Recovery of Word 6.0 Doc
June 16, 2006 6:54 AM Subscribe
Help me recover a seemingly corrupted Microsoft Word 6.0 file.
The file is a 200+ page manuscript. When I load it into MS Word 2004/WordPad/AbiWord/Open Office it comes up as a blank document (no error message, just blank. "Properties" claims 0 characters, 0 words, 1 page) If I load it into a plaintext editor, I can see the manuscript, but in the slightly mangled way in which all Word docs look in plaintext editors (i.e. no formatting, non-alphanumeric characters are wrong, etc.) I've also tried running it through some shareware apps that supposedly repair corrupted docs with no luck.
The file is a 200+ page manuscript. When I load it into MS Word 2004/WordPad/AbiWord/Open Office it comes up as a blank document (no error message, just blank. "Properties" claims 0 characters, 0 words, 1 page) If I load it into a plaintext editor, I can see the manuscript, but in the slightly mangled way in which all Word docs look in plaintext editors (i.e. no formatting, non-alphanumeric characters are wrong, etc.) I've also tried running it through some shareware apps that supposedly repair corrupted docs with no luck.
Oh, sorry... you tried Open Office. (Note to self: read more carefully.)
posted by j-dawg at 7:13 AM on June 16, 2006
posted by j-dawg at 7:13 AM on June 16, 2006
At one time I knew of a freeware utility that extracts text from any binary file (disadvantage: formatting is gone) but I can't find it now. TextExtract looks like it might do this.
posted by davcoo at 7:26 AM on June 16, 2006
posted by davcoo at 7:26 AM on June 16, 2006
You could try strings or wv and see what they come up with.
posted by shepd at 7:45 AM on June 16, 2006
posted by shepd at 7:45 AM on June 16, 2006
Try this to get the text back. If it works,you'll probably lose any formatting, but at least you'll have the text.
In Word, select File -> Open. In the Files of Type box, change it to "Recover Text From Any File". Select your document and open it. Then save your document to a new file name. Make sure you don't replace the corrupted file. You might still find something that will recover the file with the formatting.
posted by rsclark at 8:12 AM on June 16, 2006
In Word, select File -> Open. In the Files of Type box, change it to "Recover Text From Any File". Select your document and open it. Then save your document to a new file name. Make sure you don't replace the corrupted file. You might still find something that will recover the file with the formatting.
posted by rsclark at 8:12 AM on June 16, 2006
You could try to open it in Word Viewer, then copy and paste into a new document. Quick View is another option.
posted by JJ86 at 8:22 AM on June 16, 2006
posted by JJ86 at 8:22 AM on June 16, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions... still no luck.
rsclark, your idea came the closest to working: It pretty much gave me the same results as when I open the file in an plaintext editor.
posted by gwint at 9:31 AM on June 16, 2006
rsclark, your idea came the closest to working: It pretty much gave me the same results as when I open the file in an plaintext editor.
posted by gwint at 9:31 AM on June 16, 2006
In the worst case, could you get that text, re-do the formatting and find/replace the mangled characters? That's sometimes what it seems to come down to.
posted by reklaw at 1:12 PM on June 16, 2006
posted by reklaw at 1:12 PM on June 16, 2006
Is there any way that you can get a copy of Word 6, perhaps from ebay or something? Word files are notoriously flaky from version to version anyway.
posted by Rhomboid at 4:42 PM on June 16, 2006
posted by Rhomboid at 4:42 PM on June 16, 2006
I have Word 2003 - I could try opening it for you. Email is in my profile.
You might try a library for a computer with Word 6.0, since libraries often have older versions of software.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:30 PM on June 16, 2006
You might try a library for a computer with Word 6.0, since libraries often have older versions of software.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:30 PM on June 16, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by j-dawg at 7:04 AM on June 16, 2006