Corrupt Word Document Overnight?

[DanishDevil]

Anybody have ANY clue as to how the fuck this happened to almost every file I was working on last night, and how to get it back?

After some googling, I found that the ones that would actually open could be saved as a web page, and it did indeed get rid of some of the corruption, but not all of it. Some of the files I was working on simply will not open. Word will ask if I want it to recover the files, but they are not recoverable.

These are school assignments that were due today, and since I was only working on them last night, I only had them saved in one location.

 

[DanishDevil]

Not every character is corrupted. Here's an example.

 

[streetfighter 2]

This is a long shot but I know how Word loves to keep around backup files of documents that are open and sometimes it fails to delete them. Make sure you can view hidden files and check in the directory where the documents are stored for the automatic backup files. If they exist, they might not be corrupt.

Sorry, thats the best I can do. In all honestly you're probably SOL.

 

[DanishDevil]

Here's another, zoomed out.

At least it looks interesting

Already checked the temp files, no luck.

 

[streetfighter 2]

I don't know about you but I'd be running every conceivable HD/filesystem scanner and virus scanner like a MOFO right now...

 

[Tatty_Two]

Does office not have a temp file where it stores it's auto saves? I am sure it does, you will possibly find them in there safed possibly as RTF files.

 

[DanishDevil]

There's nothing in the temp file that isn't corrupted already.

 

[jasper1605]

this is probably a noobish idea but it's worth a shot if all options are exhausted. What about doing a system restore? Generally it doesn't affect documents and maybe it will undo what your computer thought was a "smart" idea during the night. Like I said, it's not the most awe inspiring idea, but it's what I would try.

edit: second idea would be to use zamzar.com and attempt the convert the word files to a .txt file and see if converting it will allow you to open it up in wordpad. At least you would get content back

 

[Mr McC]

Unless somebdoy can provide a quick solution, I would simply explain what has happened to the tutor (show this thread to him/her), ask for an extension and start retyping as you will probably invest a great deal of time that will be rewarded only by further frustration if you try to fix the documents.

 

[Batou1986]

Have you tried opening them in an alternative office program like open office, i doubt it will fix anything but its worth a shot.
Secondly run that computer through the test/scan gauntlet ive never seen corruption like that before.

 

[Drone]

what is it? doc or docx? if docx you can extract it with 7z and look inside

 

[DRDNA]

Did you try right click / properties/ previous version?

 

[95Viper]

I noticed it is in compatibility mode.
As, Drone mentioned, was it originally saved as a docx; because, usually the compatibility mode is used for doc files that were in another format, such as, docx originally.

Try searching for <filename> and no extension or, use wildcards (.??? or .*). See if two or more files come up.

If this fails then open the document you have and do a <Save as docx>; and, see if that corrects it.

Goodluck...

 

[Tatty_Two]

try saving a copy of one of the corrupt files to RTF, then open the document in wordpad and see what you have then, it sometimes works.