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Old 02-16-2020, 06:30 PM
Jim Rockford, P.I. Jim Rockford, P.I. is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2007
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Default Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx

I wish there was a way I could go into the file and fix the errors. At least, if I have the instructions, I can do it myself.



A Word document is giving the error: The file "***.docx cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents. When I click OK, I get, Word found unreadable content in ***.docx. Do you want to recover the contents of this document? If you trust the source of this document, click Yes. When I do so, it goes back to the first error. Murphy's Law - I have 5 backups of everything. However, unfortunately, this bad copy has been backed up on all! :-(

This one requires someone at a very high level of knowledge.

TIA.

Last edited by Charles Kenyon; 02-20-2020 at 04:27 PM. Reason: modify title
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Old 02-19-2020, 01:15 AM
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Guessed Guessed is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2016
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Without actually seeing the file, there is not much we can do to confirm whether the contents can be recovered or not. But you could start the investigation to see if the basic structure is intact.

Make a copy of the file and then change the file extension to .zip

When you then open the file, does it reveal a folder/file structure with folders called word, docProps, customXml and _rels? If so, the content may be recoverable.
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Old 02-19-2020, 07:43 AM
whyisntitsimple whyisntitsimple is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2019
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Take a copy and change file extension to .txt, open in notepad - very crude, but everything including the raw text will be there. How easily, findable, filterable and usable it is I guess depends on how valuable the work is?
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Old 02-19-2020, 11:33 AM
Jim Rockford, P.I. Jim Rockford, P.I. is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2007
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Default No luck

Thanks for the response.


I had already done this. Trying it again. It still gives me: "Can not open the file as [zip] archive. Is not archive".


When I changed the extension to .XML, I get a ton of NULLs.


If you want, I can send you the file.


TIA.
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Old 02-20-2020, 02:33 PM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2019
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Since you can't open the file after you have renamed it as a *.zip, it is probably corrupt beyond recovery.
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Old 02-20-2020, 08:25 PM
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A doc file format would be a possibility that I wouldn't eliminate just yet. The error message would imply it is possibly recoverable. If you open it with a text editor, is there a clue as to a file format in the first few lines?

I don't know what else to suggest but perhaps if you loaded the file to a 'dropbox' or shared drive and posted a link (via private message if it sensitive) I could take a look to see if I can suggest or recover anything.
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Old 02-21-2020, 03:07 PM
Jim Rockford, P.I. Jim Rockford, P.I. is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stefan Blom View Post
Since you can't open the file after you have renamed it as a *.zip, it is probably corrupt beyond recovery.

Thank you. That's what I thought.
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Old 02-21-2020, 03:10 PM
Jim Rockford, P.I. Jim Rockford, P.I. is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guessed View Post
A doc file format would be a possibility that I wouldn't eliminate just yet. The error message would imply it is possibly recoverable. If you open it with a text editor, is there a clue as to a file format in the first few lines?

I don't know what else to suggest but perhaps if you loaded the file to a 'dropbox' or shared drive and posted a link (via private message if it sensitive) I could take a look to see if I can suggest or recover anything.

Thanks very much. Yeah, it is a confidential file. How can I communicate the Dropbox link to you?
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Old 02-21-2020, 05:58 PM
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Guessed Guessed is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2016
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You can send me a Private Message on this forum by clicking on my username at the top of any of the posts. I've sent you one already so that should appear as a little highlighted link in the top right area of the screen.
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Old 02-24-2020, 11:30 AM
Jim Rockford, P.I. Jim Rockford, P.I. is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2007
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Okay. I just now sent it. Thanks.
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Old 02-24-2020, 06:46 PM
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Guessed Guessed is offline Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Windows 10 Is there anyone who knows how to fix this? Word found unreadable content in ***.docx Office 2016
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I've had a look at the file you sent me and it contains nothing but nulls.
A hex editor shows a mass of zero numbers and absolutely zero variation so there is nothing that can be retrieved from that file.
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