Weird Squares

[Stan]

Word 2003 & XP. Occasionally when I try to open an old document that I have
opened before, instead of text I get a million lines of square symbols.

Does anyone know why this happens and can I retrieve the text? Stan

 

[Terry Farrell]

It is usually a symptom that the document has become corrupt. Has it been
save to some for of removable media since it was last edited as this is the
usual reason for corruptions like this?

 

[Klaus Linke]

Word 2003 & XP. Occasionally when I try to open an old document that I
have opened before, instead of text I get a million lines of square
symbols.

Does anyone know why this happens and can I retrieve the text? Stan

Hi Stan,

I suspect (guess) that this might also happen through a missing font, by
Word substituting a regular font, or maybe the other way round.
Perhaps check in "Tools > Options > Compatibility > Font substitution".
And don't save a document when you see the text as squares (or only under a
new name), since once the document is saved, the font substitution becomes
difficult to fix (because Word uses a special code page for symbol fonts,
and once you save, the codes become permanently changed).

Regards,
Klaus

 

[Stan]

No, not the case but Thanks for the input.
Stan

It is usually a symptom that the document has become corrupt. Has it been
save to some for of removable media since it was last edited as this is
the usual reason for corruptions like this?

 

[Stan]

Hi Klaus,
Thanks for the info but this was not the case.
Stan