When all is tried and nothing works?

[H.P.Hoeie, Norway]

I consider myself as a skilled user of Word. I use Word 2003. Today I faced
the problem of Word being unable to open my document. This has happened
before, but now the "text recovery tool", "Open and repair" and even opening
the Word document from OpenOffice.org didn't work. Usually one of the tricks
do.
This time it was just a small text with only 4 styles, so after posting this
message I've started typing again.
Why is it not possible for the vendor to supply a "last recovery tool" which
just leaves me the bare text? Reformatting it is the easiest part..

 

[Terry Farrell]

Did you save the document to your local hard disk drive? I'd be very
concerned if such a small, simple document corrupted when being used only on
the local drive.

 

[H.P.Hoeie, Norway]

Thank you for reply.

Yes, the file was properly saved on the hard drive. It was this file I tried
to open. I will also add that every other precaution like updating malware
program, firewalls etc etc has been taken.

Furthermore Word stores the file while I am writing.

HPH

 

[Terry Farrell]

Have you done a full Disk Check of your drive to make sure there are no
dodgy tracks?

Terry

 

[H.P.Hoeie, Norway]

Yes, Terry, the disk has been checked. My computer is sound and healthy.
HP

 

[Terry Farrell]

Well Word 2003 was usually rock solid and a completely corrupt file that
cannot be opened any way at all is unusual. Usually there is some other
influence causing the problem such as a third party add-in that is using
custom Save macros or saving the document to network drive or removable
media. If this is occurring regularly, then try to find if there is
something common about the corrupt documents and what is different from
other non-problem documents.

Meanwhile, check that the printer driver is definitely up to date and that
your temp folder is empty and not full of abandoned temporary files. There's
some tips on cleaning the drive in the following FAQ:
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Terry