WD6X: Troubleshooting Corrupted Documents, Word 6 For Macintosh

- Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a

SUMMARY

Corrupted document files can cause any program to exhibit unusual behavior. Such behavior occurs because Word bases its operation on incorrect information in the corrupted document.

This article provides troubleshooting procedures you can use to identify, recover, or prevent corruption of Microsoft Word for the Macintosh documents.

Note that after you use the following steps to recover a document, you should save the recovered file after first ensuring that Allow Fast Saves is not selected. (To disable the Allow Fast Saves option, click Options on the Tools menu, select the Save tab, and clear the Allow Fast Saves check box.)

MORE INFORMATION

Identifying a Corrupted Document

Corrupted documents often cause Word to exhibit unusual behaviors such as infinite repagination, incorrect document layout and formatting, unreadable characters on the screen, error messages, and a system that stops responding when you load or view the file.

Because factors other than document corruption can cause these behaviors, follow these troubleshooting steps to rule out other factors:

• Check for similar behavior in other documents.
• Check for similar behavior in other programs.
• Take the file in question to another computer and attempt to duplicate the behavior.
• Use a different printer driver and attempt to duplicate the behavior.
• Rename any templates attached to the document and attempt to duplicate the behavior.
• Start the computer again with extensions off to disable any third-party programs that are running (such as terminate-and-stay-resident programs [TSRs], font managers, and screen savers), and then attempt to duplicate the behavior.

Correcting a Corrupted Document

There are several techniques you can use to try to correct a corrupted document. Which method you use depends on the nature and severity of the corruption and the nature of the behavior exhibited. Although many of these methods succeed regularly, not every corrupted document can be recovered. Keeping a backup copy of a document is the best way to ensure its recovery.

To recover a corrupted document, try each of the following methods:

1. Convert the file to another format, and then convert it back to its native format.

   This is the easiest and most complete document recovery method; always try it first. Save the file in Rich Text Format (RTF), in Word 5.0, this format is called "Interchange Format/RTF") file format; this format preserves the formatting in your Word document. After you save the file in RTF format, reopen the document in Word, and convert it from RTF. If this method succeeds, Word removes the file corruption during conversion. If the corruption persists after you save the file in RTF file format, try saving the file in the following file formats:

       - Other word processing formats
       - Text Only
   

   NOTE: Saving a file in Text Only format frequently corrects the document corruption problem; however, all document formatting is lost including graphics and field codes in Word 6.x. This method requires more reformatting; therefore, use it only after other file formats fail to correct the problem.

2. Open the damaged Word document in draft mode. Sometimes (not always, due to the nature of damaged documents) you can open a document successfully in draft mode when it will not open in other views. Once you open the file, you may be able to recover or repair the file.

   To switch to draft mode in Word, click Normal on the View menu, then click Options on the Tools menu. Click the View tab, and select the Draft Font option.

3. Run the following macro to turn off screen updating, open your damaged document, switch to draft mode, and then reactivate screen updating.

   WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE CODE PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this macro code "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

       Sub Main
          ScreenUpdating 0
          FileOpen .Name = "Filename.doc"  ' Substitute your file name.
          ToolsOptionsView .DraftFont = 1
          ScreenUpdating
       End Sub
   

   NOTE: In the above macro, substitute the name of your damaged document for the "Filename.doc" argument text.

   Using this macro may enable you to open documents that you cannot otherwise open due to damage that affects printer setup, page layout, or screen updates in Word. For example, if a Type Error occurs in Word before the document is opened, you may be able to avoid the Type Error by using the macro to open the document.

4. Copy everything except the last paragraph mark to a new document.

   Word associates a wide variety of formatting with the last paragraph mark, especially section and style formatting. If you copy everything except the last paragraph mark to a new document, the corruption may be left behind in the original document. In the new document, reapply the section or style formatting.

   NOTE: You can select everything except the last paragraph mark by pressing COMMAND+END, then COMMAND+SHIFT+HOME.

5. Copy the uncorrupted portions of the document to a new document.

   Sometimes you can determine the location of file corruption in your document. In such cases, copy everything except the corrupted portion to a new file, then follow these steps to reconstruct your document:

       a. After you copy the uncorrupted portions of your document to a new
          file (you may not want to select the final paragraph mark of this
          selection since that paragraph may hold some incorrect information),
          save a copy of the corrupted document in Text Only format.
   

       b. Open the Text Only file. Copy the text from this file and paste it
          into the file that contains the uncorrupted portion of your 
          document.
   

       c. Reformat the sections you pasted in step b, then save the recovered
          document.
   

6. Insert the file into a blank document

   If you cannot open a file to copy all text except the final paragraph mark, you may be able to insert the file into a new document (which will give a new final paragraph mark to the file you are correcting). To do this, follow these steps:

       a. Create a New Document based on the Normal template.
   

       b. On the Insert menu, click File. Select the corrupted document and
          Click OK.
   

REFERENCES

"Word User's Guide," version 6.0, "Converting File Formats (Definition of RTF)," pages 595-596

"Word User's Guide," version 5.0, "Opening, Saving, and Deleting Documents," pages 69-73

"Word User's Guide," version 5.0, "Converting File Formats (definition of Interchange or Rich Text Format)," page 661

"Word User's Guide," version 5.0, "File Management," pages 492-494