I'm writing a book on MS Word 2007 - Vista. It is password protected.

When I tried to open it I received an error message saying the doc is corrupt. It had saved without a problem the night before. Dell couldn't open it and Microsoft support couldn't either - even for $49.

It is about 44 pages long and NO, I didn't save it anywhere else - stupid, I know.

Are there such services that can un-corrupt my document. Even for a fee. I'm desperate!!!! There just HAS to be a way to see it again - right?

Any help is sooooooooooooooo greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

There are utilities that will crack the password on password-protected Word documents. If it's actually corrupted, you can also try opening it in OpenOffice, which will often open Word documents that Word itself chokes on.

Feel free to email the document to me if you like. I promise not to reveal its contents to anyone, if I get it to open.

If you can open it, you will make me happier then the cheesy heroine in my romance novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, how do I email it to you. When I choose, Send Andrew an email, I can't find the little paperclip button to attach it???

Now, how do I email it to you. When I choose, Send Andrew an email, I can't find the little paperclip button to attach it???

andrew@mouseplanet.com

Since you are using Vista, there is also the possibility that the OS might have made a backup copy of your file without you knowing about it. Go into a directory listing under Windows Explorer, right click on the document, and select "properties". There should be a tab marked "Previous Versions". Click on that and it will tell you whether or not there are any backup copies of the document available to you.

By default, Vista should do a daily backup of any files on the C drive that were modified in the past 24 hours. If your document was on a different drive, you unfortunately won't likely have backups unless you manually changed the system settings, though.

-Jeff

I was unable to open the file using any of a varied selection of tools and methods, and believe the file itself is corrupted beyond repair. Hopefully Jeff's suggestion of Vista's automatic backup will work.

You might try opening the file in plain old Notepad. The text will most likely be a bit messed up, but you might be able to salvage some of it.

You might try opening the file in plain old Notepad. The text will most likely be a bit messed up, but you might be able to salvage some of it.
Office 2007 files can't be opened in Notepad. The .docx format is actually a renamed ZIP file containing several XML files. I wasn't able to open the DOCX file either with Office file converters or Zip file repair utilities.

Hi Beth,

I know it's been a couple days since you started this thread, but were you able to get your document back? I started to panic when I read about your corrupted doc nightmare as I just recently started using MS2007 and the Vista O/S, because of my own similar nightmare--entire hard drive completely died on me; my whole business was on that computer and of course I hadn't done a backup in weeks. Learned a real hard lesson there!

Anyway, since I didn't see it written about in this thread, I was wondering if anyone had you look in the c:\users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word folder for a file that starts with a tilde (~) and ends with the .wbk extension.

I just found a backup of a doc in that folder that I did days ago--one that caused me some problems--and it's there.

Sure hope you're able to get that doc back!

Anyway, since I didn't see it written about in this thread, I was wondering if anyone had you look in the c:\users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word folder for a file that starts with a tilde (~) and ends with the .wbk extension.

I just found a backup of a doc in that folder that I did days ago--one that caused me some problems--and it's there.
Great tip for the new Office backup location! Those seem to change with every new version.

I think the real lesson here is to use the "legacy" Office format (.doc) rather than .docx. There are plenty of recovery tools for DOC files and, as Sosai X pointed out, sometimes they can even be opened in plain text mode to extract the text. When you save your document in Office 2007, use "Save As" and select "Office 2003 (.doc)".

Great tip for the new Office backup location! Those seem to change with every new version. . .

No kidding. I'm learning. Some of it by trial and error. This 2007 version has really thrown me for a loop, though. I could use the other versions, including advanced features, in my sleep. Had all my macros and AutoCorrects in order, and my job was a streamlined snap. This new one, however, has been really trying my patience and forced me to actually phone MS' tech support for the first time, after not being able to find a solution in the Knowledge Database (or whatever MS calls it). After getting the runaround, I had to allow them to actually take over my machine (a privilege only previously allowed to my old IT mgr who I love dearly!) and make some adjustments to my registry, which did the trick. Talk about putting one's faith in a stranger!:eek:

Because my clients all use older versions of Word, I'm doing just that. Saving everything as a .doc rather than in the new format, with the exception of a few test docs that I've been using as learning docs. Unfortunately, some of the new nifty features aren't available with the newer software, but until the kinks are worked out, I'm not chancing it.

So glad you guys are around and available for support! Sure beats the heck out of calling MS! ;):D

So glad you guys are around and available for support! Sure beats the heck out of calling MS! ;):D

FYI: Andrwe is also capable of answering questions about windoze XP running in Parallels. Even though he doesn't know a thing about Parallels, he's just that good. I went from not being able to get Windoze to start-up to getting it up and running again from his helpfulness. (Even if it does make me feel so dirty...)

Adrienne

FYI: Andrwe is also capable of answering questions about windoze XP running in Parallels. . . . he's just that good. (Even if it does make me feel so dirty...)

Hmmmm, thinking aloud here. . . maybe you just answered your own question about what to do with that $500?;) Send it to Andrew, thanking him for. . . :eek: <ducking>

Hi everyone and Hey Howdy Hey! (you know who you are).

No, I'm still sweating over the loss of my book. It's gone.

Koukla, thank you for the suggestion and most of all for feeling my pain - you've been there too. Unfortunately I received the same error message when I went that route.

Sosai X: I tried this too, but it didn't work. My major mistakes were password protecting it and not backing it up. Lesson learned, the very hard way.

Adriennek, I knew I wasn't the only who felt dirty about speaking to Andrew :D.

Thank you so much Andrew for helping me!

If anyone can solve this strange problem I will be forever in your debt.

It's such a weird feeling. All that work....UGH!!!!:crying:

Beth! I just read this thread - no new suggestions. My heart sank when I read Andrew couldn't recover your document. My impression is if anyone could, he could.

Anyway - I am so sorry - what a pita!

Beth! I just read this thread - no new suggestions. My heart sank when I read Andrew couldn't recover your document. My impression is if anyone could, he could.

Anyway - I am so sorry - what a pita!My Girl Crazy!
Even though I'm not an avid poster, you always pick me up. Thank you. And if you MUST know (which you didn't ask, but I'll tell you anyway), it was a hot romance novel. Yes, Disneynerd just said "hot". Hot, hot and more hot...ness.

My Girl Crazy!
Even though I'm not an avid poster, you always pick me up. Thank you. And if you MUST know (which you didn't ask, but I'll tell you anyway), it was a hot romance novel. Yes, Disneynerd just said "hot". Hot, hot and more hot...ness.

All the more devastating! We need all the HOT romance novels we can get! Rewrite - it will be even hotter! :~D

When your cute little ones are grown and you are a rich and establised author you can hang out and post all day long! :D

I better get out of the tech area with my chatter . . . opps! :p

Adriennek, I knew I wasn't the only who felt dirty about speaking to Andrew :D.

No no no.

I feel dirty having windoze on my computer. I can't express how I feel about having to use it...

Adrienne

No no no.

I feel dirty having windoze on my computer. I can't express how I feel about having to use it...

AdrienneOh yeah, okay, mm hmm.



;)

No, I'm still sweating over the loss of my book. It's gone.

:crying:That sux!:crying: And here I thought MS was getting better in its ability to recover corrupt documents.

Koukla, thank you for the suggestion . . . Unfortunately I received the same error message when I went that route.

You're quite welcome. I had a feeling you'd end up w/just a copy of the same corrupt doc (been there, done that!) but I know, from being in your predicament, that anything is worth a shot!

FWIW, if you ever need anything retyped and you don't want to do it yourself (unless you're composing it from your head versus notes/hard copy, dictation, etc., of course), I type over 100 words per minute and my turnaround time is excellent.

Hey, maybe this time you can channel some of your anger/frustration over losing your romance novel into creating an even better/hotter version than the first!:D Good luck to you!