How Do I Repair a Corrupted DOCX File? [6 Reliable Fixes Available]
Applies to: Repair corrupted DOCX Files in Word 2019/2016/2013/2010/2007.
Usually, when your Word file like a .docx document suddenly becomes inaccessible or unopenable, it could be corrupted. The Word application error may also cause this issue. So how to define if the DOCX file is corrupted and get rid of this error from your computer?
Check the signs of Word .docx file corruption and join us to learn how to repair a corrupted DOCX word file with 4 Microsoft built-in tools, 1 Word file repair software, and 1 online file repair tool.
How to Fix Corrupted DOCX Files in Word 2019/2016 and Lower? Try the 6 Fixes Here
Pick one and follow the specific tutorial guide to rescue the DOCX file content and make your Word document work again:
- Editors' Recommendation:
- For an official solution, Microsoft Office's 5 built-in tools are worth trying.
- To recover lost, inaccessible Word files and repair the DOCX file to work again, the Qiling Word repair tool - Data Recovery Wizard deserves a try.
How Do I Define If a DOCX File Is Corrupted? Check the Sings
How to define if a Word .docx or .doc file is corrupted or not? Check the signs of Word file corruption, and if you currently are experiencing one of the issues, your DOCX or DOC file is corrupted.
Sings of DOCX or DOC File Is Corrupt:
- The computer does not respond or freezes while opening the .docx file.
- The .docx file not loading or stuck in loading.
- The file content is unreadable.
- DOCX file pops error message: Word was unable to read this document. It may be corrupt.
So how do I fix a corrupted DOCX file in Windows or Mac computer? Here are 6 ways that are recommended by the Microsoft support team and Qiling data recovery expert.
Fix 1. Repair and Restore a Corrupted DOCX File from Temporary AutoSave
This method is used to recover unsaved Word documents in many cases. It also works to help you repair a corrupted DOCX file.
Follow the steps and learn how to repair the corrupted DOCX file on your own:
Step 1. Open the Word application, click "File" on the left top menu pane.
Step 2. Click "Manage Document", open the dropdown list and select "Recover Unsaved Documents".
Step 3. Find the temporary files of your problematic DOCX file with .asd extension.
Step 4. Double-click the file and wait for the Word application to open the DOCX document.
Then, click "Save As" to save it as a new document.
Fix 2. Repair Corrupted Word DOCX File with Open and Repair
The Open and Repair tool is mostly used to fix an unopenable Word file or Excel, PowerPoint document.
When the DOCX file on your computer is popping up with a "file not openable" error message, you can follow steps here to try:
Step 1. Open the Word application, click "File" on the left top menu pane.
Then click "Open" and select "Browse" to open the corrupted .docx file.
Step 2. Navigate to find the corrupted DOCX word file and select it.
Step 3. Then, click the Open option and select "Open and Repair" from the dropdown list.
Wait patiently to let the file be repaired by this built-in feature in your Word application.
Step 4. Once you see the file content, copy and save the content to a new DOCX Document file.
Fix 3. Corrupted DOCX Word Repair with Recover Text from Any File
When you are unable to view the content of a corrupted DOCX file or the content of the Word document turn into unreadable characters, you can try the "Recover Text from Any File" feature.
Here are the steps:
Step 1. Open the Word application, click "File" on the left top menu and click "Open".
Step 2. Click "Browse" to find the corrupted DOCX Word file.
Step 3. Click the All Files button and select "Recover Text from Any File (*.*)" from the dropdown menu.
Step 4. Click "Open" and wait for the Word application to re-open and display your Word document content.
Step 5. As long as you see the file content, copy the content and save it in a new file.
Fix 4. Unlock Word File to Repair the Unopenable DOCX Document
When you received an error message that tells "Word experienced an error trying to open the file...", the .docx Word file is not corrupted. It could be locked in a read-only state.
And you can unlock the file with the following steps:
Step 1. Right-click the corrupted or unopenable Word file and select "Properties".
Step 2. On the General tab, find the Read-Only box and uncheck it. Click "OK" to confirm.
Now, try to open this Word file on your computer.
According to Qiling data recovery experts, the above 4 methods work in repairing corrupted Word DOCX and DOC files at most times. But sometimes, when you are in a peculiar case, such as the Word file folder is lost or unopenable, none of the above methods can help.
Fortunately, Qiling Word repair tool with its Document Recovery and Repair feature can bring your files back to life.
Fix 5. Repair a Lost, Inaccessible, or Corrupted DOCX File with Qiling Word Repair Software
When the above 4 methods fail to repair your corrupted Word document or you cannot even access a Word .docx file, what really can help is a reliable Word repair software. Deep Data Recovery with its Word repair tool can retrieve your Word file from multiple file loss or corruption cases.
What can Qiling Word Repair Software Do For You:
Deep Data Recovery
- Repair corrupted Word document, Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, etc.
- Repair corrupted PNG file, JPEG/JPG images.
- Recover and fix corrupted videos, like MP4, MOV, GIF, etc.
- Also works to open and repair a corrupted Word on Mac.
Download Qiling software and follow to repair corrupted DOCX Word file now:
Step 1. Launch Deep Data Recovery. Select file types and click "Next" to start.
Step 2. Select a disk location where the corrupted files are saved. Click "Scan" to start finding the broken files. Qiling file repair tool allows you to fix damaged documents, videos, and pictures in differnet formats.
Step 3. After scanning, you can quickly find corrupt data by file type. If you want to repair damaged Word, Excel, or PDF, select Documents and filter a specific category. For pictures and videos repair, all the common types are suppored, including JPEG, PNG, BMP, MOV, MP4, GIF, and more.
Step 4. Qiling file repair software will automatically fix broken files. You can preview the repaired files before recovery. Last, click "Recover" and save the recovered files to a different location to avoid data overwriting.
Fix 6. Repair Corrupted Word File Online with Online File Repair Tool
The last popular way that works to repair a damaged or corrupted Word file is turning to an online Word repair tool. When you search "Word Repair Online" or " Repair Word File Online", you may get a large number of online file repair tools.
Among them, a tool named "Online File Repair" is somehow capable to help.
Step 1. Open Online File Repair in a browser with the link: https://onlinefilerepair.com/word
Step 2. Click the SELECT FILE button to browse and enter your email address.
Step 3. Click "Next" to upload the corrupted DOCX file and wait patiently.
Step 4. When the 3 repair steps complete, click "Show preview" or click "Download DEMO file" to check the file content before payment.
Step 5. Once you confirm the .docx file content is repaired, click the Pay button to complete the payment.
Step 6. Last, download the repaired file and save it as a new document on your computer.
Sum Up: Corrupted DOCX File Is Recoverable, But You Can Do More
On this page, we discussed the symptoms of a corrupted Word .docx file and talked about what to do when the file becomes inaccessible, unopenable, or even unreadable.
The corrupted DOCX file is still recoverable with the above recommended 6 ways. If you still don't know which way to take, here's the suggestion from Qiling editors:
- For a not opening or not responding Word DOCX file, you should take Microsoft fixes.
- For an inaccessible or lost corrupted .docx word file, Qiling Word repair tool worth your time.
Besides fixing corrupted DOCX or DOC files, what you can do is more. We also have some further tips to help you better protect Word files from corruption:
- Turn on AutoSave or enable the AutoRecover feature.
- Back up important Word files regularly.
- Running Windows compatible edition of Word application on a computer.
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