how do i retrieve formatting due to corruption & determine if template is corrupt?

[jenbad108]

I am working on an iBook G4, operating Word vX (10.1). The file I am
working on is 1.4MB.

The document I was working on was corrupt. To eliminate the overuse of
section breaks I have been converting recipes formatted using the
columns command to tables by dragging text into table created by using
AutoText command (I was not dragging the paragraph mark that followed
the text). Both John McGhee and Clive Huggins helped me with this info.
Their tips helped immensely in eliminating some of the corruption.
Currently the doc contains about 100 tables and at least 300 columns,
which I have yet to convert to tables.

I worked on the document for 8 hours yesterday. All was going well
(i.e. no crashes). I saved the document at the end of the day before
shutting down. Today when I attempted to open the document I couldn't.
Word crashed before the doc opened. I tried opening the doc with a
trial version of Word v.11, and received a message that said "Word
encountered file corruption while opening. Part of the doc may be
recoverable, do you want to attempt to recover?" After indicating
'yes' I got a text version of my doc in the Normal template (I had
created the doc using my own template). The doc also contained code
embedded in the text. Some looks fine:
TOC \o "1-4"
Lesson 1
PAGEREF _Toc509220802 \h


While other parts contain gobblygook:
ztoje`[U
|wrlgbX
÷÷÷í÷÷÷÷êêêêê÷ê÷ê÷êêêêê÷êêêå

I tried reattaching my own template to the doc, but all formatting had
been lost.

I have 3 questions:

1. Is there any way to recapture formatting by using the recovered
text? I read the responses to Mark Anthony's recent posting, titled
"Word document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged
document." JE McGimpsey's comment re: using OpenOffice seemed
promising, as I have the trial version of v11, but after looking at the
website link I was lost.

2. Is there any way that I can determine of my template is corrupt? I
read the website re: "how can I recover a corrupt document or
template" at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm, and
was stumped on how to apply the info contained on recovering a template
due to my lack of knowledge of VBA.

Note: Each chapter of the book I am working on is a separate chapter.
I have not had this type of problem in the earlier chapters. The reason
why I am concerned about template corruption is because I have made
several (maybe 10) style changes, and each time selected the "update
document template" box. After reading info on the MVP website I am
wondering if this created the "bloated" effect referred to on that
site. I would like to verify the integrity of the template, as I have a
lot invested in using this template. Unfortunately I did not create a
backup of the template when I originally created it. After reading the
MVP site I created one, but I don't know if that one is clean either.

Some of my corruption may have been due to the fact that I was using
the Document Map command. after reading the MVP website and Clive's
"Bend Word to your Will," I realized that was a mistake. I have copied
each of the chapters with the exclusion of the last paragraph mark and
pasted it into a new document based upon my template. Will this
alleviate corruption that potentially occured due to using the Doc
Map?

3.For each chapter, I selected the "Read Only Recommended" box in the
"Save: section of Word preferences, as I've had much corruption
already, and don't want others that proof this to make changes that
might inadvertently introduce more corruption. When I open documents
based on my template, a box appears that says:"Roger Template.dot
should be opened as a read only unless changes need to be saved. Open
as a read only?" My question relating to this is why does the message
box use the extension ".dot"? I save the files as documents with the
".doc" extension. Is this message box workding indicative of any errors
I've made on my part that might contribute to corruption?

Any insight is MUCH appreciated!!
Jen

PS. Thanks so much to all volunteers of this site for sharing their
knowledge. This site has been a beacon in the dark during my often
trying times of using Word.

 

[jenbad108]

I failed to include one bit of perhaps important info in my above
posting: In the template I created I had the document map option
selected. I have since de-selected that option and resaved the
template. Not sure if this creates a problem....

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Jen,

I can' answer all of your questions, but I'll give a couple of them a shot.
Hopefully John McGhie (note spelling; and it's Clive Huggan , will drop
in before long to fill in the gaps.

In regard to #2: You can "uncorrupt" a template the same way you would a
document: Open the template, copy all but the final paragraph mark and copy
into a new document. Save as a template with a different name. If the new
template works okay then, yes, the old one was corrupt.

In regard to #3: Are you positive you saved these files as documents, not
templates? If you navigate to the documents in the finder and click on
them, does the "Kind" say template or document. If it says document, then I
have no idea why they're showing as .dots.

In regard to #1: I don't believe you can recapture formatting using the
recovered text. You'll have to try something else. In the "Re: Word
document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged document?
FIXED!!" thread, Mark Anthony says he found a service to recover most of his
document, including formatting. Maybe that's the way to go.

I hope this helps a little.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

I am working on an iBook G4, operating Word vX (10.1). The file I am
working on is 1.4MB.

The document I was working on was corrupt. To eliminate the overuse of
section breaks I have been converting recipes formatted using the
columns command to tables by dragging text into table created by using
AutoText command (I was not dragging the paragraph mark that followed
the text). Both John McGhee and Clive Huggins helped me with this info.
Their tips helped immensely in eliminating some of the corruption.
Currently the doc contains about 100 tables and at least 300 columns,
which I have yet to convert to tables.

I worked on the document for 8 hours yesterday. All was going well
(i.e. no crashes). I saved the document at the end of the day before
shutting down. Today when I attempted to open the document I couldn't.
Word crashed before the doc opened. I tried opening the doc with a
trial version of Word v.11, and received a message that said "Word
encountered file corruption while opening. Part of the doc may be
recoverable, do you want to attempt to recover?" After indicating
'yes' I got a text version of my doc in the Normal template (I had
created the doc using my own template). The doc also contained code
embedded in the text. Some looks fine:
TOC \o "1-4"
Lesson 1
PAGEREF _Toc509220802 \h


While other parts contain gobblygook:
ztoje`[U
|wrlgbX
÷÷÷í÷÷÷÷êêêêê÷ê÷ê÷êêêêê÷êêêå

I tried reattaching my own template to the doc, but all formatting had
been lost.

I have 3 questions:

1. Is there any way to recapture formatting by using the recovered
text? I read the responses to Mark Anthony's recent posting, titled
"Word document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged
document." JE McGimpsey's comment re: using OpenOffice seemed
promising, as I have the trial version of v11, but after looking at the
website link I was lost.

2. Is there any way that I can determine of my template is corrupt? I
read the website re: "how can I recover a corrupt document or
template" at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm, and
was stumped on how to apply the info contained on recovering a template
due to my lack of knowledge of VBA.

Note: Each chapter of the book I am working on is a separate chapter.
I have not had this type of problem in the earlier chapters. The reason
why I am concerned about template corruption is because I have made
several (maybe 10) style changes, and each time selected the "update
document template" box. After reading info on the MVP website I am
wondering if this created the "bloated" effect referred to on that
site. I would like to verify the integrity of the template, as I have a
lot invested in using this template. Unfortunately I did not create a
backup of the template when I originally created it. After reading the
MVP site I created one, but I don't know if that one is clean either.

Some of my corruption may have been due to the fact that I was using
the Document Map command. after reading the MVP website and Clive's
"Bend Word to your Will," I realized that was a mistake. I have copied
each of the chapters with the exclusion of the last paragraph mark and
pasted it into a new document based upon my template. Will this
alleviate corruption that potentially occured due to using the Doc
Map?

3.For each chapter, I selected the "Read Only Recommended" box in the
"Save: section of Word preferences, as I've had much corruption
already, and don't want others that proof this to make changes that
might inadvertently introduce more corruption. When I open documents
based on my template, a box appears that says:"Roger Template.dot
should be opened as a read only unless changes need to be saved. Open
as a read only?" My question relating to this is why does the message
box use the extension ".dot"? I save the files as documents with the
".doc" extension. Is this message box workding indicative of any errors
I've made on my part that might contribute to corruption?

Any insight is MUCH appreciated!!
Jen

PS. Thanks so much to all volunteers of this site for sharing their
knowledge. This site has been a beacon in the dark during my often
trying times of using Word.

 

[jenbad108]

Beth,
Thanks for the info, as well as the correction on the last names .

#2: I'm glad to hear that a template can be treated in the same way as
a doc in terms of trying to rid corruption (if it's present--at this
juncture i'm not postive if it reside in the docuemnt, or in the
template, but i'm happy to resave the template in case that is part of
the problem), In my template, the only thing I have are the syles I've
set for the project, AutoText formatting, toolbars, and footer. There
is no text in the main body of the page. What I did as a possible work
around is just added a few lines so I'd have something to copy, then
copied it excluding the last paragraph, and renamed the file.
That raises a general question for me--is it necessary for me to change
the name of the document when I save the new copy? i.e will corruptions
not go away if i don't use a new name?

#3: I double checked the "kind" bar and verified that the file is saved
as a "doc." It is just the message box that appears when opening the
file that says "Roger Template.dot should be opened as a read only
unless changes need to be saved. Open as a read only?" Maybe it's just
a fluke with word that doesn't matter, for the file itself is a doc.

#1: Thanks for pointing me to the fix that worked for Mark Anthony. I
will definitely look into that!

I appreciate your input Beth.
Best regards,
Jen

Hi Jen,

I can' answer all of your questions, but I'll give a couple of them a shot.
Hopefully John McGhie (note spelling; and it's Clive Huggan , will drop
in before long to fill in the gaps.

In regard to #2: You can "uncorrupt" a template the same way you would a
document: Open the template, copy all but the final paragraph mark and copy
into a new document. Save as a template with a different name. If the new
template works okay then, yes, the old one was corrupt.

In regard to #3: Are you positive you saved these files as documents, not
templates? If you navigate to the documents in the finder and click on
them, does the "Kind" say template or document. If it says document, then I
have no idea why they're showing as .dots.

In regard to #1: I don't believe you can recapture formatting using the
recovered text. You'll have to try something else. In the "Re: Word
document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged document?
FIXED!!" thread, Mark Anthony says he found a service to recover most of his
document, including formatting. Maybe that's the way to go.

I hope this helps a little.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

I am working on an iBook G4, operating Word vX (10.1). The file I am
working on is 1.4MB.

The document I was working on was corrupt. To eliminate the overuse of
section breaks I have been converting recipes formatted using the
columns command to tables by dragging text into table created by using
AutoText command (I was not dragging the paragraph mark that followed
the text). Both John McGhee and Clive Huggins helped me with this info.
Their tips helped immensely in eliminating some of the corruption.
Currently the doc contains about 100 tables and at least 300 columns,
which I have yet to convert to tables.

I worked on the document for 8 hours yesterday. All was going well
(i.e. no crashes). I saved the document at the end of the day before
shutting down. Today when I attempted to open the document I couldn't.
Word crashed before the doc opened. I tried opening the doc with a
trial version of Word v.11, and received a message that said "Word
encountered file corruption while opening. Part of the doc may be
recoverable, do you want to attempt to recover?" After indicating
'yes' I got a text version of my doc in the Normal template (I had
created the doc using my own template). The doc also contained code
embedded in the text. Some looks fine:
TOC \o "1-4"
Lesson 1
PAGEREF _Toc509220802 \h


While other parts contain gobblygook:
ztoje`[U
|wrlgbX
÷÷÷í÷÷÷÷êêêêê÷ê÷ê÷êêêêê÷êêêå

I tried reattaching my own template to the doc, but all formatting had
been lost.

I have 3 questions:

1. Is there any way to recapture formatting by using the recovered
text? I read the responses to Mark Anthony's recent posting, titled
"Word document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged
document." JE McGimpsey's comment re: using OpenOffice seemed
promising, as I have the trial version of v11, but after looking at the
website link I was lost.

2. Is there any way that I can determine of my template is corrupt? I
read the website re: "how can I recover a corrupt document or
template" at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm, and
was stumped on how to apply the info contained on recovering a template
due to my lack of knowledge of VBA.

Note: Each chapter of the book I am working on is a separate chapter.
I have not had this type of problem in the earlier chapters. The reason
why I am concerned about template corruption is because I have made
several (maybe 10) style changes, and each time selected the "update
document template" box. After reading info on the MVP website I am
wondering if this created the "bloated" effect referred to on that
site. I would like to verify the integrity of the template, as I have a
lot invested in using this template. Unfortunately I did not create a
backup of the template when I originally created it. After reading the
MVP site I created one, but I don't know if that one is clean either.

Some of my corruption may have been due to the fact that I was using
the Document Map command. after reading the MVP website and Clive's
"Bend Word to your Will," I realized that was a mistake. I have copied
each of the chapters with the exclusion of the last paragraph mark and
pasted it into a new document based upon my template. Will this
alleviate corruption that potentially occured due to using the Doc
Map?

3.For each chapter, I selected the "Read Only Recommended" box in the
"Save: section of Word preferences, as I've had much corruption
already, and don't want others that proof this to make changes that
might inadvertently introduce more corruption. When I open documents
based on my template, a box appears that says:"Roger Template.dot
should be opened as a read only unless changes need to be saved. Open
as a read only?" My question relating to this is why does the message
box use the extension ".dot"? I save the files as documents with the
".doc" extension. Is this message box workding indicative of any errors
I've made on my part that might contribute to corruption?

Any insight is MUCH appreciated!!
Jen

PS. Thanks so much to all volunteers of this site for sharing their
knowledge. This site has been a beacon in the dark during my often
trying times of using Word.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Jen,

That raises a general question for me--is it necessary for me to change
the name of the document when I save the new copy? i.e will corruptions
not go away if i don't use a new name?

Well, if you're saving in the same location as the original file (document
or template), you *can't* use the same name. But you could change the name
of the original file before doing the save and then name the new file with
the original file name; or you could save with a new name and make the
changes later. In other words, yes, the corruptions will go away if you use
the same name.

#3: I double checked the "kind" bar and verified that the file is saved
as a "doc." It is just the message box that appears when opening the
file that says "Roger Template.dot should be opened as a read only
unless changes need to be saved. Open as a read only?" Maybe it's just
a fluke with word that doesn't matter, for the file itself is a doc.

It sounds like a fluke. Can you post back with the exact steps you took
that resulted in this dialog box? If it is a mistake, then someone at MS
should take a look and see if they can reproduce it so it can get fixed.

#1: Thanks for pointing me to the fix that worked for Mark Anthony. I
will definitely look into that!

You're welcome and good luck.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[jenbad108]

Hello Beth,
I was out of town for a few days, hence the dely in responding to your
email.

Here's a response to your comment: "It sounds like a fluke. Can you
post back with the exact steps you took that resulted in this dialog
box? If it is a mistake, then someone at MS
should take a look and see if they can reproduce it so it can get
fixed."...

I tried doing the same thing, and didn't get the dialogue box. what I
had done before is opened the project gallery and selected my document
template. In the "create" box, I selected "document."
In the "Word/Preferences/Save" screen, I checked the "Read only
recommended" box. I worked on the document, saved it (as a document,
which was the default option) and closed it. When I later opened the
document I got the message box with the text asking if I wanted the
file to be opened as a read only. Only the extension was listed as .dot
instead of .doc, as I indicated in previous emails. This happened
multiple times, at least 6. Since our last email exchange I de-selected
the "Read only recommended" box, saved and closed it, then opened it
again. This time around I did not get the .dot extention that I did
first time around. Not sure why. If it happens again I will let you
know.

Best,
Jen

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Jen,

Okay. And thanks for letting me know.

Beth