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

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-03-04T04:16:28+00:00

    They're all full pages.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-04T04:04:31+00:00

    If there are 10 more pages and no blank pages, then the pages must be breaking differently.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-04T00:32:05+00:00

    Thanks for your understanding.

    Unfortunately, the external hard drive I was using with the old computer died just before the computer did (long story). Nothing was left except what I uploaded into the cloud.

    At the time, I tried to run a comparison (with the help of IT techs) between the files, but it was impossible. 

    Frankly, I prefered Office 2010 to 2016 and would have stayed with it if I could have.

    Every time I update this doc, I add the date to the name. Therefore, I know the date that the Word 2016 doc jumped from 469 to 479 words. (Ex. File030118, File030218 etc.). Is there a way I can compare those 2 files to find the difference between them? Maybe that might provide a clue.

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  4. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-03T22:30:33+00:00

    Please re-read the previous messages. I was never in Word 2013.

    I was already in 2016 for several months when the word count spontaneously changed. As I keep saying, nothing changed EXCEPT the word count.

    Sorry, Word 2010.

    "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. "

    Is your document still in Word 2010 [compatibility mode] format?

    Do you have any backups that are still in Word 2010 format? If so, can you run a document comparison?

    I understand your frustration and fear. We rely on these machines and our tools.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-03-03T22:08:15+00:00

    Please re-read the previous messages. I was never in Word 2013.

    I was already in 2016 for several months when the word count spontaneously changed. As I keep saying, nothing changed EXCEPT the word count.

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