Unspecified Error, word/document.xml, Line:2, Column: 0

Good stuff.

Jeeped, 

Can you assist with this one? 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzZyJL6BkKQQeDRhbEUwaWpWR2JEam44NEdmcmphcDFPX0Nn/view?usp=sharing

Thank you so much in advance!

What no one has said yet is the probably cause of your specific problem. This won't fix your current problem, but will help you avoid a repeat of the issue.

When Word files are truncated this way, with most of the body text missing, the most likely cause is editing on a USB drive and NOT using the "Save Remove USB" feature of Windows.

The problem is that WINDOWS does not save files directly to most USB drives due to technical limitations of the USB drive "flash" type memory (it has a limited read/write life).  Windows actually saves USB based files to a "cache" file on the local HD, then writes out a "block" at a time.

There are a few solutions to avoid this problem in the future.  First, NEVER edit files directly on USB drives. Instead, copy the file to your local HD, do your editing, and when you are finished, only then copy/move the file back to the USB drive.

Second, ALWAYS use the "Safely Remove USB" feature in Windows.

Third, you now may turn off the need for "Safely Remove USB" feature.

Potential Causes of DOCX Corruption - Problems saving to USB Devices - safely eject

Windows does not write files directly to a USB flash drive / thumb drive. Due to technical limitations of Flash memory, files are first saved in a cache on the HD. When a full “block” worth of data is available, it is only then moved to the USB device. When you shut down the USB Device “Properly”, Windows flushes any partial files from the cache to the USB.  In the following link, Tony J says that his experience is that the most important part of the DOCX files, the text content in the DOCUMENT.XML sub file, is usually located at the end of the file structure. So it is the text content that gets left behind.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wordcreate/thread/73a1e1b0-e6cf-43b8-a97f-0b01b5c33da3/

This discussion is primarily about missing XML tags, but on page 2 it also discusses the effects of pulling USB devices without stopping them correctly

Why use “Safely Remove” function

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B328856

http://word.tips.net/T000132_Dont_Work_Off_Floppies.html

Why you should/must the “Safely Remove” function requires a bit of a historical and technological review.

The first “USB” drives used “Flash” memory chips with storage of 16/32/…/256 KB (NOT MB or GB!) rather than “normal” old school spinning hard Drives. Current techlogy has extended flash type drives to 256GB (and still growing). I still have my first thumb drive, which cost $75 for 256KB of space. You can now get around 1TB of USB spinning disk external USB storage for that price <grin>. Technological growth has expanded the “USB Drive” definition to include external portable spinning disk type drives with up to 3TB in storage space (and also growing).

Writing / saving files to USB Flash storage is not a clear cut simple “save” operation due to technological limits of the flash device.  Flash memory has a finite number of write operations before it fails. Writing to flash memory is done a whole “block” at a time. So even if you need to write a single “byte” to a block, the whole block is written, “burning up” a write operation to that block. To minimize “wasting” write operations Windows drivers for USB devices has been designed to stage “writing” to the USB device through a “cache” file on the local HD.  When a full block, or multiple of full blocks of file is ready to write to the flash drive it is all sent.  Partial blocks of information are “left” in the cache. Therefore, even though you have “saved” a file to the flash drive “only”, the tail end of the file may still only reside in the cache in the local. Unfortunately, the “new” Word DOCX format files are structured so that the body text of your document is located at the logtical and physical end of the file. If that last block is “lost” even though most of the DOCX file structure is on the flash drive, the most important part, your body text, could be lost. “Left behind” on the computer local HD. OOPS!

I do not know if the write cache is still used for USB spinning disk devices.

So that defines the first part of the problem. Why we NEED to use the “Safely Remove” function.

The second part of the problem is why does “Safely Remove” sometimes fail?

This failure happens because of how some programs are written. They take “hidden” file open locks when users do not expect it. And sometimes the program does not properly release the file open lock even after it no longer needs it.  An example of a hidden/unexpected file open lock is using the preview function to display a thumbnail image of the file in tools like File Explorer.

 “Safely Remove” is designed to “flush” the cache, writing all remaining file “tail ends” to the flash drive. It is not written to force applications with file open locks to close. And, unfortunately, it STILL (after too many years) has not been enhanced to list the programs that have file open locks on the USB device <hint hint MS!>. It is a simple enough change, Windows does know, so it is simple enough to program the utility to identify and list these programs.

How to Safely Remove USB

http://etc.usf.edu/techease/win/hardware/how-do-i-safely-remove-a-usb-device-from-my-computer/

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/safely-remove-devices-from-your-computer Windows 7

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-safely-remove-hardware-in-windows-7.html Windows 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkdm-kY3cZ4 Windows 8

There are also tips on how to turn off the caching function so you don’t have to use the Safely Remove tool

USB Safely Remove Utility

http://safelyremove.com/

Displaying what prevents a device from being stopped

Safe removal via hotkeys

Lets you recognize a device in a snap...

The handy menu with device icons

Real device names and the ability to rename them

Lets you hide devices you never need to stop

Simplest Fix - boot the computer

The simplest fix for the problem is just shut down Windows.

The shut down process will force the close of all applications, hopefully first prompting you to save any open files. It will also close any applications with “hidden” file open locks. Before restarting Windows, you can safely unplug the USB drive. When you restart Windows, those applications with the hidden file open locks will not be yet started, or will not be pointing to the (removed) USB drive (hopefully).

Not so simple fix - find the application with the File Open locks

The alternate “fix” is to figure out which program(s) has the file open lock on the USB drive. Then shut the application down, or modify it so that it no longer needs the file open lock. There are various tools that can help you investigate Windows to identify these programs. But it is not simple, requiring you install and use tools that are daunting for “non-geek” computer users.

How to safely remove a USB drive even when Windows says it isn’t safe to do so - Unlocker

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040932/how-to-safely-remove-a-usb-drive-even-when-windows-says-it-isnt-safe-to-do-so.html#tk.nl_pwr

Safely Eject the USB Drive When The Icon Is Not Displayed

http://www.terryscomputertips.com/newsletters/terrys-computer-tips-newsletter-february-3-2013/

Subscriber David Wiesner wrote to ask about a USB flash drive problem he has occasionally:

I often find that the tray icon in XP for my USB devices disappears in the middle of a session. I cannot figure out how to safely eject a USB device when this happens.

I tried turning off the feature of the computer getting rid of unused icons but that did not seem to help.

Even so, if I cannot figure out an alternative to clicking on this icon, taking it away because it has not been accessed is problematic. So this is two questions...

The first is how to keep that icon from disappearing and the second is how to safely eject without using the icon.

As to David’s first question — how to keep the icon (presumably the Safely Eject Hardware icon) from disappearing, I don’t know. I don’t recall having this problem when I used WIndows XP.

However, perhaps the reason I don’t remember it is that I know how to “Safely Remove Hardware” when the corresponding icon is not available in the Windows Status bar (now called the Notifications Area).

The first step is to find the drive in Windows. Open My Computer or open Windows Explorer (in Windows XP, right-click on the Start button and click Explore; in Windows 7, right-click on the Windows Orb and select Open Windows Explorer).

Find the USB drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer. Then, right-click on the icon for the USB drive. One of the options is Eject, which is what you want to do.

By the way, if you have any program or window open that is using, or otherwise has open,a file or folder on that drive, you will not be able to eject it (or use the Safely Remove Hardware icon, even if it was visible).

Disable need for USB “Safely Remove Hardware” step

http://www.7tutorials.com/do-you-want-stop-using-safely-remove-hardware-notification-icon#comment-7759

It is simple to turn off Windows Caching to eliminate the need to use “safely remove hardware” before unplugging USB drives.

But there is no indication of how much negative impact this would have on the flash memory (which is why caching is turned on in the first place.

Using a throughput test is one part of the story. Copy a bunch of small files in one operation  to a USB device in both modes and notice the 10-fold time increase from cached to non-cached, in non-cached mode the changes to the folder are written multiple times for each file that is copied, also the bitmaps of the used blocks on the device is written over and over again.

Do You Really Need to “Safely Remove” USB Sticks? – YES!

http://www.howtogeek.com/118546/htg-explains-do-you-really-need-to-safely-remove-usb-sticks/

Free USB Guard

http://www.myportablesoftware.com/freeusbguard.aspx

I haven’t tested this tool personally, but I like the idea better than the next suggestion (disable need for remove hardware step).

This is all that I could see that is left of the word/document.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<w:document xmlns:wpc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingCanvas" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:m="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/math" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:wp14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingDrawing" xmlns:wp="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/wordprocessingDrawing" xmlns:w10="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main" xmlns:w14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordml" xmlns:w15="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2012/wordml" xmlns:wpg="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingGroup" xmlns:wpi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingInk" xmlns:wne="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2006/wordml" xmlns:wps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordprocessingShape" mc:Ignorable="w14 w15 wp14"><w:body><w:p w14:paraId="6C879B9B" w14:textId="77777777" w:rsidR="007A1A25" w:rsidRDefault="007A1A25" w:rsidP="00CE4B3D"><w:pPr><w:spacing w:line="480" w:lineRule="auto"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t>Journal Number:</w:t></w:r></w:p><w:p w14:paraId="29697163" w14:textId="77777777" w:rsidR="00CE4B3D" w:rsidRDefault="007A1A25" w:rsidP="00CE4B3D"><w:pPr><w:spacing w:line="480" w:lineRule="auto"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t>#1</w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00CE4B3D"><w:tab/></w:r><w:proofErr w:type="gramStart"/><w:r w:rsidR="00710B4F"><w:t>Today</w:t></w:r><w:proofErr w:type="gramEnd"/><w:r w:rsidR="00CE4B3D"><w:t xml:space="preserve"> my Professor for mechanical drafting was gone so I </w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00802ACF"><w:t>got the</w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00CE4B3D"><w:t xml:space="preserve"> </w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00802ACF"><w:t xml:space="preserve">day off leading into a four day </w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00CE4B3D"><w:t>we</w:t></w:r><w:r w:rsidR="00802ACF"><w:t xml:space="preserve">ekend.  So today while I was off I did some homework, pl c "httieproofEr:t xml:space="preserve">ekend.  So today while I was of" w:r

That reduces to just this text, which you can see by saving the code above in a simple text file with an html extension:

"Journal Number:#1Today my Professor for mechanical drafting was gone so I got the day off leading into a four day weekend. So today while I was off I did some homework, pl c "httieproofEr:t xml:space="preserve">ekend. So today while I was of" w:r"

I'm afraid the rest of the part of the zip containing the word/document.xml is gone.

I can confirm that catastrophic archive corruption. The last sentence I was able to recover was 'So today while I was off I did some homework'. This was at the very beginning of the DOCX.