Large Word Document spontaneously gains pages or loses words.

Anonymous
2018-03-02T21:38:27+00:00

When I transfered a large Word 2010 Doc to my new computer (into Word 2016) from the cloud, 1500 words disappeared. Nobody could figure out why or which words were missing.

Now that same file (Word 2016) has spontaneously added 10 pages (it went from 469 to 479 pages), but there are no blank pages and the page format and word count haven't changed. Can anyone tell me what could have happened?

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.

0 comments No comments

60 answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-07T22:11:07+00:00

    Did you use the Compare facility?

    If you send me a copy of the documents, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-07T20:59:15+00:00

    Does the document contain any Hidden text (such as XE or TC fields)? Displaying those would change the pagination and word count.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T18:51:38+00:00

    I've spent DAYS comparing docs trying to find the difference. Since I was unsuccessful, I came here for help.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T18:46:29+00:00

    Hello Desiree,

    Thank you for your reply. It happened to one file (I rarely keep page/word counts on the other files). I hope this one is not corrupted since I've been working on it for 3 years and it's over 420,000 words. For the same reason, I can't simply rewrite it.

    Nobody but me works on it. I regularly save it to the computer, an external hard drive, a flash drive, and to OneDrive. I also email myself a copy at the end of the day.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-07T09:06:24+00:00

    Have you compared the document as it is now with how it was before the pages were added to determine where the difference is.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments