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

Anonymous
2012-05-27T15:48:53+00:00

Dear document savers,

It appears that due dates for assignments makes Word eat documents.

Like others I have a corrupted .docx document.  I have tried every trick in the book I can find and am now resorting to the next level of knowledgeable help.

The document crashed whilst working on a formula around the 3rd last page from memory (page 12 I believe).  After waiting etc. I closed and reopened the document and found then that it would go crazy when I got to the area I was last working in, and wouldn't scroll or display content properly.  When I tried again to close and open it wouldn't open it.  Nothing so far has worked.

It now gives the message:

"The file Assign 3 Answers.docx cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents."

"Details"

"Unspecified Error"

"Location: Part: /word/document.xml, line: 2, column: 0"

I have uploaded the file here

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8CyUQXlwkYeUXdmVl9acWZTUEU

I can open in Googledocs but without drawings or equations.  It opens in viewer.zoho.com but still cannot open a saved copy in Word 2010

I would greatly appreciate if anyone had any fixes for me.

Sincerely,

Rowan

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2012-05-27T18:16:27+00:00

... https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8CyUQXlwkYeUXdmVl9acWZTUEU ...

The Google Docs copy was a DOC rather than a DOCX, but I downloaded it and had a look. I snipped out the  BH  from the second formula following "for Triangle CBH" on page 19. That will need replacing and close proofreading that area is highly recommended.

                  

There is some strange pagination and I don't know exactly why that is nor even if the pagination is intentional.  The actual corruption looked like it was due to many reformatting changes, resulting in empty formatting tags.

I've uploaded a repaired copy of the DOCX to my SkyDrive here for you to download . Be sure to get service packs for Office 2007 or 2010 installed whenever possible before further editing is performed.

Office service packs

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-30T14:11:08+00:00

    Hey Jeeped & Socrtwo

    Hope you guys are still active on this topic because my sister-in-law has got the same issues with a .docx file she's been working on.

    More specifically this error when trying to open the document.

    "/worD/document.xml, line: 2 column..."

    I have this document on google docs (see link below) for you to access.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0tA34fk6iwDem45WFhWSTQ1RmM/edit?usp=sharing

    It would be absolutely awesome if you could recover the document!

    A lot of thanks in advance & hope to hear from you!

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-30T12:08:30+00:00

    I have a corrputed "docx" in file "comments.xml":

    Unspecified error; Location: Part: /word/comments.xml, Line 2, Column 0.

    here is my solution for Word 2013, Word 2010 is even worse in handling comments.

    Repair WORD comments.xml

    1. Rename docx to zip
    2. Extract the zip
    3. Open comments.xml with Notepad (it is in folder "word")
    4. Replace "><;" (without the quotes of course), with ">\n<" (or ">\r\n<" as Daniel seems to prefer). This will put each tag on a new line. Don't forget to save the changes by clicking on the blue floppy disk icon in the upper left corner of NotePad++.

    1. Save the XML in notepad++
    2. Zip all files and folders (the ones which you extracted before)
    3. Rename zip to docx
    4. Open in Word
    5. See in “Details” in which line the error is
    6. Open the comments.xml with Notepad
    7. Go to the specific line (from point 5)
    8. Important: You have to start to search above the line, where Word shows the error!

    Wrong – missing “bookmarkEnd”:

    You have to add manually to correct:

    1. Save the comments.xml
    2. Zip all files and folders (the ones which you extracted before)
    3. Rename zip to docx
    4. Open in Word
    5. If still error repeat procedure above

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-08T14:44:37+00:00

    Daniel,

    I work on corrupt Word recovery issues too. I downloaded both files, all I saw was Null characters. When I can't recover anything or a satisfactory amount I give the advice below to look for previous versions of the file. I think you may have already done this as you are offering a 2nd version for Jeeped to try to recover, but maybe it will be helpful:

    • Search for temporary, deleted or lost versions of your file with: 
    • You can also find previous versions of your file by:
      • Right clicking on the file in Explorer (or My Computer), choosing "Properties", then the "Previous versions" tab if you have it and finally clicking on a found earlier version of the file and the "Restore" button. If you have Vista Home Basic or Premium, you probably won't have this choice on your right click menu unless if you are using it in a school or business and the IT department has turn on the feature at the server. Sometimes they even turn on Previous Version Recovery for their XP Pro machines although I'm not sure the two pieces of freeware that follow would work the same way as the previous versions are probably store on the server.
      • If you have Vista Home Basic or Premium the previous versions of the files might still be there as Restore Point snapshots on your hard drive and you can use the freeware Shadow Explorer, http://www., to find out.
      • Also I have a freeware program that also recovers previous versions from the same source as Shadow Explorer. You can get it here: http://sourceforge.net/. It might be easier to use than Shadow Explorer.
    • If you are able to recover a temporary or deleted version of your file and that is corrupt too, you can send the file to me again or also try these commercial solutions with your temporary or deleted version of your file: 
      • Of course come back and let Jeeped (and I) take a crack at manually recovering it.
      • https://online.officerecovery. - Use the coupon "S2SERVICES" without the quotes for a free recovery. Emil from Recoveronix is letting me use this code for free recovery for my customers until Nov. 1, 2014.
      • http://onlinerecovery.munsoft. - is a file recovery service where if you leave a positive note in Facebook, Twitter or a blog and notify them, they will give you a code to allow 10 free file recoveries as long as they are done with a 3 day period.
    • Here is some additional advice that might help you recover previous version files or help you open them if you find them:

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-08T05:43:17+00:00

    well my wife has already started retyping it, I wanted to see if there is anything that can be done to save her a little of time doing it all over again.  She took off work on Monday to finish this paper, so it'll be very difficult to find that time again.  I'm not sure why it only shows a page and a half, because when it was finished it was 11 or 12 pages.  So basically you are saying all hope is gone?

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