Word document crashes Word program -- how can I fix the damaged document?

[Mark Anthony]

I have a 2.8 MB Word document (MS Word X for Mac, Office 10.1.6 update;
system 10.3.8 on an ibook G4), with tables and figures, table of
contents, and embeded equations with Equation Editor. Two days ago Word
suddenly quit right in the middle of saving this document. Now when I
attempt to re-open the document, Word opens and the document opens and
displays the first page, but within a couple of seconds Word just quits
unexpectedly. I get an error message saying that "The application
Microsoft has unexpectedly quit," and a bug report that says:

Command: Microsoft Word
Path: /Microsoft Office X/Microsoft Word
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 918
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x017bc000

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 Microsoft Word 0x028a3ad0 0x2008000 + 0x89bad0
1 Microsoft Word 0x02063354 0x2008000 + 0x5b354....

Because MS Word just quit during the save, there was no autorecovery
file (I checked). I tried the recovery methods suggested on the MS
Support page -- pasting the damaged file into a new document, and
opening the document with a link -- and neither worked. (When pasting
into a new document the new document just quit like opening original.)

I have opened the file using "recover any text," and have determined
that the recovered-text file appears to have all of my text. However, I
need my tables, figures, and equations, as well as the formatting. Any
suggestions on how to repair and open this document? (Note: all my
other Word documents open normally.)

 

[Rudy Kohut]

Hi Mark

I know this must be very frustrating for you. It sounds like the file is
trashed and you will be lucky to recover your text - the formatting and
everything else is gone.

Next time, turn on the preference item that creates a backup copy of the
file every time you work on it.

Wish I could be more helpful.

Good luck

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have opened the file using "recover any text," and have determined
that the recovered-text file appears to have all of my text. However, I
need my tables, figures, and equations, as well as the formatting. Any
suggestions on how to repair and open this document? (Note: all my
other Word documents open normally.)

If you have access to WinWord2002/2003, those applications have some
advanced ability to correct corruption.

I've also had success with OpenOffice:

http://openoffice.org/

which runs in Apples X Window environment, X11:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/

There's a JavaScript version of OO called NeoOfficeJ - find it on
VersionTracker - but I've not used it to recover files.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Mark,

When you say you copied and pasted into a new document, you were careful NOT
to copy the last paragraph mark, right?

Okay, then try this: Assuming you can still open the document briefly, open
it and copy the first half and paste into a new doc window. Do the same
with the second half (minus the last para mark). Now see if either or both
of the halves crashes. One of them should. If that's the case, it suggests
that you have a corrupt element in the doc, rather than a corrupt doc.

You can isolate the corrupt element by continuing to divide the half that
crashes in half again, etc. Chances are you have a corrupt table(s), but it
could be a figure(s) or equation(s).

To uncorrupt a table, tab into it and go to Table> Convert> Convert Table to
Text. Then immediately (without moving or changing anything), go to Table>
Convert> Convert Text to Table.

As far as figures and equations are concerned, I think you'll have to remake
them.

I hope this helps and please report back on your progress.

--
***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>

 

[Mark Anthony]

Dear Beth,

Thanks for the response. I'm afraid I mis-wrote and hence misled you
when I wrote that I tried "pasting the damaged file into a new
document," because what I did was try INSERTING the damaged file into a
new blank document. (Although the damaged file does open briefly -- for
about 3 seconds -- I am unable to select or copy any of it while it is
open.) That is one of the two recovery methods that the MS web site
recommends when you can't open the damaged file. It didn't work, and
neither did the "paste-link command" method.

My plans now are as follows:

1) I am in contact with a company (Cimaware, based in Spain) that
offers to recover single documents in 15 minutes, over the web, for
$29/document. Their program is called "Word Rescue," based on their
"WordFIX" engine. It appears that they can recover tables and some
figures, but not "OLE" objects. I do not know whether this exclusion
includes embedded Equation Editor equations, and have sent them an
e-mail asking them whether it does.

2) If #1 doesn't work, I will try opening the document with the demo
version of Word 2004 or with OpenOffice. (Note: I tried opening the
document with Appleworks 6, and it said that the MacLink conversion
failed. I also tried with Word 2001 for Mac, and the file opened but
hanged forever.) I have a feeling, thoughk, that if "Word Rescue"
doesn't work, then these #2 options won't.

3) If #1 and #2 don't work, I'll extract some of the text from the
recovered-text version of the file and insert it into my two-week-old
backed-up version.

Thanks all,

Mark

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Mark,

Obviously, you'll backup more often from now on, right ? I suggest you
turn on "Always make backup" in Preferences> Save, and if you have "Allow
Fast Saves" turned on, turn it off and leave it off forever: It's a major
cause of document corruption.

Inserting the damaged document into a new doc may allow you to open it in
some cases, but it won't remove any corruption the doc contains. You should
read the following article for future reference:
<http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/DocumentCorruption.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice; better yet, use another
browser.)

Also, in that article, a decorruption method is described which involves
saving as a Web page. That still *might* work for you. Try it before you
pay a recovery service. That is, IF you can get the document to stay open
long enough.

--
***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>

 

[Clive Huggan]

Let us know how you go, Mark!

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
=============

 

[Mark Anthony]

Dear all,

I ended up paying a recovery service (word-rescue.com) to recover the
document. They succeeded in getting almost all of it back. As I
mentioned before, the document was a 2.8 MB Word Mac X file, about 400
pp., with lots of tables, figures, and equations, and a table of
contents. The service recovered all of the tables, text, and
formatting, and almost all of the equations, but none of my figures. (I
happened to have up-to-date back ups of my figures, however). The
service cost $29 for the one document (which I happily paid to salvage
several days worth of work), and was very fast. (They say it takes 15
minutes if you do it all via their web page, but I did it via personal
e-mail exchange with one of their reps, because we weren't sure what
they could recover.) The web address for the site is:

http://www.word-rescue.com/macintoshusers/index.php

Of course, I have now checked the "always create backup copy" button,
which I had not checked before because I had thought it unnecessary
given that I was saving my document every 2 minutes AND had
autorecovery on. (It had never occurred to me that Word might crash
right in the middle of a save and thereby corrupt the original copy.)
Also, I now intend to get a flash memory stick so that I can back up
off-computer more frequently. Heretofore I've been backing up to a
read-write CD, which has been such a giant pain that I've done it only
twice a month. Another dumb practice to correct.

Thanks for your help,

Mark

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

UC Davis doesn't have server space you can FTP files to every so often? Ask
your computer center people.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thanks for the feedback, Mark -- very interesting!

Clive Huggan
=============

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Mark,

Yes, I agree: Thanks for the info.

I do want to comment on a misunderstanding though. "Always Make Backup"
will not save a copy of your document as it is at the current time (i.e., if
you have it open and are making changes in it). It saves a copy of the
document the way it looked when you opened it for the current session. So
if the worst happens, you will only lose the changes made during the current
session.

Your situation was a bit unusual in that the document corrupted when you
crashed. Normally the changes you made would have been preserved in the
AutoRecovery document.

Here's a suggestion: Since you're in the habit of saving every two minutes
(which is a good thing), also get in the habit of periodically closing your
document and reopening it. This will allow Word to clean out all the
temporary documents it is maintaining in order to be able to perform Undo
commands.

You're in Word X, right? We call it the 60 Saves bug and it's fixed in Word
2004.

Hope this helps.

--
***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>

 

[Mark Anthony]

Daiya,

Good point, there probably is such space available to me either through
my Institute or elsewhere. But it seems to me that memory stick back up
is so fast and easy that it is the best way to go.

 

[Mark Anthony]

Hi Beth,

Now that I have better back-up practices, I will follow your suggestion
to periodically close Word in order to clean out the temporary files.
It appears, though, that in this particular case I might have been
saved a bit of work because of those temporary files. I'll explain.

Immediatly after Word crashed during the save of my document on May 22,
I went to re-open the document and found that it was corrupted (opened
for 3 seconds, then crashed Word). I quit again and opened Word, hoping
that the AutoRecovery file would come up. No AutoRecovery file. At that
point I should have gone into the "Documents" folder to look for an
AutoRecovery file, just in case one was there but not coming up when I
opened Word, but at that moment I didn't know to try that. Instead, I
rebooted my computer in what I knew was a silly hope that rebooting
would cause Word to be able to open the damaged file. Of course it
didn't work. So then I started searching for help, and found out that I
should check the "Microsoft User Data" file in the "Documents" file.
When I went there I found an ancient saved Autorecovery file version of
my document (from 2004), but also, to my surprise, a whole bunch of
relatively recent copies of my document, with funny names like "Word
Work File A 902". The most recent of these Word Work file versions was
dated May 7th, which was two weeks prior to the crash but a week more
recent than the copy I had backed up to my CD on April 29th (I know, I
know...). (This was important, because I had done as much work from
April 29 to May 7th as from May 7th to May 22nd.) Anyway, what I ended
up doing was rebuilding my document from the May 7th "Work File"
version by pasting into the May 7th version all of the new material I
had added between May 7th and May 22nd. I extracted this new material
from the document recovered by the Word Rescue service I used. I did it
this way, rather than use the Word Rescue recovered document itself as
my base file, because the Word Rescue document was missing a few
equations, all figures, and had some minor formatting glitches.

So, having one of those Word Work files available saved my some
rebuilding effort. What I don't understand, though, is why there wasn't
a more recent Word Work File than May 7th. How come Word cleaned out
Work Files from May 7th to May 22nd, but not prior to May 7th? Oh well.

Thanks all,

Mark

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

So, having one of those Word Work files available saved my some

rebuilding effort. What I don't understand, though, is why there wasn't
a more recent Word Work File than May 7th. How come Word cleaned out
Work Files from May 7th to May 22nd, but not prior to May 7th? Oh well.

I think, though I am not sure, that those Word Work files stick around only
when something goes wrong and Word does not close the file properly. And
Word doesn't go back and clean anything out--if it isn't handled when the
file is closed, the Word Work file just stays there.