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I searched your posting for Office Regenerator not Word ... no problem. I am glad it is included, I was very impressed when I tested it.

Ignore my comment about Everything. I just downloaded a newer version and the problem appears to be fixed. Yahoo!

Here are some links to articles I've collected about File History. I am still at the bottom of the learning curve so I might as well just give you the same sources I am using.  They are all in this Wiki. unfortunately I don't have much about the changes implemented in Win 10

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_8-files/windows-881-total-backup-system-what-ms-forgot-to/06f16f5e-6e82-4332-b39e-7d674d8fea28?tm=1414346084295

http://www.davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/backup-now.jpg

Yes, I did abandon a thought.  I started to type that comment about doc/docx extensions then tried it and was surprised to see that Word was still able to open the document properly.  I was expecting it to be confused by the extension change.

The point I was suggesting was more about Planning/preparation rather than "prevention".  "Accidents" happen. But if you plan and prepare for the "unexpected" before it happens, recovering from problem is much faster, easier and painless. One part of the preparation is setting up a good backup system, including file history, but also regular periodic backups and OneDrive. Windows 8, and 10 have come up with a good mix of features that allows you to protect your programs and data files.

Where you put the new section is entirely up to you. It is your article.  I would suggest you include a short reference new section in the introduction of the article just so they know it is there, at the end.  

One of the "planning" steps I would identify is that for "high value" (to the user) documents they should increase the (oops, interrupted myself again). the number of discrete backup copies of the file they should have, with emphasis on having it on multiple media and offsite (OneDrive).

Rohn007 thanks so much, I incorporated almost all your suggestions I think. As regarding Office Regenerator, I include already Word Regenerator which is the relevant part of Office Regenerator also by Abstradrome. Regarding http://sourceforge.net/projects/vistaprevrsrcvr/, that's my program, and it's listed in the first section along with Shadow Explorer. As for File History, I didn't know about that new Windows feature until today and I haven't tried it out. I could use help about how to highlight it. Also I'm not sure you completed your though about the "You suggest switching file extension DOCX to DOC or visa versa" point. I do want to hear about a way to improve that point. As for Safe Mode, I have used my S2 Recovery Tools for a few documents and tested using Safe Mode. It never worked for me and neither did most of Microsoft's methods :-(...

As for planning ahead and preventing future mishaps, I will think about how to gather the suggestions in one place. I have always been a weak on prevention. My focus has been fixing issues after they already occurred. If you get a further chance, I guess I could use more guidance about what you have in mind regarding this. Do you mean it would be good to have two sections, one for planning ahead about how you are going to tackle fixing the file, by making copies and only working on the copies etc? Secondly would then be a prevention section which I still think fits well at the end of the article although I would listen to arguments otherwise.

You said:

You can see this by changing the extension of the file from .docx to .zip in the files properties,

That implies replacing the current extension with .zip.  The technique I prefer is to simply ADD .ZIP to the end of the file name, after the current extension.  Same effect, but you don't lose track of the original extension.

FYI: I am a huge fan of Everything. I've been using it for years and recommending it.  But .. I just switched to Win 10 and found MS came up with a way to break it.  For some unfathomable reason, when I run Everything, the <ALT><TAB> task switcher no longer works.  Very annoying.  And I still don't find the Windows Search an adequate replacment for Everything.  So now, I runEverything for my search, the exit from it in the task bar when done.  More work, but it is a workaround.  I'm still looking for an alternate file name search tool.

you say:

Change the format of the file to another Word format, such as the DOC (if it is a DOCX file), DOCX (if it is a DOC file), Open Office ODT format, RTF, HTML or even TXT formats, then resaving in the  DOC or DOCX format.

I would be a little more explicit:

Change the file format using File menu >SAVE AS and select a different format: DOC, RTF, ODT, etc.  Then open the new file name and use SAVE AS to return to DOCX format

In the "can open file" section I would move advice to use "safe mode" to very top of list.  Actually, I have not tried Safe Mode for file corruption, just when Word won't open or work properly.  Have you tried it explicitly for corruption?

Near bottom you refer to AutoHistory.  I did not create it, I just suggested its use because it worked for me at one time.

You suggest switching file extension DOCX to DOC or visa versa

For people with Win 8/10 I would put more emphasis on using File History.

Near the start of the article I would make the point that recovering from file corruption is easier if you plan ahead for it. And I would make the point that for people working on high value (to them) documents, especially on a tight deadline, things like a term report or a Thesis, keeping multiple copies of the file is vital.  There are many ways to do this that you mention in various places in the body of the article. I would just collect them into one place.  You mention the ways to plan ahead, file history, autorecovery, backup, Win 8/10 FileHistory, Win 8/10 OneDrive, macros, Autohistory, regular backups to external sources. 

In your paid tools section this is a tool worth adding. When I tested it, it did surprisingly well in recovering deleted files

Office Regenerator Product Family $99 - tested

http://www.abstradrome.com/

<snip>  

The product ignores file system, scans disk at physical level. It supports all versions of FAT and NTFS and regenerates files even from lost, deleted partitions, and from reformatted disks

</snip>  

I (rohn007) tried this tool (Office Regenerator). It claims to recover files from deleted file fragments. It seems to work. On my 100GB data partition it ran for about 1 hour and found 691 files, 450 MB, going back almost 7 months! I don’t remember if that was the last time I used a wipe freespace tool on my drive They definitely were not in my recycle bin.  Don’t do first auto run . The interface provides lots of Filter criteria such as: date created range, last saved range, last printed range, title, num pages, editing time, revision number, file type, author.

All of the recovered files I looked at were properly structured.

Site has a 30 day moneyback guarantee. I haven’t tried the guarantee, but that sounds encouraging.

To the paid section you may want to Add SpinRight.  It is a tool that has been around almost since the beginning of computing. It is used to recover data from corrupt locations on the HD. I've used it long ago and it is really great when you have this sort disk corruption

SpinRite – recover from HD corruption (which may cause file corruption)

https://www.grc.com/default.htm

https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm 

This industry-standard data recovery tool is operating system independent, so it can be applied by users of Windows XP, 2000, Linux, and all other Intel/AMD PC‑platform hard drives and file systems.

Another MS KB that is pretty good, but a little out of date

How to recover a lost Word document: KB 316951

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/316951

211632 Description of how Word creates temporary files

Description of how Word creates temporary files   -https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/211632mailto:?subject=I%20think%20you%27d%20be%20interested%20in%20this%20article:%20Description%20of%20how%20Word%20creates%20temporary%20files&body=Description%20of%20how%20Word%20creates%20temporary%20files%20-%20https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/211632

211632 Description of how Word creates temporary files

How Word creates and recovers the AutoRecover files

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/107686

Recover an earlier version of an Office file - Autorecover 2010/2013

https://support.office.com/en-US/Article/Recover-an-earlier-version-of-an-Office-file-4bddecb7-bf4f-4aad-b1b3-dab1633b5bbfen-US

If the AutoRecover option is turned on, you can automatically save versions of your file while you’re working on it. How you recover something depends on when you saved it.

Find Previous File Version from System Restore backups

http://sourceforge.net/projects/vistaprevrsrcvr/

a program that will find a previous version of your file if you have the System Restore Service turned on. I think this is true no matter what version of Windows Vista, 7 or 8 you have as long as System Restore is turned on before the file corruption:

Good point. They are the new floppy disk in terms of reliability.