Do You Need to Fix There Was An Error Opening The File Word Error?

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Written By Ashwani Tiwari
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On December 12th, 2018
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

“Yesterday night I confront this error message ( There was an error opening the file word ) when I open a docx word file in Office 2003. I have installed MS Office 2003 SP3. I was using Windows XP Pro SP3 but now, I periodically get the error message for some of the files in Windows 7 Professional. I am the admin and I have all the rights. Anyone had ever encountered this? And please suggest me an alternative to fix this issue. Thanks.”

Looking For An Ultimate Solution?

As per the above-stated query here, we come up with an alternative to resolve the issue such as ‘ Microsoft Office word there was an error opening the file ’ error. You just need to follow below-listed steps in the sequential manner to get a better outcome.

  • Most of the times, a file can be damaged in such a way that Word cannot open it generally. But all is not lost. The Open and Repair command might be able to retrieve your file appropriately.
  • First of all click on File>> Open, and then navigate to the location or folder where the document (Word) is stored. Do not try to open the file from the Recent segment as this will not go into the Open dialog box.

Mark: Word does not have a File tab. Instead, go to the Office button after that choose Open.

  • Now, click on the file which one you need, and then click the arrow next to Open, and select Open and Repair.

What’s Next? If It Doesn’t Work Appropriately?

Issues with file corruption basically occur when the file is saved on a USB device that is not connected properly while the device is open in Windows. You can prevent damaging files by using some simple techniques. In case, of a crash or loss of power, you can repair an old version of your file if you turned on the Autorecover feature in Office. Moreover, in this segment we will be going to discuss the steps to fix the damaged word document or to fix there was an error opening the file word:

How To Repair the Damaged Word Document Instantly?

This procedure to troubleshoot damaged word document is divided into three different ways. You can follow any one of them as per your preference.

Way #1: Open the damaged document without upgrading links in draft mode

This is a two steps procedure. Both the steps are discussed in a descriptive manner:

Step 1: Initially Configure Word

  • Firstly, start Word application.
  • Then, click Draft in the Document Views group on the View tab
  • In Word, select the File Menu>>Options>>Advanced.
  • Here, in the Show document content segment, hit to select the Use Draft font in Draft and Outline views and Show Picture placeholders.
  • Then, in the General segment select to clear the Update automatic links at Open after that click on OK and quit Word.

Step 2: Open the damaged document

  • Run Word program.
  • In Word, click on the File Menu>> Open.
  • Select the damaged document, and hit on Open.
  • If you are able to open the document by using this method and repair the document properly. If not then move to the next technique.

Way #2: Add the document as a file in a new document

This process is partitioned in two measures. Follow both of them:

Measure 1: Generate a new blank document

  • In Word 2010, select the File Menu>>New.
  • Here, choose Blank document, after that click Create.

Mark: You may require to reapply some formatting to the previous segment of the new document.

Measure #2: Enter the damaged document in the new document

  • On the Insert button, choose Insert Object, afterward, click Text From File
  • Now, in the Insert File dialog box, navigate after that click the damaged document. Or hit on Insert.

Way #3: Using the Recover Text from Any File converter

You should have to be aware that The Recover Text from Any File converter has constraints. For instance, document formatting is lost. Basically, graphics, fields, drawing objects and any other elements that are not text are lost. Therefore, field text, headers, footers, footnotes, and endnotes are preserved as simple text.

  • In Word, choose the File Menu after that Open.
  • Here, in the Files of type box select Recover Text from Any File
  • Then, choose the document from which you need to retrieve the text.
  • At last hit on Open.

Note: After the document is recovered with the help of Recover Text from Any File converter, there is some binary data text that is still not converted. This text is foremost at the begin and end of the document. You must have to delete this binary data text before you store the file as a Word document.

User’s Query

“I do know how to resolve this there was an error saving the word file issue. When I try to open a Word 2007/2010 file, an error message pop up says: word experienced an error opening the file. Please try the below mentioned suggestions”, and the file cannot be opened. How can I fix this tiresome issue?”

Root Cause Behind This Error

Mainly, this issue ‘ there was an error opening the file word ’ occurs when the file was modified and altered by a third-party application during the transmission procedure, and then the file cannot be opened.

How Can You Resolve It Without Any Hassle?

In this section, we are going to discuss some simple steps to repair this error.

  • Right-click on the Word file that you have issues with, and select Property.
  • Then, click on Unblock, when complete, hit OK button to proceed forward.
  • Afterward, you should be able to open this file without any issues. If you confronted this problem in many of your files, you can try the steps as follows: initially, move these files into the same folder, open Word 2010>>File>>Options.
  • Select Trust Center and choose Trust Center Settings.
  • Here, select Trusted Locations and hit on the Add new location option.
  • Choose the folder where you have just transferred your files to; when done, hit on OK after that “OK” again.

Is There Any Easy Solution Available?

As you can see that, the above-stated free solution is too much lengthy and tiresome. So, it is better and advised to go with an alternative named SysTools Word Recovery Tool. With the help of this utility a user can easily resolve the issue effectively. Mainly, this software provides a user-friendly interface. So, a non-technical user can also avail it without any external help. Moreover, this application is capable enough to repair the error such as there was an error opening the file word instantly. If you need to fix the issue without any hindrance then, opt this solution to let users know why word experienced an error opening the file.

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By Ashwani Tiwari

Being a Chief Technical Analyst, I am aware of the technicalities faced by the user while working with multiple technologies. So, through my blogs and articles, I love to help all the users who face various challenges while dealing with technology.