It's the night before the report is due. You're just about to put your finishing touches on it. You open the document and your heart sinks as Word tells you the file cannot be opened. Worse yet, the file was never saved or accidentally deleted.

Don't panic! Try all the options in our How to Recover a Word Document article. Most of the fourth dimension, the advice there will recover your Word document. Oh, you tried all of that? You couldn't find your certificate? Or you lot plant it but it won't open? We've got some help for that also. Y'all could recover an unsaved, deleted, or corrupted Word document with our tips.

Recover Corrupted Word Files In Microsoft Word

There are several methods to effort when recovering a corrupted file right in the Word plan. Although the recovery rate for these methods isn't perfect, try them first. They're free, and if they practise recover the document, it'll be correct there in Word, ready to save.

Give-and-take Content Recovery

When opening a document and finding out it'due south corrupt for the commencement time, nosotros'll likely run into the following mistake message: Word found unreadable content in YourDocument.docx. Practise you desire to recover the contents of this certificate? If you trust the source of this certificate, click Yes.

Information technology's obvious what to practice adjacent. Click Aye. If the corrupted document opens and information technology's usable, so slap-up! If not we'll come across the error message, Discussion experienced an mistake trying to open the file. A listing of suggestions will be presented. They're worth following.

Give-and-take Open and Repair

The Open and Repair option is too congenital into Give-and-take.

  • Open Word and select Open. Then navigate to where the corrupted Word file is saved.
    1. Select the file so it'due south highlighted.
    2. Select the down arrow next to Open.
    3. Select Open and Repair.

It may take a few minutes to process. Y'all can either recover the corrupted document or get an fault message.

Word Recover Text from Any File

It'south a bold claim to make that Discussion can recover text from whatever file, yet Microsoft still used that equally the proper noun for this method.

  • Open Give-and-take and select Open up. Then navigate to where the corrupted Word file is saved.
    1. Select the file so it's highlighted.
    2. Select the down arrow next to All Files (*.*).
    3. Select Recover Text from Any File (*.*).
    4. Select Open up.

Word will process the file for a few minutes. It'south hit or miss, then it will either recover the text of the Word document or we may get the fault message, Word found unreadable content in somefilename.tmp. Do you want to recover the contents of this document? If yous trust the source of this document, click Aye. So, click Yes.

The text will either be recovered or we'll get the usual mistake message.

Give-and-take Open in Draft Mode

If none of the above methods worked, we'll need to attempt a couple of things that aren't really official Microsoft means of recovering a corrupted file in Word. But, they tin still be done using only Discussion. Opening the file in Draft mode is the first.

  1. With a new blank document open in Give-and-take, select File, and so at the bottom-left corner of the screen select Options.
  1. When the Word Options window opens, select Avant-garde on the left side. Then scroll down to the Show document content expanse. Put a checkmark in Testify picture placeholders. Practice this so that Word won't try to rescue the pictures and and then give up on the whole certificate when it tin can't.

Let'southward assume we take the pictures saved somewhere else as well and tin can put them dorsum in the rescued document. As well, put a checkmark in Employ draft font in Draft and Outline views. This prevents Word from trying to rescue all the styles that were used in the document. We want Word to focus on getting the text back. Nosotros can apace reformat the document when we get it back.

  1. Select OK to close the Word Options window.
  1. In the ribbon, select View, then Typhoon. Any documents opened will now open in the Typhoon view.
  1. Let'southward attempt opening the corrupted Word file.
    • Select File to get to the Word home view and and then select Open.
  1. Navigate to the corrupted Word document and Open information technology.

Give Word a few minutes to work. It'll either recover the document or we'll get the usual error message. If you get the error bulletin, Word institute unreadable content in YourDocument.docx… select Yeah to proceed.

On to the terminal, and most complicated, method.

Give-and-take Link to Document

This one is complicated. We're trying to fox Word into opening the corrupted file. Surprisingly, it can work.

  1. Open up a new bare Word document and salvage it with a proper noun like Link to Document.docx.
  1. Enter some text similar Link to certificate. Select all the text and copy it past right-clicking and selecting Copy or utilise Ctrl + C.
  1. Open a new bare certificate. Select the down arrow under the Paste selection in the ribbon. Then select Paste Special. Or simply use Alt + Ctrl + V.
  1. In the Paste Special window, select the Paste link radio button then select Unformatted Text. Select OK.
  1. Right-click on the text now in the document. Select Linked Document Object > Links.
  1. In the Links window, select Change Source. The document selection window will open. Select the corrupted Discussion document and open it.

Dorsum in the Links window, ensure Source file: shows the path to the corrupted Word document we just selected. Select OK to continue.

  1. If it works, nosotros'll see all the text from the corrupted document. It will exist highlighted because it is even so a link. Right-click on the text and select Linked Document Object > Convert. A new window volition open.

eight. In the Catechumen window, the Object blazon: Microsoft Word Document is already selected. Select OK to do the conversion.

Now the document volition be obviously text, without links. Relieve information technology before it's lost again.

Programs to Recover a Deleted or Corrupted Word Document

What if none of those steps worked? Or what if the Give-and-take document is just plain deleted and non in the Recycle Bin, with no fill-in of any sort? There are a few programs that tin can recover deleted or corrupted Word documents.

Windows has congenital-in utilities similar ShadowCopy and File History for recovering deleted or uncorrupted versions of a file. There's also the free Microsoft Windows File Recovery app.

Mac's Time Machine feature will help Apple enthusiasts, equally long every bit they take automated backup turned on. If those options aren't working, try one of these apps.

We downloaded and tested all of the apps below on the same corrupted file used earlier. Keep in mind that no file recovery will work every fourth dimension. Your experiences may be different.

All apps were put through VirusTotal'south File Analyzer. It'south an online virus scanner. If any security vendor flagged the file equally bad, the app was non included in our tests.

DocRepair

OS: Windows
Toll: $eighty
Recovery blazon: Corrupted Discussion files

DocRepair can be used on Word documents from Give-and-take 2.0 right upwards to 2016, besides every bit Discussion for Mac. Unfortunately, we didn't have a Mac to test information technology on, so our review is based on the Windows version.

Sometimes DocRepair recovered complex formatting, but mostly information technology just recovered the text. All that bated, this was the app that worked nearly consistently in our testing. It was too the simplest.

DocRepair also claims to be able to recover Discussion files lost to damaged disks or bad disk sectors. We couldn't test that, unfortunately. Seriously, this was the best corrupted Give-and-take file recovery app in our exam.

Wondershare Recoverit

OS: Windows, Mac
Cost: From $80/calendar month to $170 lifetime license, free trial
Recovery type: Deleted Word files

Searching for Give-and-take recovery apps, Wondershare Recoverit will be a result. Their marketing frames it as a Discussion recovery app, just realistically it'south a file recovery app we'd likely use to restore any deleted file.

It does take a filter option then the browse can exist narrowed to file type such equally photo, video, document, etc. This will reduce the time it takes to scan. Nonetheless, in that location will still be a lot of documents to sift through. Wondershare did find several versions of our file that could exist restored, as shown by the highlighting.

RS Discussion Recovery

OS: Windows
Price: $40/year, free trial
Recovery type: Deleted Word files

The name is pleasantly misleading equally RS Word Recovery doesn't just recover Word documents. It tin can recover OpenOffice, PDF, and plain text files also. RS Word Recovery is really a deleted file recovery program that can filter down to a document type.

It won't actually fix a corrupted file, only it may find a previous version of the file that couldn't otherwise be found. It works on local and removable drives too. The highlighting shows that a version of our test file was found.

DataNumen Word Repair

Bone: Windows, Mac
Price: 89.95, costless trial
Recovery Type: Deleted or corrupted Word files

DataNumen Word Repair claims to recover Word documents for Windows or Mac. It tin recover unsaved, deleted, or corrupted Discussion files. The formatting of the certificate is supposed to be kept intact too, including; tables, images, lists, links, and bookmarks. Whether the file is on a local or removable disk, DataNumen Word Repair can be used. Our exam didn't recover the file.

Stellar Repair for Word

Bone: Windows
Price: From $80/month to $170 lifetime license, gratis trial
Recovery blazon: Corrupted Discussion files

This 1 is specifically for repairing Word files. If the location of the file is unknown, Repair for Word volition search for it. Once establish, Repair for Word tin preview the document equally a full certificate, filtered text with formatting, or raw text without formatting. From there, it can practice a elementary repair of minor corruption or a complete recovery. Information technology didn't work on our test file.

Easy Word Recovery

OS: Windows
Cost: $60 personal license,  $100 business license
Recovery blazon: Deleted or corrupted Word files

Munsoft's Easy Word Recovery is an older app and it shows in the look and experience. But if it works, does that affair? Easy Word Recovery tin can recover data from a Discussion file and too search drives for all Discussion files in case information technology's lost or deleted. Once the Give-and-take file is found or recovered, it gives a preview besides. Our test file wasn't recovered.

All the same Can't Recover a Discussion File?

If you've tried all the options within Word, Windows' or Mac's built-in recovery tools, and a few of the apps mentioned, there may be merely one thing left to do. The device could be taken to a data recovery specialist, but that's going to cost well over $ane,000. Peradventure the document is worth that much to y'all though.

Have you successfully rescued a Give-and-take file with our tips or the apps? Got other tips or a favorite Word recovery app? We'd love to hear about it.