produce gibberish, but in fact it's different gibberish
(small sample below)

$z)W:ˆ¼9J?
nE=byE
,¨ísaJ1a4
80
fSp/.–<)
R_ÞHwŸÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿
;cÇ'+ô, qK
|Å â€<Êù8Êy+@=G1
oö÷g¢É›%" X¿{R>o
`/Ò¯ 2udÒBŽæ×(2zjÖLhc0@ óTj



I'm guessing that this is a very bad sign.

The sender is using Word 2002, and in my copy of Word (2000) I have already
tried selecting the Confirm Conversion option followed by Recover text from
any file. It makes no change to the document.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word 2002 and Word 2000 use the same file format, so that should not be the
issue. Suggest that the sender zip the file before sending it. Occasionally
something happens to corrupt documents in cyberspace, and zipping seems to
help.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

The sender is using Word 2002, and in my copy of Word (2000) I have
already
tried selecting the Confirm Conversion option followed by Recover text
from
any file. It makes no change to the document.

 

[82412]

Short background to the problem:

The computer was switched on, the affected documents (there are six in
total) were opened and added to without incident, the computer was switched
off.
The next time the computer was switched on, the six documents were in their
garbled state. They basically contain lists. The lists are in tables, apart
from the existence of the tables there is nothing remarkable about the
formatting.

On the same computer there are hundreds of other Word documents which have
been opened, modified and closed without incident before and since this
happened.

Spyware scans have revealed nothing.

 

[82412]

But the doc I've been working on was corrupt before it was sent, and when it
arrived here it looked unchanged (I saw it on the affected computer, but for
operational reasons it wasn't possible for me to work on it there at the
time). Are you thinking that further corruption may have occurred? If so my
best chance of success might be to get some time at the affected computer?

That's one possibility, but if it's a blind alley and there is no additional
corruption, what's next?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In that case, no, I think you're sunk.

 

[82412]

Yes, I think I'm sunk too. The operator claims to have no idea how it
happened, I only wish I could have been standing at her shoulder that day!

Thanks for taking an interest anyway.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Word 2000 had more trouble with tables than the following versions, but you said that this issue is also seen in the 2002
originating version.

Your best chance is, as mentioned, working with this on the affected computer, where you might turn up some temp file versions of
the document and be able to check for any issues with the drive itself or an interfering addin.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the recover text from any file part is there any portion that is in 'plain text'? Ordinarily a
Word document file being dissected by the recovery engine would be able to locate a list of things like styles and show those. If
not, you may not have a file that is actually a .doc. It's possible that the process Word uses on files (open creates a temp file,
you work on the temp file, save/close replace the original with the temp file and names it to .doc) may have failed.

Is the file you have about the 'right size'?

You mentioned 6 documents, were they all opened at the same time?

==============
Sorry, my last post was slightly misleading. The Recover text from any file
procedure does still produce gibberish, but in fact it's different gibberish
(small sample below)

$z)W:^¼9J?
nE=byE
,¨ísaJ1a4
80
fSp/.-<)
R_ÞHwYÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿
;cÇ'+ô, qK
|S"<Êù8Êy+@=G1
oö÷g¢É>%" X¿{R>o
`/Ò¯ 2udÒBZæ×(2zjÖLhc0@ óTj



I'm guessing that this is a very bad sign. <<
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[LyndieBee]

I'm having the same problem as 82412 with the gibberish showing in the file
conversion box. However, I can add something to what I've read so far. I
must have done something on my computer on 6/11/08 because all data files
created before that time contain this date and bring up the file conversion
dialog box when I try to open. Anything created since 6/11 works as expected.