Fixes / Word · Checked

Word "We can't open this file, problem with its contents": fix

Short answer

This message means Word checked the .docx file and found that its internal structure is damaged or incomplete, so it refuses to load it. The most likely fix is Open and Repair: in Word go to File > Open > Browse, click the file once, click the arrow next to Open and choose Open and Repair. On a Mac, use the Recover Text option in the Open dialog.

What this message means

A .docx file is really a ZIP package of XML files (text, styles, images, settings). When you open it, Word checks that package. If a part is missing, cut short, or contains XML that Word cannot read, Word stops and shows this message instead of risking a garbled document. Clicking Details often shows something like "Location: Part: /word/document.xml, Line: 2, Column: 48213", which is the exact spot where the damage is. The problem is almost always in that one file, not in Word itself. So other documents usually open normally, and the text is often still recoverable.

Common causes

CauseHow to tell
The file was only partly saved, downloaded or synced (crash, power cut, full disk, interrupted OneDrive, Dropbox or USB copy).The file size is much smaller than you expect, or even 0 KB. The damage often started right after a crash or an interrupted copy, and the version stored in the cloud or on another device may open fine.
The document was created by another program or an automated tool (report generators, SharePoint workflows, survey or export tools, scripts) that wrote invalid XML.Every file produced by that tool fails the same way, and Details points at a specific part such as /word/document.xml with a line and column number.
A damaged element inside the document, such as a corrupt image, equation, field, table or tracked change.The document opened fine until a recent edit. Open and Repair or Recover Text brings back most of the text, but one area or object is missing or broken.
The file is not really a Word document, or has the wrong extension (for example a .dotx template, .doc, .rtf or web page renamed to .docx).The file came from a download, a template, or was renamed by hand. Changing the extension back to the original type, or opening it through Open and Repair, lets it load.
An email attachment that was mangled in transit or saved incompletely.The copy saved from email fails, but the sender can open their original. Asking them to resend it, or to share a link instead, gets a working file.

How to fix it

1. Use Open and Repair

Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016 on Windows

  1. Open Word with a blank document or from the Start screen (do not double-click the damaged file).
  2. Go to File > Open > Browse. Do not pick the file from the Recent list, because that list does not offer the repair option.
  3. Go to the folder with the damaged file and click it once to select it.
  4. Click the small arrow next to the Open button and choose Open and Repair.
  5. If the document opens, immediately use File > Save As and save it under a new name so the original is kept.

2. Use Recover Text on a Mac

Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Word 2024 for Mac, Word 2021 for Mac

  1. In Word, open the Word menu and select Preferences (Settings in newer macOS).
  2. Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, select General and make sure Confirm file format conversion at Open is checked. Close the window.
  3. Go to File > Open and select the damaged document.
  4. Near the bottom right of the Open dialog, choose Recover Text, then open the file.
  5. Delete any stray code characters at the start and end, then save it as a new .docx. Expect formatting and images to be lost.

3. Restore an earlier version of the file

  1. If the file is in OneDrive or SharePoint, right-click it in File Explorer, Finder or the OneDrive website and choose Version history.
  2. Open or restore the most recent version saved before the problem started.
  3. On Windows without OneDrive, right-click the file, choose Properties > Previous Versions and restore a copy (this only works if File History or restore points were turned on).
  4. On a Mac with Time Machine, select the file in Finder and use Enter Time Machine to restore an older copy.
  5. If the file was an email attachment or a download, get it again from the original source.

4. Recover the text with the "Recover Text from Any File" converter

Word on Windows

  1. In Word, go to File > Open > Browse.
  2. In the file type list next to the File name box (it normally says All Word Documents), choose Recover Text from Any File (*.*).
  3. Select the damaged document and click Open.
  4. Delete the unreadable binary characters that appear at the beginning and end of the text.
  5. Save it as a new Word document. Formatting, images and fields are lost, but headers, footers, footnotes and field text are kept as plain text.

5. Insert the damaged file into a new document

Word on Windows

  1. Go to File > New > Blank document.
  2. On the Insert tab, click the arrow next to Object and choose Text from File.
  3. Select the damaged document and click Insert.
  4. If content appears, save it under a new name and reapply any lost formatting in the last section.

6. Fix the XML directly (for IT staff or confident users)

  1. Make a copy of the damaged file and change the copy's extension from .docx to .zip.
  2. In Word's error message, click Details and note the part, line and column (for example /word/document.xml, Line 2, Column 48213).
  3. Extract the ZIP, open that part in a text or XML editor and jump to the reported column. Look for a broken or unclosed tag, an invalid character, or a cut-off end of file.
  4. Fix or remove the bad element, save, then re-zip the contents so that [Content_Types].xml sits at the root of the ZIP (not inside a folder).
  5. Rename the result back to .docx and open it in Word. If the file came from a report or export tool, report the error to the tool's vendor so new files are not affected.

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Still not fixed?

If none of these work, the damaged part probably lost its data rather than just its structure. Try opening the file in another program such as LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs (upload to Google Drive, then Open with > Google Docs) or Word on the web, since each one tolerates errors differently and may recover more. Check the AutoRecovery folder for a newer copy (on Mac: ~/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery, reached with Shift+Command+G in Finder; on Windows: File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents). For work files, ask your IT team to restore the file from server or OneDrive backups. If the document came from an automated system, contact that system's support with the Details text from the error.

Questions people ask

Does this error mean my document is gone for good?

Usually not. The text is often still inside the file, and Open and Repair, Recover Text or an earlier OneDrive version bring back most or all of it. Complete loss is most likely when the file is 0 KB, because then nothing was saved.

Why is there no Open and Repair option when I open the file?

It only appears when you open the file through File > Open > Browse and click the arrow next to Open. It does not appear when you pick from the Recent list or double-click the file. Word for Mac does not have Open and Repair, it has Recover Text instead.

What do the Location, Part, Line and Column numbers in Details mean?

They point to the exact spot inside the .docx package where Word found invalid XML, most often in /word/document.xml, which holds the main text. IT staff can use that location to fix the file by hand, and developers can use it to find the bug in whatever program generated the file.

Is this the same as "Word found unreadable content"?

They are related. "Word found unreadable content" means Word thinks it can recover the file and offers to do so if you click Yes. "We can't open this file because we found a problem with its contents" means the automatic recovery failed, so you need to use one of the manual methods.

Can a virus cause this message?

It is rare. Almost always the cause is an incomplete save, a bad copy or sync, or a program that wrote the file incorrectly. If a file you didn't expect arrived by email and shows this message, don't try to force it open. Scan it or delete it.

Sources

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