Have you ever begun working on your manuscript or document in Microsoft Word and gotten a string of error messages? Does the formatting change right before your eyes or have unreadable characters replaced your words? Does your computer freeze up or crash every time you try to open a certain document? When you print, is what you see on the page nothing like what appears on the screen? Do chunks of text mysteriously disappear? Chances are your document has become corrupted. What do you do? First, don’t panic—even if your computer’s overall response seems to be:
Here are several techniques you can use to try to rescue your work—without having to buy special corruption repair software. Which method will be effective depends on the nature and severity of the corruption.
If the file will open—
- CONVERT IT
- RTF Method – How to do it: Save the file in RTF format. This will preserve the formatting of your Word doc. Reopen the document in Word and save it back to DOC format. If this works properly, the file corruption will be removed during conversion. If the corruption persists, don’t give up. Stay calm. Try another method.
- XML Method – This works the same way as the RTF Method, but tends to be more effective than RTF when your document suffers from severe corruption. Save your file to XML format, then save it back to Word. I suggest you save it twice. Create two separate documents, and save it once without the "Save data only" box checked and once with the box checked. Formatting is preserved using the XML Method.
- Retro Method – How to do it: Save the file to an earlier version of Word, such as Word 6. This method also preserves the formatting of your document and often removes corruption as well.
- TXT Method – How to do it: Save the file in Plain Text format (.TXT). This will remove all formatting in your Word doc and you will have to completely format your document in its entirety, but you won’t lose what’s most important—your precious text. Reopen the document in Word (remember to change the "Files of type" to "Text Files (*.txt)" and then save it back to DOC format.
- COPY IT
The first technique you should always try also happens to be the easiest and most complete document recovery method. Convert the file to another format, then convert it back.
Unformatted Copy – How to do it: Select and copy the text of your document in its entirety, create a new document, and select EDIT -> PASTE SPECIAL -> UNFORMATTED TEXT. Like the TXT Method, this strips all of the formatting and any corruption that exists in your document and provides you with a clean slate, so to speak, that will require reformatting.
The other methods I have used that involve copying and pasting your document into a new container (document) I don’t recommend since it can be difficult to determine exactly where the corruption is in your document. You may just be copying the corrupted part straight into the new container. These methods include copying everything but the last paragraph mark to a new document or copying everything but the corrupted section into the new document. Waste of time, in my opinion. In a future post, I’ll offer tips on what to do if the document won’t open.
