A Word document can become damaged due to various issues. This may prevent you from opening and reading it.
If you have lost some of your essential documents because of this error, here is a complete guide to recovering them. Have a look!
Also read: How To Disable Macros In MS Office Word And Excel?
What To Do When Word Found Unreadable Content?
When Word finds unreadable content, follow the steps given below to fix it.
1) Update Office Windows Windows Update
When you cannot read a Word document, try updating your Windows and Microsoft Office. There is a setting in Windows that automatically downloads updates for other Microsoft products installed on the PC with the Windows Update.
Enable this option to have it updated periodically. To do so, follow the steps given below:
- Press Windows + I keys on your keyboard to open Windows Settings.
- Select Update & Security.
- Go to the left Panel and choose the Windows Update option. Select Advanced Options as shown below.
- From the next window, check the box for Receive updates for other Microsoft products when you update Windows option.
2) Repair The Word Document
Word has a repairing option for damaged documents. So, when you cannot open a Word document, try repairing it with this option. Here is how you can do it:
- Open Word and click on the Office button. Select the Open option.
- Select the Word file which has unreadable content.
- Click on the small triangle icon beside the Open button and expand the menu.
- Select the Open and Repair option, as shown below.
3) Open The Word Document In Draft Mode
To open the unreadable content in Word, try opening it in Draft Mode without updating the links.
To do that, follow the steps given below:
- Open Word and click on the View tab.
- Click on the Office button and choose Word Options. Select Draft.
- Next, click on the Advanced option.
- Scroll down to find the Show document content section and check the boxes for Show picture placeholders and Use draft fond in Draft and Outline views option.
- Next, go to the General section and check the boxes for Update automatic links at open. Then click on OK and close Word.
4) Recover The Content From The Word File
If the above process could not repair the Word file and it is still not readable, then recover the word file content following the steps given below:
- Open a Word file and click on the Office button.
- Click Open and select the unreadable Word File.
- Click on the drop-down menu for All Word Documents.
- From the given options, select the Recover Text from Any File option.
- Click on Open and wait till the file gets recovered. The file should open now.
5) Insert The Unreadable Word Document
Create a new blank document before inserting the damaged text document into a new document.
This way, you can sometimes read the damaged word document. To do so, follow the steps given below:
- Click on the Office button and select the New option. Click on Blank Document > Create.
- Click on the Insert tab and click on the Insert Object option. Choose the Text from File option.
- Go to the Insert File dialog box and select the unreadable word document. Click on the Insert button. Check if you can open the document now.
6) Open the Unreadable Word Document using the Notepad
If none of the previous methods has worked for you to open a damaged Word file, then try opening it using Notepad. But in this process, you will lose all the formatting.
To open the Word document using a Notepad, follow the steps given below:
- From File Explorer, locate the unreadable word Document.
- Right-click on the Word file and select the Open with option.
- Select Notepad, as shown below.
The text may open Notepad with many extra characters. Delete all the extra characters around the content.
- Click on File and then Save As.
- Rename the word file. Revert to Word and open the new Word document. You can now apply the formatting your want.
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]
- How do I fix The Found Unreadable Content Error in Word?
To fix unreadable content in Word, update Office & Windows, repair the Word file, open the Word document in Draft mode and open the Word File using Notepad.
- How do I recover content in Word?
To recover unreadable content in Word, repair the word file, try to use Draft Mode to open the file, update your office and use Notepad to retrieve the contents.
- How do I repair a corrupted Docx File?
Repair a corrupted Docx File by opening the file and selecting it. Click on the arrow next to the Open button and choose the Open and repair option.
Closing Up
Hope you can recover the damaged Word file after performing the steps given in the above article.
For more details, ask us in the comments section provided below.