Repair Corrupted Word File | Ultimate Guide

Microsoft Word is a program used to create, edit and save reports, documents, brochures, etc. You might have spent hours together creating an important Word document report. And accidentally saving Word files on your corrupted drive or interruptions while transferring it to another device can make it unreadable.

If you are looking for a way to repair your corrupt Word file you need not worry, you can safely repair your Word document without losing the data on it. In this article we will discuss what are the reasons for Word file corruption and how to repair your Word file.

Why Is My Word Document Corrupted?

Here are some of the reasons for your damaged or corrupt Word document.

• Malware attack: A computer virus or bug can corrupt your Word document by modifying the header.
• Bad sectors: If a Word file is saved on a bad sector of a hard disk, it will certainly become corrupt or unavailable.
• System crash: If Windows crashes while you're working on an Office program or saving a file, it might lead to corruption.

Now let us understand how we can repair damaged or corrupted Word documents with ease.

How To Repair Corrupt Word File?

Here are the different ways you can use to repair your corrupted Word document, the first method is to fix the corrupted Word document file using a manual method. The second method is an automated method where you can safely recover a corrupted Word file with the help of Remo Repair Word.

• Fix Corrupted Word Document File Manually
• Repair Damaged Word File Using Remo Repair Word

Fix Corrupted Word Document File Manually

A word file can be fixed using various manual methods. These methods can be executed using a few built-in options that can be found below. Here are the two free manual methods that can fix errors in a Word document:

• Open and Repair Word
• Run CHKDSK command
• Open the Corrupted Word file in Draft Mode
• Open the Word Recover Text from Any File
• Start Word from Default Settings

Open And Repair Word

Open and Repair Word as a built-in option works best in fixing minor corruptions on the Word file.

• Open Microsoft Word application on your computer.
• Press Ctrl+O or click on the File tab on the left pane and click on the Browse option.
• Navigate to the location of the corrupt Word document.
• To repair the Word document click on the Open and Repair. This will rebuild the damaged Word file. Now, you can open the repaired docx file.

This Open and Repair Word document method works only for minor Word file corruption, if the issue is not fixed then move on to the next method.

Note: Sometimes while trying to open the Word document it returns an error MS Word is not responding. Here is an article on how to repair unresponsive Word file.

Run CHKDSK Command

CHKDSK command checks the file system and meta data for some logical errors to troubleshoot Word file issues

• Type Cmd in the search box and open the Command Prompt as Administrator.
• To repair the following Word file, type the following command on the Command prompt window: CHKDSK drive: path filename.docx /r

Note: For example chkdsk x: documents abc.docx /r (Here x is the drive letter and abc.doc is the file name. Replace the drive letter and name of the file based on yours)



• Hit Enter and wait for the process to complete.

Now, check if the Word file is fixed or not. If still you are unable to fix the issue then use Remo Repair Word.

Method 3: Open the Corrupted Word file in Draft Mode

This below method is suited to fix the current word file. You can always open the draft mode to recover the content from the corrupted Word file.

• First open the Word and go to View tab and then select the Draft option.
• Then select the Options in the File tab and click on the Advanced option.
• In the Word options check the Show document content section and also check the box Use draft font in Draft and click on OK.

Method 4: Open the Word Recover Text from Any File

You can try recovering the text from the corrupted Word file. To do so follow the steps below. You can make use of this method to recover the important text from the corrupted Word document.

• Open the Corrupted Word document.
• Select the down arrow next to All Files (*.*).
• Choose the option Recover Text from Any File (*.*).
• And select Open.

Method 5: Start Word from Default Settings

You can fix the corrupted Word document by Running your Word document by default settings. You can make use of this method, if the Word document is severely corrupted.

• Click Windows+R keys to open Run.
• Click on OK by typing winword.exe /a.
• You can fix severely corrupted word files, by running Word documents in the default settings.

Repair Corrupt Word File Using Remo Repair Word

The best way to fix damaged Word files is with the help of Remo Repair Word. It is a specially designed tool that uses read only mode for repairing severely corrupted or damaged Word files without altering the original file.

After repairing your Word document, Remo Repair Word can restore OLE objects, images, hyperlinks, format, etc. Download and try the tool for free.

• Download and install Remo Repair Word tool and click the Browse button to select the corrupted Word file.



• Now click on the Repair option to start fixing the corrupt Word file.
• After the Word file repair process completes, you can check the repaired Word document by clicking the Preview File button.
• Finally click on the Save button to restore the fixed Word file in a location of your choice.

Note: If you have created a Macro to accomplish an automated task, sometimes it is prone to corruption. Here is some info on how to repair Macro in Word

Benefits Of Using Remo Repair Word Tool

• Supports all MS Office Word documents versions like 2019, 2016, 2013, 2007, and earlier versions.
• Resolves any kind of error messages related to Word files, even it fixes Word file header.
• It works with read only mode to repair the corrupt Word file without altering the original file.
• 100% virus-free and safe to use.
• Easy to install and simple to use interface.
• Offers ideal technical assistance at free of cost 24*7

Conclusion:

Hope the article was helpful in providing solutions to fix corrupted Word files. Data loss is inevitable, hence it is recommended to always take backup of your important data. Try the manual methods mentioned above to fix the corrupted Word file, if the issue is not fixed then make use of Remo Repair Word software to fix damaged .doc, .docx files without any hassle.