How to Recover a Corrupt Word Document

Amy Dennis

Apr 10, 2023 • Filed to: Recover Files • Proven solutions

Do not panic in case your important word document is corrupted unknowingly. It is really hard to open a corrupted word document by working out with the internet researched techniques. The corrupted document leads to data loss. You require a sophisticated solution to handle this issue. You might be reading this article with the question in your mind 'How to recover a corrupt word document?' For the best recovery, you need an effective tool. Though the Microsoft website guides you to carry out this task to some extent it does not work well for all corrupted documents. Special software helps you to open the corrupted file and get back your documents without any data loss. If you read through this article completely then you will be able to recover the lost data and repair the corrupted word document without much difficulty. Trace out simple strategies to overcome the corrupted word documents.

Part 1: How to Recover a Corrupt Word Document

There are different methods available to recover a corrupt word document. The main criteria of the recovery process are that the data in the document should be restored without any loss. Moreover, the process must be completed quickly. The steps related to the process have to be simple and user friendly.

a) Use the "Open and Repair" Option

Make use of a simple open and repair option implemented in the Microsoft Word to recover the corrupt document. Have a look at the below steps to carry out the built-in word repair utility to fix the issues with the word document.

Surf through the below discussed steps for a successful repair process

Step 1: Open a new Word document of Microsoft word 2007

Step 2: Tap the Microsoft icon displayed at the upper left side and from the drop-down list select the 'Open' option.

Step 3: Modify the option in the 'All Files' drop-down list. You have to select 'Recover Text from any file' from the expanded options

Step 4: Select the corrupted file to remove the errors for the optimal recovery process. You can surf through the files to identify the corrupted document file

Step 5: Open the file and later save this as a word document type to avoid frequent use of recover text utility features.

The above-discussed step is called an inbuilt repair tool which is implemented in the Microsoft Word Document platform. This strategy does not work well for all types of errors in the word document. You have to look for a repair tool to sort out complex errors in the corrupted word document.

b) Use Word File Repair Tool

To repair your corrupted word file you need an excellent tool to recover it without any data loss. The Stellar Phoenix repair tool assists you to successfully repair and recover the data from the corrupted file. The main features of this tool are as follows

• Simple user-friendly environment
• The left panel of the tool shows a tree-like structure comprising of the word files and the right side displays the preview of the selected file.
• Few steps are sufficient to get back your data in the corrupted file and you can resume your work in the document file without any issues
• You can make use of this tool to analyze the complete drives in search of the corrupted document files. There are three options provided for the recovery process they are simple, advance, and raw recovery.
• This software is available as a trial version for the convenience of the customers. You can try out once and later purchase its complete version if you are satisfied with the performance
• Moreover, this tool applies to Windows 7 and it is a prestigious product from Stellar Data Recovery firm.

Follow the below stepwise procedure to recover the corrupted word document using the Stellar Phoenix tool.

Step 1: Install the Software

Download the trial version of the Stellar Phoenix tool by visiting the Stellar Data recovery official website. Install and launch the software by a tap on its respective icon. You will be able to witness the home page of this software.

Step 2: Select the corrupt document

Surf through the folders and select the corrupted document which you want to work with. Go through the folders using the 'Select File' button and select the appropriate word document by clicking the file.

Step 3: Recover the corrupt word document

After importing the corrupted file tap the 'Recover' button to sort out the errors in the word file. The word document will be opened without any errors immediately. You can now work on the file by overcoming the errors using the Stellar Phoenix repair tool.

Part 2: How Do I Recover a Word Document?

If you are looking for feasible ways to recover a word document then here is the optimum solution. You can either make use of built-in features to restore the document else to try out effective tools to sort out complex issues in the word document.

Recovery of Unsaved Word Files

During an unexpected situation like sudden power failure, interruptions in the power supply in your device may lead to loss of data. When the system closes without the proper shutdown process then ultimately the documents on which you were working will disappear without saving the edited data.

Let us make use of the built-in features of Microsoft Word to tackle these issues. Here I am going to deal with Microsoft Word 2007 version. Have a look at the steps to restore the unsaved word document

Step 1: Open the Microsoft word by clicking Start-> All Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Word 2007

Step 2: In the top left side of the screen tap the Microsoft icon and from the expanded list select the 'Word Option' button.

Step 3: In the new window choose 'Save' in the left panel and check in the 'Autosave' option in the right panel.

By making the above settings you will be able to store the edited word document without making a manual save action. Therefore even your unsaved documents will be saved in its respective folder automatically without your knowledge.

Suppose if the auto-saved word document is corrupted then you can repair the file using the below steps.

Step 1: Open the Microsoft word document2007.

Step 2: Click the Microsoft icon at the top left corner on the screen and select the 'Open' option.

Step 2: From the pop up new window tap the respective word file you are in need and press the down arrow mark near the 'Open' button. In the dropdown list select the 'Open and Repair' option to recover the unsaved word documents.

Find Autosave Word files

In case if you want to trace out the storage location of the auto-saved files then carry out the listed below steps.

Step 1: Open the word document and tap the Microsoft icon at the top left corner. Proceed by selecting the 'Word Option' button.

Step 2: In the left panel choose 'Save' item and the respective right panel will be displayed to identify the location of the auto-saved word files.

Herein the above screenshot checks out the 'Auto Recover file location' label to identify the path of the auto-saved word documents.

Use Document recovery Tool

To tackle complex issues with the word documents then you need a special tool. There are many document recovery tools in the competitive market but the perfect tool to meet your expectations is the Recoverit Data Recovery software from Wondershare firm. Let us discuss in detail to know more about its features and outstanding performance.

Recoverit Data Recovery software is a sophisticated tool to handle today's complexities related to the word documents. Due to the intervention of malware and viruses, most of the word documents get corrupted unknowingly. This tool provides awesome solutions to overcome such obstacles. This software works on the corrupted word file and recovers the document without any data loss.

Mind-blowing Features of Recoverit Data Recovery Software

• User-friendly platform and you can utilize the tool optimally without any prior experience
• Trial version is available for free of cost
• You can recover any type of files like word document, videos, photos, etc.
• It is possible to make use of this software even in the MAC OS systems.
• Recover the word documents irrespective of the cause of the loss. The file might be deleted, virus attack or any sort of system crash, etc. Despite the reason for the data loss, you can make use of this tool to restore the lost files quickly just by few clicks.

Here is an elaborate discussion about the Recoverit Data recovery tool listed out in the steps below.

Step 1. Select a location

To recover data on a computer, it is necessary to choose a location where you have lost data.

Here, please select a hard disk under the "Hard Disk Drives" tab or Desktop under the "Select location" tab.

Click "Start" to begin the scanning on the selected location.

Step 2: Scan the files

The next process is that you have to scan the files available in your drives to recover the corrupted word document. Select the drive and tap the 'Start' button.

Step 3: Preview and save

You can preview the recoverable files before proceeding to the recovery step. Then you can select the targeted files and click the "Recover" button to retrieve your files back.

The selected files will be recovered successfully using this innovative software. It takes a few minutes to complete the tasks. Restore the corrupted file in a convenient location for your future reference.

Part 3: How to protect document Against Corruption

Let me give you a few steps to protect the documents against corruption.

• Avoid frequent document conversion process. When you start to convert the word document from one type to another there is a high probability of the file being corrupted and this process of frequent conversion is called round-tripping. You have to avoid round-tripping if you want the document to be safe in the long run.
• Edit the documents by copying the files in your computer hardware rather than working directly on the files stored in the external devices. When you edit the files lying in your removable storage memory leads to an increase in the corruption rate on the document.
• The virus may attack the files unknowingly. The computer virus will attack your document any time and it does not allow the document to function properly when you need it.

The Best Corrupted Files Repair Toolkit

• Repair 4 types of files, namely Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Zip.
• Offer excellent search options to find corrupted files instantly.
• Preview and recover all the data contained in the corrupted files.
• Repair files are corrupted due to different causes and from all devices.

Download Now Windows Version

Conclusion

While working with the word document try your best to protect the document against corruption. In case if your word document is corrupted then choose the inbuilt features initially implemented in the word document and then proceed with the special tool named Recoverit Data Recovery software to overcome the issue. Take a quick look at the steps discussed in this article to sort out the corrupted file and recover it quickly without much difficulty. Recover and restore the word documents optimally by making use of sophisticated products from Wondershare firm. Retrieve the data in the corrupted document with the Recoverit Data recovery software.