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
    2016-05-08T12:52:24+00:00

    Hey Doug:

    I assume you mean Office 2013 (V15) and 2016 (V16).

    Your comment is a little contradictory.  You say the damage is consistent with truncation caused by "improperly" unplugging a USB flash drive.  If the Eject / "Remove Safely" feature was used, then you would not be seeing that type of corruption.

    I know that MS has made a number of small fixes to other types of XML problems. Are you suggesting that MS has made changes to the XML container so that the text portion of the document is no longer stored at the "end" of the file structure? This is interesting, but it is also the first I've heard this suggestion.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-08T07:24:16+00:00

    The corruption of the document is consistent with it having been opened\saved to a usb drive as you mentioned.

    Was the Eject facility used prior to the usb drive being removed from the computer?

    If that facility was used, can you advise the version of Word that was being used as I have been advised by Microsoft that in Office 15 and 16, they have changed quite a few things that they believe should make it much more resilient and if you are using one of those versions, I can bring the matter of the corruption still occurring to their attention.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-08T05:51:11+00:00

    Hi,

    Can someone help recover the corrupted file below? Note that it was opened/saved in a USB drive previously, but I wanted to ask in case it is recoverable.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwE94o3XwTcFRzFQNVlQOUtLRWc/view?usp=sharing

    Thanks in advance,

    Rudy

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