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

Anonymous
2010-10-28T11:18:41+00:00

I too am having the problem many people seem to be having on this forum. I have created a fairly large and important document which includes a lot of maths equations and some graphics. Now every time I try to open it it says there is an error with a mismatch between the start and end tags. I have never worked with XML but have tried to find what feels like a needle in a haystack and can't really see how to proceed. Is there any chance you could help? I have uploaded the document to:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0ecfpu

Many thanks,

Andrew

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-11-01T19:04:17+00:00

Hi Andrew,

The fixed file is at http://www.wordarticles.com/temp/AH%20Statistics%201%20Notes%20-%20Outcome%202.docx

To try to answer your questions:

There is no easy way to do it in Notepad - I generally use Visual Studio; Yves Dhondt - the only other person here, AFAIK, who fixes these documents - has some tool he wrote himself. It isn't very difficult but there is no guarantee of what you will find when you look. Usually - and I'm sure you're right - it happens when equations and graphics are together and an oMath end tag, and perhaps part of the equation it ends, gets misplaced within a structure that is meant to enable the equation be correctly displayed in earlier versions of Word that do not support the new equation engine.

The structure should be:

<mc:AlternateContent>

<mc:Choice>

<m:oMath>

Start of equation

End of equation

</m:oMath>

<mc:Choice>

<mc:Fallback>

Probably some graphics

</mc:Fallback>

</AlternateContent>

but ends up as:

<mc:AlternateContent>

<mc:Choice>

<m:oMath>

Start of equation

<mc:Choice>

<mc:Fallback>

Probably some graphics

</mc:Fallback> </AlternateContent>

End of equation

</m:oMath>

This is a bug so nothing is for certain, and I don't know what circumstances trigger it, or what you can do to avoid it. I also don't know if Microsoft are working on it, although I have informed them and they have replied that 'it has been passed to the appropriate team' or some such.

For my own amusement I am working on an AddIn that will attempt to mend these documents but I don't know how well it will work, yet.

Enjoy,

Tony

www.WordArticles.com

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-12-12T00:02:20+00:00

    Hi! I am having the same end tag mismatch error with a large MS-Word 2010 document. Hoping somebody here can help fix it... I tried the unzip and looked at the .xml files, but have absolutely no idea what to look for. The file is here:

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/1zco5a

    Thanks in advance!

    • Deb

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-12-10T17:51:22+00:00

    Before printing to a PDF, make a copy of the file so you don't corrupt your only good copy.

    How are you "exporting to PDF"? Try creating PDF with a different method. If you are doing a Print, try doing a Save, or visa versa. 

    Try getting a different PDF printer driver. I've been using BullzipPDF for years, but there are many others available.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-10T17:21:24+00:00

    Brandon,

    Thank you once again.  You did send the fixed version.

    I am using Word 2010 on a Windows Vista.  The changes I made were 1.) replacing some low-res pictures with higher-res pictures; 2.) changing the fill color of two text boxes.

    These changes, however, seem trivial.  It seems I run into an issue every time I export a Word doc into a PDF.  For example, I am sure that if I converted your fixed file into a PDF without making any changes to the document whatsoever, it would also become inaccessible.

    I certainly hope that you can solve this mystery so that Microsoft could eventually resolve it.  In the meantime, thank you greatly for your help.

    Brian

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