"File is corrupt and cannot be opened" error message

[jsl20]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

another problem with MS Word 2008. I have a document, that when i try to open it has the error message "file is corrupt and cannot be opened," word then asks me if i want it to try anyway. if i click yes it recovers the document. i've copy and pasted the entire document into a new document and saved it but this new document has the same problem. the document is made up of text, jpegs and png files made on illustrator. any ideas on how to fix this?

thanks!

 

[John McGhie]

You need to do some diagnostics first to see what is wrong.

My first thought is the JPEGs.

Copy the file and remove them all. Does that fix it? If not, take out the
PNGs. Note: You need to Save, Close, and re-open the file each time: the
damage will not be removed until the final save and close.

You have to be very careful editing immediately adjacent to an "object" such
as a picture. Objects are not stored in the text, they are stored in a
container and bought into the text by reference links. It's easy to damage
these links with careless editing.

But I would need to know what format you are using before I can say much
more: .doc and ,docx are completely different in how they behave.

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

another problem with MS Word 2008. I have a document, that when i try to open
it has the error message "file is corrupt and cannot be opened," word then
asks me if i want it to try anyway. if i click yes it recovers the document.
i've copy and pasted the entire document into a new document and saved it but
this new document has the same problem. the document is made up of text, jpegs
and png files made on illustrator. any ideas on how to fix this?

thanks!

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[jsl20]

hi,

its a docx. i've played around and it looks like its some equations i've inserted are the cause of the problem.

 

[John McGhie]

Bingo! You've got it. Equations are a legendary source of document
corruption. This happens a lot less often in the .docx format -- are you
fully updated?

In the old days, we used to advise people to convert their equations to
"Pictures" as soon as they were finalised: the document survives a lot more
reliably that way. You could consider that, if you do not need to edit the
equations.

Hope this helps

hi,

its a docx. i've played around and it looks like its some equations i've
inserted are the cause of the problem.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[jsl20]

i'll give the pictures thing a try. annoying really! thanks for your help though!

 

[cjhernandez]

I've just experienced the same problem, probably caused by equations (Word 2008 12.1.2 running on Mac OSX 10.5.4, Intel) but Word does not give me the option of opening the file anyways.

Is there anyway I can rescue this file (I did a lot of commenting on it)?

 

[John McGhie]

Yes: You can open the .docx container and drag the equations out of it.

1) Change the file extension to .zip

2) Unzip the result

4) Search among the folders you find for the equations and delete them.

5) Zip the thing back up

6) Change the file extension back to .docx

Warning: If you do this on a Mac, you need to remove the Resource Fork from
the Zip container, otherwise Word will see the file as "damaged" and won't
open it.

Cheers

I've just experienced the same problem, probably caused by equations (Word
2008 12.1.2 running on Mac OSX 10.5.4, Intel) but Word does not give me the
option of opening the file anyways.

Is there anyway I can rescue this file (I did a lot of commenting on it)?

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Steve V]

I have a very similar problem.
I had a word doc (.docx) on an external hard drive that crashed. I was able
to recover all my data thanks to GetDataBack however one file I really wanted
is corrupt. When I open the file is says, "The Office XML file TV Shows.docx
cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents". If I click
the details button it says, "The file is currupt and cannot be opened". When
I click OK it says, "Word fould unreadable content in "TV Shows.docx". Do you
want to recover the contents of this document? If you trust the source of
this document, click Yes". So I click yes and then it says, "The Office Open
XML file TV Shows.docx cannot be opened because there are problems with the
contents". Once again I click the details button and it says, "Illegal xml
character. Location: Part: /word/document.xml, Line: 2, Column: 31886"

All this file is is tv shows and seasons I have. However it took me about 6
hours to make so I would not want to have to do it again if there is a way to
recover the data on this file. Here are examples of what is in the file
(cause Im not quite sure if these are considered equations or not):
Lost - s01
Lost - s02
Heroes - s02
My name is earl - s03
Family guy - s04
Robot chicken - s02
ect....

I tried your instructions on removing the equations but Im not sure I know
what to look for. When I open the .docx file with notepad it shows thosands
of strange characters. None of which are letters or numbers. Any help is
greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Steve

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Steve:

No, sorry, you have lost it. Everything you could have tried, Word has
already tried for you. The text file itself is damaged beyond repaid.

When it asked you "Do you want to try to recover the content..." it gave up
trying to open the document for you, and tried to use a different process to
extract just the text.

It was not able to do so: sorry, it has gone.

Bring it back from your backup.

Cheers

On 17/08/08 4:24 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Steve V" <Steve

I have a very similar problem.
I had a word doc (.docx) on an external hard drive that crashed. I was able
to recover all my data thanks to GetDataBack however one file I really wanted
is corrupt. When I open the file is says, "The Office XML file TV Shows.docx
cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents". If I click
the details button it says, "The file is currupt and cannot be opened". When
I click OK it says, "Word fould unreadable content in "TV Shows.docx". Do you
want to recover the contents of this document? If you trust the source of
this document, click Yes". So I click yes and then it says, "The Office Open
XML file TV Shows.docx cannot be opened because there are problems with the
contents". Once again I click the details button and it says, "Illegal xml
character. Location: Part: /word/document.xml, Line: 2, Column: 31886"

All this file is is tv shows and seasons I have. However it took me about 6
hours to make so I would not want to have to do it again if there is a way to
recover the data on this file. Here are examples of what is in the file
(cause Im not quite sure if these are considered equations or not):
Lost - s01
Lost - s02
Heroes - s02
My name is earl - s03
Family guy - s04
Robot chicken - s02
ect....

I tried your instructions on removing the equations but Im not sure I know
what to look for. When I open the .docx file with notepad it shows thosands
of strange characters. None of which are letters or numbers. Any help is
greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Steve

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Steve V]

what do you mean by "bring it back from your backup" ?

 

[John McGhie]

Restore your file from your backup. Time Machine, or whatever you are using
to back up your data.

what do you mean by "bring it back from your backup" ?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]