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
    2014-10-25T15:22:04+00:00

    David, you can also try the DIY approach (on a COPY of the file of course!).  You will be looking for and into the DOCUMENT.XML file to be able to retrieve the content you are looking for.

    Quick learning about “X” file structures - XML – Editing XML

    Pt1: Breaking Into Your Office Open XML Format Documents (2007)

    http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032319980&CountryCode=US

    But what is different about these new formats, and what can the Open XML Formats do for advanced Microsoft Office users? Join this session for a guided tour through the XML behind your documents, along with an introduction to editing the XML directly so you can get more from your documents than ever before. Learn about the files that make up a Microsoft Office Word 2007, Excel 2007, or PowerPoint 2007 document and get timesaving tips and troubleshooting tricks for editing, sharing, and reusing content without even opening Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

    or this one:

    Document Recovery

    **http://www.wordarticles.com/Shorts/Corruption/Formats.php******

    This page has the most readable description of Word file structures, DOC and DOCX, I have seen so far

    FreeFileViewer – reads 100+ text, Office, audio, video format file types – Can open some XML tag error files

    **http://www.freefileviewer.com/formats.html******

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T18:22:56+00:00

    Wow... thanks socrtwo! Huge help. I can work with this. At least I can salvage the narrative that I worked on all day. I'll scroll through the thread to take other precautions in order to prevent a repeat crisis.  Many thanks to this community to folks like you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T17:15:17+00:00

    Hi. I was able to salvage at least some text, maybe all of the paper with my program Savvy DOCX Recovery, but only when specifically choosing the Salvage Text option from the "Recover" menu. I'm attaching it. There is some basic paragraph formatting. Jeeped might do better with his manual recovery.

    http:/hostedfiles.wherehaveibeen.info/salvaged_text_Paper_3_Rebanal_Draft_102314.txt

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-10-24T03:13:47+00:00

    Dear Jeeped,

    Hoping to be the latest one saved by your skills.  I have a document that will not open whereby I get the error "The Open XML File cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents". I'm mostly concerned with the Methods section, pp. 16-19 or so as it was the section I worked on all day. (It is a chapter of a dissertation).

    I am using MS Word 2008 for Mac. It is .docx file.

    Here is the link.

    Thanks in advance! *Crossing fingers*

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