Repair Corrupt Word File with Four Effective Methods

“I found some old MS Word files on my system that are in damaged condition. I have no idea how these became corrupt, but I have to repair corrupt Word file. Even after trying some online solutions, I failed to repair Word documents and retrieve the data from those files. Can anyone help me in this regard by providing some solutions for Word file corruption repair?”

Keeping in pace with the technological advancement, mode of writing has been changed too. Earlier, we used to write on paper and now we use word document files on computer for the same purpose. MS Word is a familiar name for MS Office users as this application is used for writing and saving text documents. But sometimes, the Word files face corruption issues and users find it difficult to repair Microsoft Word Document file and access the files.

If you are also having similar problems and looking for easy ways to repair corrupt Word files, this is precisely the right blog for you. Here, we will describe how can you perform word file corruption repair process. We will show you both the native and automated solutions, so that you can pick up the method of your choice to fix damaged Word file. In case you are interested to know why your word file has gone corrupt, here are the reasons for you.

What Causes MS Word File to Get Corrupt?

MS Word documents can become corrupt due to various reasons. Here are some of the main reasons so that you can avoid them next time.

• File Size: If the Word file becomes really large in size, it can become corrupt and it’s difficult to repair Word documents which are bulky.
• File Format: If you are trying to open old Word file with .doc extension using the latest version of MS Word application, you will surely face some difficulty.
• Direct Formatting: Sometimes, direct formatting like Bold, Italics, etc., can corrupt the files and make it difficult to repair MS Word file.
• Track Changes: Though Track Changes is a useful and popular feature, it can also be responsible for damaging your Word document.
• File Location: If the storage location of the file is infected by virus or malware, the file will become damaged too.
• Sudden Closure: If users shut down their MS Word file suddenly, it can get damaged.
• Incomplete Download: If you are downloading any Word file and the process gets interrupted in the midway, the file will surely become corrupt.

How to Repair Corrupt Word File

Here are the approaches you can try to repair MS Word file or retrieve data from it.

Method 1: Open and Repair Option

This is an inbuilt MS Office feature used to repair corrupt Word files. In order to repair Word documents, this is quite easy and useful. In fact this feature removes minor-level corruption for sure.

1. Launch MS Word application and click on File>> Open button. In the absence of File button, click on Office Ribbon.

2. Navigate where the corrupt Word file is located. Select the file and click on the down arrow beside Open button.

3. Click on ‘Open and Repair’ option and Microsoft Word will try to open and repair by removing its corruptions.

There are other methods as well to repair corrupt Word files. In case, this inbuilt Microsoft feature doesn’t resolve the corruption.

Method 2: Use a New Document

Here is another trick to repair MS Word file while the documents are facing corruption issues. But creating a new file, might help you to repair Word documents.

1. Open MS Word 2010 or any other version and click on File>> New
2. Choose Blank document and proceed to click on Create.
3. Select Insert tab and click on Insert Object>> Text from File.
4. ‘Insert File’ dialog box will appear on the screen. There, you need to select the corrupt document file by going to its location and click on Insert.
5. You will be able to view the text contents of the damaged Word file.

There are other methods as well to fix damaged Word file. Try to use Microsoft inbuilt converter explained in next section.

Method 3: Use Microsoft’s In-built Converter

Microsoft offers "Recover Text from Any File" converter and users can take its help to repair corrupt Word files. Before trying this method users should be aware of its limitations too. When this method is used to repair Word documents then, formatting along with fields, graphics, drawing objects, and other non-text items get lost during recovery. Yet, some items like headers, footers, footnotes, field text and end notes are kept as simple text. In order to attaining those items, you need to repair MS Word file completely with effective techniques. Try this converter, it might help you to acquire complete data recovery.

1. Launch MS Word and click on File Menu>> Open. (If File option is not there, select Office button)
2. In the File type box, select Recover Text from Any File(*.*) option.
3. Now, choose the corrupt Word file that you need to repair and click on Open.
4. The text content of that file will get retrieved.

Note: In this process, some binary data text will not get converted that are usually located at the beginning and end of a Word file. Remove the binary data text before saving that file as a Word document.

Method 4: Use Word Recovery Tool

If the above-stated methods fail to fix your issue and cannot repair corrupt Word file, you can try SysTools Word Recovery Tool. Any type of Word file corruption can be repaired using this software. If you use this utility, you do not need to lose any component of your damaged MS Word files. In fact, you will fix damaged Word file with proper formatting intact. Here is the method of using this application.

1. Launch the software and Add them to repair MS Word file.
2. The tool will repair Word documents and provide healthy ones.
3. Select any file to preview Word files in the original form.
4. Save the repaired MS Word document on a chosen location.

What is So Special about Word Recovery?

Word Recovery has exclusive features which will help you to repair corrupt Word file in an easy way. Let’s know some of the highlighted features of this utility.

• Bulk Word file repair at the same time
• Word file repairing without any data loss
• Option to Preview before saving the file
• MS Word installation not needed for repairing
• All Windows OS versions are supported
• Suitable for files with multiple pages

Last Lines

Microsoft Word users always find themselves in deep trouble when their files get damaged. To help these users, we have compiled different manual and automated methods to repair corrupt Word file in this blog. Now, users should consider their situation and pick up the right solution according to their need.