A
alex s
I have tried everything. I have tried using the 'Open and Repair' button. I have changed the path name to docm. I have changed the name of the document. I have held the SHIFT key down while opening the document; and still the problem continues. Please be so kind as to helping me resolve this issue, thanks you very much in advance.
Tony Jollans wrote:
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is
04-Oct-09
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is lyin
(certainly possible) or the document has been corrupted. Unfortunatel
recovery of corrupt Word 2007 documents is generally not possible, althoug
part of it may be recoverable, depending on where the corruption is. If al
else fails I'd be happy to take a look if you send me a copy of it
-
Enjoy
Ton
www.WordArticles.com
Previous Posts In This Thread:
Word cannot open a document "because there are problems with conte
I have Vista for Home and my problem is with a Word document - I use thi
particular file a lot, and suddenly, Word cannot open it. The dialog bo
reads "Word cannot open (filename) because there are problems with th
content". The only options then are "OK" and "Details". When I click on th
Details button, it says "Illegal qualified name character Location:....
There is no option to fix/repair, or anything else. There is nothing unusua
about this file, it is just text. ALL of my other Word document files ar
fine, only this one will not open. I have the file backed up, and the bac
up file has the same problem now. I also tried the document text recovery
and that did not help. It just converted the file into symbols so it wa
completely unhelpful. If anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciat
it!! Thank you.
Try Open and Repair: Navigate to the file in the Open dialog box (which youcan
Try Open and Repair: Navigate to the file in the Open dialog box (which yo
can display by clicking Ctrl+O). Select it and then click the arrow next t
the Open button. Click Open and Repair
-
Stefan Blo
Microsoft Word MVP
I am guessing this is a Word 2007 document?
I am guessing this is a Word 2007 document? If so...I will also gues
that the file extension is .docx? Try renaming the file to .docm an
see if it opens then. BUT! Immediately after you click to attempt t
open the file...HOLD DOWN the shift key until the file is completel
opened
In the 2007 format, when macros are added to document, the format mus
be changed to .docm to acknowledge that there are macros contained
This is the new (annoying) way to ensure that people cannot open
file that contains a macro. However, if someone should change the fil
extension from .docm to .docx, while it still contains macros, yo
will get the error message that the file cannot be opened due t
problems with it
If this is indeed the problem (although it is just one reason for tha
message), then changing the file back to the .docm extension wil
allow the file to be opened
BUT! If it does contain a macro, particularly an unknown auto ru
macro, it could be a virus. This is why you MUST hold down the shif
key as the file opens...which will disable a macro from running whe
opening and could save you if this is the problem
This may not be the issue...but it is one that I am quite aware of an
you might as well give it a shot to see if this change will allow yo
to recover your content. If it does open the file, then also hit Alt
F11 and review/delete any VBA code you find in any of the module
attached to that file
Good luck..
Dian D. Chapma
Technical Consultant & Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified Instructor
Editor/TechTrax Ezine, Technical Editor/Word & Office 2007 Bible
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dian.Chapma
Dian's Soldiers' Sit
http://www.mousetrax.com/Angel
Free Word Tricks eBook: http://www.mousetrax.com/books.htm
Learn VBA the easy way: http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html
Free Computer Tutorials: http://www.techtrax.us
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is lying
(certainly possible) or the document has been corrupted. Unfortunately
recovery of corrupt Word 2007 documents is generally not possible, although
part of it may be recoverable, depending on where the corruption is. If all
else fails I'd be happy to take a look if you send me a copy of it.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate all your suggestions and
Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate all your suggestions and I
tried them all. Still, nothing has worked, and I still cannot open the file!
In the meantime, someone suggested to me that perhaps the problem is because
this was a Word file that I ONLY saved onto a flash drive. My computer
automatically saved a back up copy to my 'downloads/documents' file on the C
drive. Do you think that could be the problem? If that is the issue, is
there any way to prevent a Word document from self-corrupting when it goes
back and forth between a hard drive and a flash drive? I back up all my
files on flash drives for safety, but if this could cause files to corrupt,
how else can you protect the files?
Dian - to answer your questions, yes it is Word 2007 and the file extension
was .docx. I tried renaming it to .docm as you suggested and it still gave
me the same dialog box when I tried to open it with the new file extension.
Also - I do not understand macros so I never put any in this document on
purpose. Can a macro just randomly happen? The document has text only.
If anyone has any other ideas I would be most grateful. Thanks again!
:
I am not entirely sure what you are saying about the automatic backup but
I am not entirely sure what you are saying about the automatic backup but it
should not itself be the cause of any corruption. Saving to a flash drive
can, however, be a problem - but it is not usually Word that causes it; the
most likely cause is failing to 'safely remove' the drive. If you backup to
flash drives make sure that the backup can be read after the flash drive has
been removed and re-inserted - only then is it safe to delete the version on
the hard drive.
Although there is a sort of resilience in the new xml formats, most of it is
lost in the (automatic) process of zipping, which also makes the 'recover
text' option useless. Without seeing the file it is difficult to know the
extent of the corruption, or what might be (manually) possible - I very much
doubt you will be able to do anything in any other way.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Flash drive is probably the problem.
Flash drive is probably the problem. You'll find hundreds of posts of the
last decade regarding corrupt documents all down to using removable media
when working with Word (all versions). IT IS THE NUMBER 1 WAY TO CORRUPT
DOCUMENTS.
You should ALWAYS work using you local HDD and then Copy to/from your
removable media.
As a final test to see if there is anything recoverable, try the following
options:
Open using the Recover text from any file
Open in WordPad
Open using OpenOffice
But I have pessimistic because the error message regarding illegal name
suggests that the file contents are corrupt.
--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP
Unfortunately, and often misunderstood, this does not work on Word 2007format
Unfortunately, and often misunderstood, this does not work on Word 2007
format documents.
That is worth a try.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Thanks Tony.
Thanks Tony. I was not aware that the 'Recover Text' does not work with the
new format.
Terry
"Tony Jollans" <My forename at my surname dot com> wrote in message
It works in the sense that it will recover text, but, because of the newzipped
It works in the sense that it will recover text, but, because of the new
zipped format, there is no (meaningful) text to recover.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
I am really dismayed to hear this.
I am really dismayed to hear this. The early MS talk about the new file
formats said that because the content is in a separate file from much of the
formatting, users would be less likely to lose their content. Either MS
reps said or I inferred that after unzipping the file, one could open the
xml file in a text editor and retrieve the text. I envision pasting he text
back into Word and cleaning up the <*> with find and replace. (I have
accidentally deleted too much in a document.xml and made it unopenable, but
I did not try to recover it because I had been working on/playing with a copy.
)
Are you saying that the zip file or the document.xml file cannot be opened in
a text editor?
Pam
Tony Jollans wrote:
--
The 2007 xml package format is, itself, reasonably robust.
The 2007 xml package format is, itself, reasonably robust. There are some
problems that can occur with it (the most common one I see is with TOCs in
largish documents), and they can generally be fixed - I woudn't say it is
easy (although it is easier than trying to mend earlier binary files), but
it is usually possible.
The problem comes with the zip element of it. The most common form of
corruption is nothing to do with Word, or the xml; it is corruption of the
file on disk, more often than not related to external drives or removable
media. If part of the zip structure is damaged, it may not be possible to
unzip the file at all, so working with the xml is out of the question.
Very loosely, zip 'archives' are composed of individual files; there is a
catalogue describing the archive, and each file within it consists of a code
table followed by the zip-encoded data. If the catalogue is corrupt, it may
be possible to do something with a hex editor; if the code table of any file
is corrupt, that file is essentially lost; if part of the encoded data is
corrupt, that part of it, and some or all of what follows, is completely
lost.
As I said in one of my replies to Terry, the 'recover text from any file'
option is of no use as that simply reads the binary data looking for text,
but zipped data is not text, so it never finds any to recover.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
For what it is worth, my guess in this particular case is that a part of oneof
For what it is worth, my guess in this particular case is that a part of one
of the files in the zip archive (document.xml is usually the largest and
most likely to be the subject of corruption) has got corrupted. The unzip
has 'worked' but the process has only got a certain way into the corrupt
file and then, essentially, found rubbish that neither Word nor any xml
editor can make sense of. The content up to that point (wherever it is) is
probably recoverable by manual editing of the xml text.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
"Tony Jollans" <My forename at my surname dot com> wrote in message
Thank you for answering.
Thank you for answering. After I wrote you, I opened in Word Pad a small
document.xml file that I had deliberately and then copied and pasted it into
Word as unformatted text. Getting rid of the xml codes was easy with find: \
<*\> replace with _nothing_. That left me with my text and lots of nearly
empty paragraphs. If I had to do it often, I'd figure out a better search
strategy. I am relieved that the content is still obtainable without too much
work.
The nice thing about xml and html is that they could be examined by a parser
that can tell you where the error is. A few years ago, I used one to help me
upgrade old html code to version 4. There may not be any such programs
available for W2007 & 2010 now, but surely there will be.
Regards,
Pam
Tony Jollans wrote:
--
No. A macro cannot "just happen.
No. A macro cannot "just happen." However, if you are not sure what
you are doing, you COULD record a macro that would end up in the file,
but more importantly...since I did not know the origins of the doc...it
may have been possible that you got the file from someone else that
added a macro and renamed it?
Anyway, you can try renaming the document from [whatever].docx to
[whatever].zip. Then right click it from Windows Explorer (which you
can open by hitting Windows Key + E) and choose to EXTRACT ALL. This
will give you a folder with the various PARTS of the file (assuming
the file is not too corrupted to be extracted). From there, you may be
able to salvage the file???
Good luck...
Dian D. Chapman
Technical Consultant & Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified Instructor,
Editor/TechTrax Ezine, Technical Editor/Word & Office 2007 Bibles
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dian.Chapman
Dian's Soldiers' Site
http://www.mousetrax.com/Angels
Free Word Tricks eBook: http://www.mousetrax.com/books.html
Learn VBA the easy way: http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html
Free Computer Tutorials: http://www.techtrax.us
I have been having same/very simialr problem.
I have been having same/very simialr problem. Went to MSOffice site and ran
thru all their suggestions. Accidentally discovered the underlying template
file was "probably" corrupted. Opened Word with blank doc and inserted
problem template then saved over bad template. Docs open fine now. Would be
interested if that fixes other problems as well.
:
Follow up: Found out a little later that document protection is causing
Follow up: Found out a little later that document protection is causing my
problem. I have this issue over several different templates, all having form
fields. If I unprotect the template, all documents open without problem.
:
wrote:ranplateWould beHi John,Can you be more specific regarding your text:
wrote:
ran
plate
Would be
Hi John,
Can you be more specific regarding your text: "Opened Word with blank
doc and inserted
you did here. Thank you.
1. Open Word to a blank document2. Insert, File and choose bad.dot3.
1. Open Word to a blank document
2. Insert, File and choose bad.dot
3. SaveAs bad.dot
(Where bad.dot is the name of the problem template.)
--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP
Illegal Qualified Named Character
I have read the majority of the reviews online and still I am not able to fix this issue. I have renamed the file. I have changed the way the document opens from docx. to docm. and still the error message continues. I have tried using the 'OPEN and REPAIR' and no still the problem continues. I even tried hold down the SHIFT button while the file opens. Would you be so kind as to shedding some light in resolving this issue. Thank you in advance.
Submitted via EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
Book Review: C# 4.0 In a Nutshell [O'Reilly]
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorial...-a2da-88dde2e6d891/book-review-c-40-in-a.aspx
Tony Jollans wrote:
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is
04-Oct-09
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is lyin
(certainly possible) or the document has been corrupted. Unfortunatel
recovery of corrupt Word 2007 documents is generally not possible, althoug
part of it may be recoverable, depending on where the corruption is. If al
else fails I'd be happy to take a look if you send me a copy of it
-
Enjoy
Ton
www.WordArticles.com
Previous Posts In This Thread:
Word cannot open a document "because there are problems with conte
I have Vista for Home and my problem is with a Word document - I use thi
particular file a lot, and suddenly, Word cannot open it. The dialog bo
reads "Word cannot open (filename) because there are problems with th
content". The only options then are "OK" and "Details". When I click on th
Details button, it says "Illegal qualified name character Location:....
There is no option to fix/repair, or anything else. There is nothing unusua
about this file, it is just text. ALL of my other Word document files ar
fine, only this one will not open. I have the file backed up, and the bac
up file has the same problem now. I also tried the document text recovery
and that did not help. It just converted the file into symbols so it wa
completely unhelpful. If anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciat
it!! Thank you.
Try Open and Repair: Navigate to the file in the Open dialog box (which youcan
Try Open and Repair: Navigate to the file in the Open dialog box (which yo
can display by clicking Ctrl+O). Select it and then click the arrow next t
the Open button. Click Open and Repair
-
Stefan Blo
Microsoft Word MVP
I am guessing this is a Word 2007 document?
I am guessing this is a Word 2007 document? If so...I will also gues
that the file extension is .docx? Try renaming the file to .docm an
see if it opens then. BUT! Immediately after you click to attempt t
open the file...HOLD DOWN the shift key until the file is completel
opened
In the 2007 format, when macros are added to document, the format mus
be changed to .docm to acknowledge that there are macros contained
This is the new (annoying) way to ensure that people cannot open
file that contains a macro. However, if someone should change the fil
extension from .docm to .docx, while it still contains macros, yo
will get the error message that the file cannot be opened due t
problems with it
If this is indeed the problem (although it is just one reason for tha
message), then changing the file back to the .docm extension wil
allow the file to be opened
BUT! If it does contain a macro, particularly an unknown auto ru
macro, it could be a virus. This is why you MUST hold down the shif
key as the file opens...which will disable a macro from running whe
opening and could save you if this is the problem
This may not be the issue...but it is one that I am quite aware of an
you might as well give it a shot to see if this change will allow yo
to recover your content. If it does open the file, then also hit Alt
F11 and review/delete any VBA code you find in any of the module
attached to that file
Good luck..
Dian D. Chapma
Technical Consultant & Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified Instructor
Editor/TechTrax Ezine, Technical Editor/Word & Office 2007 Bible
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dian.Chapma
Dian's Soldiers' Sit
http://www.mousetrax.com/Angel
Free Word Tricks eBook: http://www.mousetrax.com/books.htm
Learn VBA the easy way: http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html
Free Computer Tutorials: http://www.techtrax.us
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is
Very few characters are illegal in names, so either the message is lying
(certainly possible) or the document has been corrupted. Unfortunately
recovery of corrupt Word 2007 documents is generally not possible, although
part of it may be recoverable, depending on where the corruption is. If all
else fails I'd be happy to take a look if you send me a copy of it.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate all your suggestions and
Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate all your suggestions and I
tried them all. Still, nothing has worked, and I still cannot open the file!
In the meantime, someone suggested to me that perhaps the problem is because
this was a Word file that I ONLY saved onto a flash drive. My computer
automatically saved a back up copy to my 'downloads/documents' file on the C
drive. Do you think that could be the problem? If that is the issue, is
there any way to prevent a Word document from self-corrupting when it goes
back and forth between a hard drive and a flash drive? I back up all my
files on flash drives for safety, but if this could cause files to corrupt,
how else can you protect the files?
Dian - to answer your questions, yes it is Word 2007 and the file extension
was .docx. I tried renaming it to .docm as you suggested and it still gave
me the same dialog box when I tried to open it with the new file extension.
Also - I do not understand macros so I never put any in this document on
purpose. Can a macro just randomly happen? The document has text only.
If anyone has any other ideas I would be most grateful. Thanks again!
:
I am not entirely sure what you are saying about the automatic backup but
I am not entirely sure what you are saying about the automatic backup but it
should not itself be the cause of any corruption. Saving to a flash drive
can, however, be a problem - but it is not usually Word that causes it; the
most likely cause is failing to 'safely remove' the drive. If you backup to
flash drives make sure that the backup can be read after the flash drive has
been removed and re-inserted - only then is it safe to delete the version on
the hard drive.
Although there is a sort of resilience in the new xml formats, most of it is
lost in the (automatic) process of zipping, which also makes the 'recover
text' option useless. Without seeing the file it is difficult to know the
extent of the corruption, or what might be (manually) possible - I very much
doubt you will be able to do anything in any other way.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Flash drive is probably the problem.
Flash drive is probably the problem. You'll find hundreds of posts of the
last decade regarding corrupt documents all down to using removable media
when working with Word (all versions). IT IS THE NUMBER 1 WAY TO CORRUPT
DOCUMENTS.
You should ALWAYS work using you local HDD and then Copy to/from your
removable media.
As a final test to see if there is anything recoverable, try the following
options:
Open using the Recover text from any file
Open in WordPad
Open using OpenOffice
But I have pessimistic because the error message regarding illegal name
suggests that the file contents are corrupt.
--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP
Unfortunately, and often misunderstood, this does not work on Word 2007format
Unfortunately, and often misunderstood, this does not work on Word 2007
format documents.
That is worth a try.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
Thanks Tony.
Thanks Tony. I was not aware that the 'Recover Text' does not work with the
new format.
Terry
"Tony Jollans" <My forename at my surname dot com> wrote in message
It works in the sense that it will recover text, but, because of the newzipped
It works in the sense that it will recover text, but, because of the new
zipped format, there is no (meaningful) text to recover.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
I am really dismayed to hear this.
I am really dismayed to hear this. The early MS talk about the new file
formats said that because the content is in a separate file from much of the
formatting, users would be less likely to lose their content. Either MS
reps said or I inferred that after unzipping the file, one could open the
xml file in a text editor and retrieve the text. I envision pasting he text
back into Word and cleaning up the <*> with find and replace. (I have
accidentally deleted too much in a document.xml and made it unopenable, but
I did not try to recover it because I had been working on/playing with a copy.
)
Are you saying that the zip file or the document.xml file cannot be opened in
a text editor?
Pam
Tony Jollans wrote:
--
The 2007 xml package format is, itself, reasonably robust.
The 2007 xml package format is, itself, reasonably robust. There are some
problems that can occur with it (the most common one I see is with TOCs in
largish documents), and they can generally be fixed - I woudn't say it is
easy (although it is easier than trying to mend earlier binary files), but
it is usually possible.
The problem comes with the zip element of it. The most common form of
corruption is nothing to do with Word, or the xml; it is corruption of the
file on disk, more often than not related to external drives or removable
media. If part of the zip structure is damaged, it may not be possible to
unzip the file at all, so working with the xml is out of the question.
Very loosely, zip 'archives' are composed of individual files; there is a
catalogue describing the archive, and each file within it consists of a code
table followed by the zip-encoded data. If the catalogue is corrupt, it may
be possible to do something with a hex editor; if the code table of any file
is corrupt, that file is essentially lost; if part of the encoded data is
corrupt, that part of it, and some or all of what follows, is completely
lost.
As I said in one of my replies to Terry, the 'recover text from any file'
option is of no use as that simply reads the binary data looking for text,
but zipped data is not text, so it never finds any to recover.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
For what it is worth, my guess in this particular case is that a part of oneof
For what it is worth, my guess in this particular case is that a part of one
of the files in the zip archive (document.xml is usually the largest and
most likely to be the subject of corruption) has got corrupted. The unzip
has 'worked' but the process has only got a certain way into the corrupt
file and then, essentially, found rubbish that neither Word nor any xml
editor can make sense of. The content up to that point (wherever it is) is
probably recoverable by manual editing of the xml text.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
www.WordArticles.com
"Tony Jollans" <My forename at my surname dot com> wrote in message
Thank you for answering.
Thank you for answering. After I wrote you, I opened in Word Pad a small
document.xml file that I had deliberately and then copied and pasted it into
Word as unformatted text. Getting rid of the xml codes was easy with find: \
<*\> replace with _nothing_. That left me with my text and lots of nearly
empty paragraphs. If I had to do it often, I'd figure out a better search
strategy. I am relieved that the content is still obtainable without too much
work.
The nice thing about xml and html is that they could be examined by a parser
that can tell you where the error is. A few years ago, I used one to help me
upgrade old html code to version 4. There may not be any such programs
available for W2007 & 2010 now, but surely there will be.
Regards,
Pam
Tony Jollans wrote:
--
No. A macro cannot "just happen.
No. A macro cannot "just happen." However, if you are not sure what
you are doing, you COULD record a macro that would end up in the file,
but more importantly...since I did not know the origins of the doc...it
may have been possible that you got the file from someone else that
added a macro and renamed it?
Anyway, you can try renaming the document from [whatever].docx to
[whatever].zip. Then right click it from Windows Explorer (which you
can open by hitting Windows Key + E) and choose to EXTRACT ALL. This
will give you a folder with the various PARTS of the file (assuming
the file is not too corrupted to be extracted). From there, you may be
able to salvage the file???
Good luck...
Dian D. Chapman
Technical Consultant & Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified Instructor,
Editor/TechTrax Ezine, Technical Editor/Word & Office 2007 Bibles
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dian.Chapman
Dian's Soldiers' Site
http://www.mousetrax.com/Angels
Free Word Tricks eBook: http://www.mousetrax.com/books.html
Learn VBA the easy way: http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html
Free Computer Tutorials: http://www.techtrax.us
I have been having same/very simialr problem.
I have been having same/very simialr problem. Went to MSOffice site and ran
thru all their suggestions. Accidentally discovered the underlying template
file was "probably" corrupted. Opened Word with blank doc and inserted
problem template then saved over bad template. Docs open fine now. Would be
interested if that fixes other problems as well.
:
Follow up: Found out a little later that document protection is causing
Follow up: Found out a little later that document protection is causing my
problem. I have this issue over several different templates, all having form
fields. If I unprotect the template, all documents open without problem.
:
wrote:ranplateWould beHi John,Can you be more specific regarding your text:
wrote:
ran
plate
Would be
Hi John,
Can you be more specific regarding your text: "Opened Word with blank
doc and inserted
you did here. Thank you.
1. Open Word to a blank document2. Insert, File and choose bad.dot3.
1. Open Word to a blank document
2. Insert, File and choose bad.dot
3. SaveAs bad.dot
(Where bad.dot is the name of the problem template.)
--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP
Illegal Qualified Named Character
I have read the majority of the reviews online and still I am not able to fix this issue. I have renamed the file. I have changed the way the document opens from docx. to docm. and still the error message continues. I have tried using the 'OPEN and REPAIR' and no still the problem continues. I even tried hold down the SHIFT button while the file opens. Would you be so kind as to shedding some light in resolving this issue. Thank you in advance.
Submitted via EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
Book Review: C# 4.0 In a Nutshell [O'Reilly]
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorial...-a2da-88dde2e6d891/book-review-c-40-in-a.aspx
