Can't open Word File because of end tag/start tag mismatch error...need XML help!

Anonymous
2010-06-09T00:42:38+00:00

I get the following message when i try to open a word document that i desperately need

  The name in the end tag of the element must match the element type in the start tag

Location: Part: word/document.xml, Line: 2, Column: 96760

I know how to "unzip" the docx files and get to the main document.xml file, but i know nothing about xml programming. Any suggestions? i got an xml editor and found that there are 6 mismatch errors, but i don't know how to fix them. I also don't know how to rezip al the files back into a docx format. I would love any help. Thanks.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-04-25T16:26:25+00:00

You're welcome Catherine.

Going forward if you or anyone else comes across this issue again, we have a FixIt solution created that should address this problem.  You can go to the following KB article and it should give you the details about how you can correct these documents.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2528942

Brandon

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-09-14T02:51:21+00:00

    Do you have service pack 1 installed for Word 2010? 

    I looked through the document and it's the same issue that was fixed in SP1 so it might be worth checking to make sure you have the latest updates for Word to prevent the issue from happening again.

    Brandon

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-09-13T04:30:24+00:00

    THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! You just saved me from a horrible homework all nighter

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-09-13T04:11:59+00:00

    I found a problem with drawing object 1 and drawing object 2 but I got the file to the point of opening. I got 9 pages, but there may be problems starting on page 8. I would heartily recommend that you proof this from start to finish.

    My repair copy is on my 4Shared here.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-09-13T03:54:24+00:00

    What is happening is there is a very specific bug in Office 2010 focused around equations and inserted images. Most of the problem has been fixed by Office 2010 SP1, but that doesn't help existing files.  For some reason Word just forgets to put one of the XML tags back in the document. You've seen the resulting error. Unfortunately, while the fix is simple, just typing in the missing tag, figuring out where to put it based on the error message is nearly impossible.

    Here are the general links on the topic:

    Can't open Word File because of end tag/start tag mismatch error...need XML help -  MS Fixit tool: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2528942

    Try the rebuilder created by Tony Jollans: http://www.wordarticles.com/temp/Rebuilder.dotm

    I understand that the Upcoming SP1 will fix this problem for new documents. KB 2528942 provides steps to fix problem in existing documents.

    Discussion by many affected people. a couple in discussion are also fixing problem if Tony’s fix doesn’t work:     **http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wordcreate/thread/581159d0-9ebc-4522-b30c-53e33e8268e1**

    Now that you have been "bit" by this bug, you may want to use these macros to setup a "true autosave" that does a file save as at set time intervals appending the timestamp to the file name. That way, when there is another problem, you can go back

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