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

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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
    2013-01-27T06:01:52+00:00

    ... if you could take a look and possibly work your magic that would be greatly appreciated ...

    No worries. It's repaired. The upload will take a while but I wanted to let you know it's good-to-go.

             

    I will post back when I have a link to the file on my SkyDrive.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-01-27T07:09:12+00:00

    that is greatly appreciated 

    so this doesn't happen again, what is it that I need to avoid doing ??

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-01-27T07:53:25+00:00

    Don't use Word ...

    There is no known 100% fix for it yet.

    Here are some suggestions I've gleaned. Unfortunately, many of them are not practical ...

    #1. Apply all windows updates to Office. There have been some updates specifically for the problem. Apparently they are only a partial fix.

    #2. Avoid using the equation editor

    #3. Avoid putting graphics and equations in the same paragraph

    #4. Use DOC or RTF file format, since this is an XML problem

    #5. Revert to Office 2003 (?) (this is speculation) since it uses an older version of the equation editor

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-01-27T08:05:52+00:00

    No worries. I believe I've recovered your document in its entirety save for some special characters on page 48 (of 85).

             

    There were three empty XML formatting tags located in the vicinity of Line: 2, Column: 2,726,981. The errant tags were:  <m:oMath><m:e><m:ctrlPr/></m:e></m:oMath>

    ... which held no content. The position in the DOCX can be found by performing a Find: for "are called heterogeneous equilibria ". It should be found on page 48 (of 85). The area of concern was immediately after this text and that area deserves close scrutiny. It looks to me to be missing some special characters but I may be missing a special font that you have loaded.

    I've uploaded the repaired DOCX to my SkyDrive here for you to reference and download.

    Fundamentals - Jeeped.docx

    As far as avoiding this happening in the future, you should of course make sure that your Office installation has all of the current updates and service packs. Plan your formulas before writing them with the Equation Editor. Deleting content in an equation will often leave empty XML formatting tags that can cause a DOCX to choke on loading. The word/document.xml will actually pass XML syntax conformity, but the empty XML tags cause Word to halt the load before it is completed.

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