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

Rohn,

Awesome! Thanks, I will add the two others to my corrupt DOCX recovery algorithm or at least the <m:num></m:num>.

I'm making progress on updating the program, I've added sections for recognizing tag set problems of the four types <m:math>, <w:tbl>, <w:fldChar w:fldCharType="begin"/> and <endnote>.

Essentially the unspecified error part of the code just identifies the closest to the error line number (when document.xml XML is "pretty printed" with each tag on its own line) tag set of the previously mentioned possibilities and will with <m:num>, and then excises the tag set and intervening content and posts it to a RichTextBox. At the textbox the user can copy the XML and maybe recreate the removed content.

There is also a loop for finding multiple cases of errors and there is a section of the code which deals with other kinds of corruption other than unspecified errors, such as the math end tag matching error issue and contingencies for a mixture of unspecified and conventional corrupt DOCX errors. WIth, the latter mix of errors surprisingly I have a few DOCX files.

Off hand do you know what the XML tags we should look for with the second error you mentioned?

socrtwo (Paul Pruitt)

@Alejandro;

OneDrive (Word App) is choking on that direct link and won't let me D/L. Could you upload a copy of your damaged DOCX to a public file area like DropBox  or Google Drive and post the location to the publicly shared file back here?

Dear Jeeped,

I have the same problem with a document that I need to submit my doctoral dissertation in the next days. I tried what you suggested, but I was clearly unable to fix it.

I have put a copy of the original document (without correction attempts) on the following location. I really hope you can find where the problems lay.

http://1drv.ms/1fGgp6J

Thanks a lot!

Alejandro

Thanks for the tip. 

Another poster reported 2 more causes for this error:

**Unspecified Error, word/document.xml, Line:2, Column: 0** – end tag

<snip>

This last DOCX Unspecified error had to do with the <m:num> XML tag and I’ve had a few of those lately. Often, the <m:num></m:num> pair contains absolutely no content and can be removed without any damage to the DOCX at all. In this case, it was wrapping the lettersBH which were the numerator in a formula. The malformed section looked like this,

<m:num>

   <m:r>

      <w:rpr>

         <w:rFonts w:ascii  …. “Cambria math”/>

      </w:rpr>

      <m:t>

         BH

      </m:t>

   </m:r>

   <m:ctrlPr>

      <w:rpr>

         <w:rFontgs w:ascii*”Cambria math” … “cambria math”/>

         <w:1/>

      <w:rpr>

   <m:ctrlPr>

</m:num>

Now that XML code sequence passes syntax muster but Word still chokes on it. This can be proven by extracting the word\document.xml and opening it in Excel (or some other XML editor).

I first tried to delete the lower <m:ctrlPr></m:ctrlPr> section as it seemed empty of any actual contribution to the content of the DOCX but that still did not allow Word to open the document. Failing that, I noted other surrounding text so I could locate the problem area within the document at a later time (e.g. within Word) and snipped out the entire the <m:num></m:num> block. This allowed Word to open the DOCX.

I searched for the surrounding content I had noted previously and recorded the page number. I zoomed to 10% and took a screenshot of the first four pages and wrote my reply.

</snip>

Here is another cause for this error:

<snip>

here’s what caused my problem: Where you found the error, I had a checkbox (legacy form field) inside of a plain text content control field.  It didn’t cause any problems when left alone, but when I altered only that field (i.e., checked the box), saved the doc, and reopened it, presto, there was the error.  I guess Word doesn’t like form fields inside of form fields...which is maybe an obvious thing...  I’d done it based on a suggestion I found online, because putting the checkbox inside the plain text content control field allowed the user to actually tab to the checkbox -- Word won’t tab to it otherwise (apparently due to the mix of legacy fields and 2007 fields).  Oh well, I guess I can live without that :-)  I took the checkbox out of the plain text field and now the form works fine.

</snip>