Top 4 Methods to Fix ‘The File Is Corrupted And Cannot Be Opened’ Error

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Written By Kumar Raj
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On July 23rd, 2022
Reading Time 4 Minutes Reading

When it comes to a DOCX file creation and editing, Microsoft Word has been the first choice of the users. MS Word is a commercial word processor, which is a component of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. In spite of being a useful and efficient application, it also has some flaws in it. Sometimes, the user has to face multiple issues while working with MS Word. One of the most common errors faced by MS Word users is ‘Microsoft Word the file is corrupted and cannot be opened. When such error encounters it becomes difficult for the user to open the file and view text. Moreover, if the situation becomes worse then data loss can also occur due to corruption. Thus, to help out all the MS Word users, we are going to introduce different workarounds to resolve this issue.

Why ‘The file is corrupted and cannot be opened’ Error Encounters in MS Word?

There are be many reasons responsible for the occurrence of this particular error. However, sometimes files of the older version deny opening with the newer versions. Also, when the user tries to open a file of the older version in the new version then it gets corrupts and does not open. Additionally, when MS Word users upgrade to Word 2010 from 2007 then error message occurs:

Troubleshoot ‘Microsoft Word the File is Corrupted and Cannot be Opened’ Error

In this section, we are going to introduce the different solutions toresolveword2013 the file is corrupted and cannot be opened error in MS Word.

Method 1: Change ‘Trust Center Settings’

The enabled protected view settings under the Trust Center sometimes prevent the Word file from opening. The user can change the setting of the Trust Center by following the method explained below.

  • Open MS Word application on your system and click on File > Options
  • Now, select the Trust Center and click on the button under Trust Center Settings
  • Click Protected View and uncheck all the available options under the Protected View
  • Next, click on the OK button to confirm
  • Finally, restart MS Word and try to open your corrupt Word file again

Method 2: Setting ‘Component Security’ Manually

  • First, navigate to Start and type dcomcnfg in the search box.
  • Now, select ‘dcomcnfg’ from the program list
  • Go to the navigation pane and expand the ‘Component Services
  • Next, navigate to Computers and expand it. After that, you need to right-click on My Computer > Properties
  • Open the Default Properties tab and set Default Authentication Level: Connect and Default Impersonation Level: Identify
  • Finally, click on the OK button

Method 3: Try to Repair Word Document with MS Word

  • Launch MS Word application on your system
  • From the File menu, you need to click on the Open option
  • Now, you have to select the corrupted file and select Open and Repair
  • Still, if the error is not resolved and you are not able to open the file then perform the same actions. But this time you need to select Recover Text from Any File option in the Open dialog box

Method 4: Use SysTools DOCX Recovery

If the user is not able to resolve ‘ the file is corrupted and cannot be opened ’error with the above-explained methods then he/she can opt for an automated approach. The user can make use of SysTools DOCX Repair Tool. With this utility, one can easily recover damaged DOCX files in just a few clicks. The software allows the user to repair corrupt Word document with multiple pages. The user can easily open and view DOCX file after the recovery process in Rich Text and Plain Text format. Moreover, the software is capable to recover Word file of MS Office 2019/ 2016/ 2013/ 2010/ 2007 versions without the installation of MSOffice.

Final Words

MS Word is used by most of the users and organizations to deal with DOCX documents. As everything is not perfect similarly, users also face different issues while working with DOCX file. One of the most common issues faced by MS Word users is ‘The file is corrupt and cannot be opened’. Now, any error occurring while doing some important work disturbs the user’s workflow and makes the situation complicated. Thus, in the above section, we have explained some workarounds to eliminate ‘ The file is corrupted and cannot be opened ’error. To resolve the corruption issues in MS Word document the user can opt for a smart approach that is stated above.

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By Kumar Raj

A versatile writer with the vast knowledge of technology helps to reduce the gap between a user and technology. Provides easy and reliable ways to resolve multiple technical issues, which users encounter in their day-to-day life.