Synopsis: Let us Discuss Methods to open Corrupt Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX files in 2019.

MS Word is one amongst the most used Microsoft applications, which hold content for different requirements.

The issue of file corruption is common when we consider tools like Microsoft Word. Word documents including those of Word 2016 can be corrupt due to many issues which put both the Document and the data inside at the risk of loss.You can go ahead and look at the methods to Open Corrupt Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX files

In this article, we’ve come up with methods on how to open corrupt word DOC and DOCX files and pro tips on how to find corrupt and damaged word documents.

Signs that your DOCX/DOC Files are Corrupt

When MS Word documents turn corrupt, they show strange behavior, and you can investigate regarding the same by checking for the following points when a document is open:

The corruption can cause repetition of existing pages.

You might experience continuous page break in the document

You might exoerience wrong layout and formtting

The system stops responding when you try to open the doc/docx files

Error message appears on screen while processing

• System stops responding when you try opening the doc/docx files.
• Some unreadable characters appearing on screen
• You might experience some other strange behaviour

If these events happen, you need to check :

• if some other documents are also showing strange behaviour
• It is possible that MS office Programs other than MS Word can display the strange behaviour.

If the above things hold true for you, then your MS word document is damaged and this DOC/DOCX file will not open in your desired program. Then you need to recover files by using below given methods to Open Corrupt Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX files

Methods to Open Corrupt Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX files in 2019 are:

Method 1: Properly check if the DOCX file is corrupt or not.

In many instances, it can happen that problem lies not with the Docx file but with Windows or even Word itself. You can try to open other files before attempting to repair the Docx file or restore its backup. Also, try using another computer for opening the Docx file that you think has corrupted. You will come to know about the underlying problem behind corrupt DOCX files.

Method 2: Create a Duplicate of the DOCX File

First of all, try creating a backup for the files and try saving them on the external hard disc. It is possible that the file’s corruption can worsen over time by the recovery process.

Method 3: By using Open And Repair utility

The ‘Open and Repair’ function is provided by MS Word XP and subsequently released versions of Word and can be used to recover corrupted Docx files.For this follow the given below steps:

1. Open Word application and click on the File tab
2. Click on Open folder to select the corrupt file
3. Try to highlight the file and then click on the arrow sign available next to Open button
4. Select Open and Repair from the drop-down list of options

Method 4: Change Document Format & Save to Word Later

This can also be taken as a first-aid solution for Microsoft Word file repair in case the above method is not working for you.

1. Start the Word application then click on the File menu
2. Next, click Open and select corrupt docx files and open them 3.Try saving docx file in another file format.
   • Click on the File menu>Save As option
   • In Word, select Other Formats
   • Then click on the Rich Text Format (*rtf) in the Save as File type list
   • Next, click on Save button
   • Finally, click on File menu> Close

3. Next,you need to save the altered format file back to docx format.To do so:

• Click on the File menu > Open
• Now highlight the document saved as Rich Text File(rtf)> Open
• Click on the File menu in the ribbon> Save As option
• In the Save as type option, click on Word Document
• Finally,Rename the file and then click on Save.

Method 5: Try Recovering text from any file

IMicrosoft Word also gives you an option to recover text from any file. This will enable you to recover your important data and then rebuild it in a new Word file.For this you need to follow the given below methods:

1. Start by going to the File menu and select Open
2. Find the corrupt .docx file you want to repair
3. From below All word documents, expand it further and find the option of Recover text from any file

4.The feature of Word will try to fetch all the text from your file.

If this method is not usefull for you, try moving to the next method.

Method 6: Try Opening Docx file in Draft Mode

In this method, you can try opening the file in Draft mode. You can follow the simple steps described below:

1. First,Click on File>Options
2. Now,Click on Advanced and then scroll down to the Show document section
3. Check the Show picture place holders box and the Use draft font in Draft and Outline views box

Now go to word> View> Draft under the Document Views section

4.Now Try to open the corrupt file

Method 7: By using System Restore

You can make use of this method in Windows 7 and higher versions. The System Restore will automatically backup your documents whenever a new restore point is created (usually at least once a day).

Note:System Restore feature is enabled by default but if you manually turned it off, you will not be able to recover any data using this feature. You can check the backup version of the files by:

1. Right-click the file
2. Choose Properties> Previous Versions tab
3. Any previously saved versions will show up in the list box below. If the tab is not visible, it means System Restore is turned off.

Method 8: Try Opening DOCX with Notepad

This method will ignore the document structure and pick only the plain text. You can get this plain text and then copy paste it to a new word document but all the images and formatting will be lost.

1. Right click on your corrupted .docx file and choose Open with
2. Click on Choose default program
3. On the Other Programs section click on the arrow pointing downwards to reveal more programs and select Notepad
4. Copy and paste the text to a new .docx document and format it all over again 5.Uncheck the box Always use the selected program to open this kind of file to avoid making notepad the default program for word files and click OK

Method 9: By using CHKDSK to repair DOCX file:

For this, you need to go to the search bar and type Run>Type CMD in Run Window> run given the command in CMD to repair DOCX file>CHKDSK [Drive][Path][filename][/R]

Method 10: By using DOCX recovery Tool

If all the above methods does not proove to be fruitful for you, then you can easily install the SysInfo Tools’ DOCX Recovery Tool . It is a more convenient way to recover and open corrupt Docx files.

Conclusion

I have suggested so many Methods to Open Corrupt Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX files. You can try restoring your damaged files with the use of these methods, but these methods are also very time consuming and need technical knowledge. So, I would recommend using the professional DOCX Recovery Tool for this purpose.

You can also read: Easy and Quick ways to retrieve lost Window Files in Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vistah

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