File Conversion

A

Alan

I'm running Office XP. When i try to open a Microsoft
Word file, called macro.doc it says that: "Microsoft Word
needs a converter to display this file correctly..." A
window then pops up and it says: "Select the encoding
that makes your document readable" It then has three
options. 1) Windows (Default) 2) MS-DOS 3) other
encoding. What does that mean? How do I fix the
problem? Is the file corrupted and can it be recovered?
Can I do a system restore for the previous day and
recover the file? If so, how can I do it? Thanks.
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Alan,

If the problem is limited to a specific file then it could be that the
document is corrupt. Here are a few things to try:

If the document contains graphics then in Word go to
Tools/Options/View and turn in "Picture Placeholders" and "Draft
Font".
If the document contains links then on the General tab make sure
"Update automatic links at Open" is turned off.

Try using a document link to retrieve the corrupt document:
- Create a new document
- Copy some text from another document
- In the new document use Edit/Paste Special and select "Paste Link"
- Go to Edit/Links and change the source of the link to the document
you can not open

If this works then return to Edit/Links and break the link to the
source document.

For additional troubleshooting steps/methods take a look at this
article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

You also try a recovery utility such as those from
http://www.officerecovery.com/, however they aren't free downloads.
:)

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
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