Suddenly I cannot open some word docs

[Dart77]

I have Win XP (SP3, 32bit) and MS Word 2003 installed, I can't see what version it is, it's inside MS Office.

I have been using the same doc file for quite a while, just keep adding to it and saving it. It is only text, no graphics, all very simple. I made multiple copies. But after saving it one day (and using SAVE AS for the other copies I had) now Word cannot open them. And what is strange, is that the size of the file has suddenly gone to 1kb (previously was about 140kb) and icon colour has gone dim showing it can't be opened. (see pics).

Another doc file I was working on has had its name changed so there is a ~$ at the beginning of the file name. And it is also dimmed out.

When I try and open these files, I get the message "Word cannot start the converter mswdr632" As shown in the pictures.

Googling this problem, most of the 'fixes' are to go to the Registry and delete the MSword6.wpc key. But this is only a fix for non-Word text files with a doc extension. My Word opens other doc files but suddenly it has done something to these later files I saved, as shown by the dim icon and only 1Kb size.

What has happened to these files?

The only small success I had was when I saw the TMP.wrl file and I changed the extension to 'doc' and it then opened but I saw it was a very old version of the file , maybe a year old with much text missing.

Can anybody help me recover the doc file please?

 

[johnb35]

Those dim files usually means you have hidden files and folders enabled and those are hidden files. You can try doing a system restore back to a day when it was working fine. When you did the save as did you by accident change the file type or something?

 

[Dart77]

Those dim files usually means you have hidden files and folders enabled and those are hidden files. You can try doing a system restore back to a day when it was working fine. When you did the save did you by accident change the file type or something?

I just did what I always do to save. And also 'Save As' to one of the backup files. Anyway, I'm not sure how it can suddenly become a hidden file by doing that and is that a characteristic of hidden files, (ie to have only 1Kb size? When it it is not really that).

How do I do a System Restore please? As it has only happened in the last week

Thanks

 

[johnb35]

Click on start, accessories, system tools, system restore.

 

[Dart77]

I have done a system restore prior to the date this happened and nothing changed with those files. So I right clicked on the file, went to properties and it had Hidden File as checked. So I unchecked it and now it is not dimmed. I also renamed it (it has a doc extension) and tried to open it but same deal -same error message. As shown, the file is only 1kb but when this file is selected, the full size is shown in the tray (and also in Properties).

I also tried opening in WordPad and also in a non MS word reader called Oracle OpenOffice. Same, will not open except for a few lines of squares.

Any other ideas? I hope someone else will read this who can help.

 

[2048Megabytes]

Sounds like the Microsoft Word files are corrupted in my opinion. Do you have any backup copies? Always make at least one copy and put it on separate secondary storage device if you value the data in the future. You might want to try downloading the program LibreOffice to see if it can open the files. I have a copy of LibreOffice version 4.1 in my dropbox account if you want to try downloading it from there.

Link is here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60602228/LibreOffice 4.1.0 Windows x86 Installer.msi

Edit: I also recommend using LibreOffice or an updated version of Microsoft Office like version 2010 over Office 2003. It is possible that the Office 2003 software corrupted the data.

 

[johnb35]

Yep, I suspect corrupt files.

 

[Dart77]

Thanks 2048 Megabytes, that is possible about corrupt files. But would this be the reason two doc files were changed to hidden files and why Word now thinks it needs a converter to open them? Unless the file is corrupted in the housekeeping area (possible), Yes I did have multiple copies on separate HDs, but silly me, the way I made sure they were updated was just by using Save As on the original and saving to that name in the other drive. I noticed that I was getting messages like, cannot save this file due to some "Permission Error", and also I was being asked to save the files before closing them but when I had not changed anything. Which I thought was weird.

Thanks a lot for the Libre program, I am downloading it now and will let you know how it goes.

 

[Dart77]

Thanks for the Libre suite but it doesn't open it. The 162kb doc file just opens like Word and only one line of rubbish appears.