Word document is corrupt for unknown reason

Question

Word document is corrupt for unknown reason

Connor Shore 186

Hello, I have a Word document that was generated using our product that is corrupt for an unknown reason. Their input file is a docm file and I have a docx and a docm output file which says it is corrupt. I have run both documents through an OOXML validator and the validator says both files are correct. A customer of ours needs this fixed so if you guys are able to figure out what is wrong with these files then I'll be able to make a change to our output engine to fix whatever is causing the output file to be corrupted. Any help is much appreciated. CorruptOutput.docm.txt CorruptOutput.docx.txt Thank you, Connor PS NOTE: I've added a .txt extension to the files so it would allow me to attach the files to this ticket.

Obaid Farooqi MSFT 751 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-08T03:24:18.52+00:00

Hi @Connor Shore I have alerted the open specifications team regarding your inquiry. A member of the team will be in touch soon. Regards, Obaid Farooqi - MSFT
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-10T23:26:38.2766667+00:00

Hi @Connor Shore I will investigate this for you and see if I can find the issue with your document. To help me look into this, can you please tell me: How was the .docm file created? How are you generating the .docx file (Word, Open Xml SDK, your own program, etc.)? Thanks, Michael Bowen Escalation Engineer - Microsoft Open Specifications
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-11T14:17:38.8966667+00:00

@Mike Bowen Hey Mike thanks for the help. Unfortunately I'm not sure how the .docm file was created as that was a customer of ours. I can ask our team to reach out to them but no guarantees on a reply. As for how it was created, it was generated using the Windward SDK. At a high level, the template contains "tags" which are field codes telling our engine to insert data from a database. After we parse the document, we insert the database info in place of the tags and then we rewrite it out to the desired output format, in this case a docx file. A good portion of the original ooxml is carried over but some new ooxml gets generated due to the new content within the document. Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks!
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-11T14:24:38+00:00

@Mike Bowen Hey Mike thanks for the help. Unfortunately I'm not sure how the .docm file was created as that was a customer of ours. I can ask our team to reach out to them but no guarantees on a reply. As for how it was created, it was generated using the Windward SDK. At a high level, the customer creates a template in Word and puts in "tags" (which are field codes under the hood) that tell the engine to insert data from a database. Our engine parses the template, inserts the data from the database in place of the tags and the writes the output to the specified format (in this case docx). A good portion of the original ooxml gets carried over into output, however some new ooxml is generated due to the new content in the document from the tags. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!. Also, sorry if this is a duplicate answer. I posted my reply as a comment but for some reason its not showing up on the ticket so posting this again just in case.
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-13T19:53:21.86+00:00
Hi @Connor Shore , I have found the issue with your .docm file. In CorruptOutput.docm the document.xml part has 30 tables. I'll use 1-30 to identify them. There are 3 issues are in table 26 and 1 issue table 29. In table 26, in the w:tr 4, in the last table cell (tc), w:tr 5 in the last table cell (tc), and w:tr 6 in the last table cell (tc), this w:r below is a child of w:hyperlink, but it should be a level higher and be a direct child of the w:p and sibling of the w:hyperlink.

<w:r> <w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/> </w:r>

In addition, in table 29, in w:tr 2, in w:tc 2, the following element below is a child of w:hyperlink, but it should be a level higher and be a direct child of the w:p and a sibling of w:hyperlink.

<w:r> <w:rPr> <w:rFonts w:ascii="Century Gothic" w:hAnsi="Century Gothic"/> <w:b w:val="off"/> <w:color w:val="9E978E" w:themeColor="accent3"/> <w:sz w:val="20"/> <w:szCs w:val="20"/> <w:highlight w:val="yellow"/> </w:rPr> <w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/> </w:r>

I've attached the repaired document.xml for the .docm file here: document-repaired.xml

The same errors appear in the document.xml part from CorruptOutput.docx, but repairing them does not make the .docx valid. I will continue to investigate this, but does the solution for the invalid .docm, give you any clue about what the issue could be with the .docx file?
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-14T17:49:56.65+00:00

@Mike Bowen Thanks for the reply, I was able to tweak our engine so it followed your comments and the .docm output is now valid. I still get the error with the .docx like you mentioned. If i resave the .docm file as a .docx the issue is present as well. If a file is .docm and has macros enabled should it still work as a .docx file or does .docx not support the macros and it needs to be a .docm to be valid?
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-14T18:39:39.6166667+00:00

.docx does not support containing macros. You can run macros on a docx file, but they can't be contained in the file. For macros, you need to use docm or dotm. Here's a post about that on anwers.microsoft.com: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/i-can-use-macros-in-docx-so-the-definition-of-docm/92ed9d8f-bf77-4ba5-baad-032f5546eba5

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Obaid Farooqi MSFT 751 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-08T03:24:18.52+00:00

Hi @Connor Shore I have alerted the open specifications team regarding your inquiry. A member of the team will be in touch soon. Regards, Obaid Farooqi - MSFT
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-10T23:26:38.2766667+00:00

Hi @Connor Shore I will investigate this for you and see if I can find the issue with your document. To help me look into this, can you please tell me: How was the .docm file created? How are you generating the .docx file (Word, Open Xml SDK, your own program, etc.)? Thanks, Michael Bowen Escalation Engineer - Microsoft Open Specifications
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-11T14:17:38.8966667+00:00

@Mike Bowen Hey Mike thanks for the help. Unfortunately I'm not sure how the .docm file was created as that was a customer of ours. I can ask our team to reach out to them but no guarantees on a reply. As for how it was created, it was generated using the Windward SDK. At a high level, the template contains "tags" which are field codes telling our engine to insert data from a database. After we parse the document, we insert the database info in place of the tags and then we rewrite it out to the desired output format, in this case a docx file. A good portion of the original ooxml is carried over but some new ooxml gets generated due to the new content within the document. Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks!
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-11T14:24:38+00:00

@Mike Bowen Hey Mike thanks for the help. Unfortunately I'm not sure how the .docm file was created as that was a customer of ours. I can ask our team to reach out to them but no guarantees on a reply. As for how it was created, it was generated using the Windward SDK. At a high level, the customer creates a template in Word and puts in "tags" (which are field codes under the hood) that tell the engine to insert data from a database. Our engine parses the template, inserts the data from the database in place of the tags and the writes the output to the specified format (in this case docx). A good portion of the original ooxml gets carried over into output, however some new ooxml is generated due to the new content in the document from the tags. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!. Also, sorry if this is a duplicate answer. I posted my reply as a comment but for some reason its not showing up on the ticket so posting this again just in case.
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-13T19:53:21.86+00:00

Hi @Connor Shore , I have found the issue with your .docm file. In CorruptOutput.docm the document.xml part has 30 tables. I'll use 1-30 to identify them. There are 3 issues are in table 26 and 1 issue table 29. In table 26, in the w:tr 4, in the last table cell (tc), w:tr 5 in the last table cell (tc), and w:tr 6 in the last table cell (tc), this w:r below is a child of w:hyperlink, but it should be a level higher and be a direct child of the w:p and sibling of the w:hyperlink.

<w:r> <w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/> </w:r>

In addition, in table 29, in w:tr 2, in w:tc 2, the following element below is a child of w:hyperlink, but it should be a level higher and be a direct child of the w:p and a sibling of w:hyperlink.

<w:r> <w:rPr> <w:rFonts w:ascii="Century Gothic" w:hAnsi="Century Gothic"/> <w:b w:val="off"/> <w:color w:val="9E978E" w:themeColor="accent3"/> <w:sz w:val="20"/> <w:szCs w:val="20"/> <w:highlight w:val="yellow"/> </w:rPr> <w:fldChar w:fldCharType="end"/> </w:r>

I've attached the repaired document.xml for the .docm file here: document-repaired.xml

The same errors appear in the document.xml part from CorruptOutput.docx, but repairing them does not make the .docx valid. I will continue to investigate this, but does the solution for the invalid .docm, give you any clue about what the issue could be with the .docx file?
Connor Shore 186 Reputation points

2023-04-14T17:49:56.65+00:00

@Mike Bowen Thanks for the reply, I was able to tweak our engine so it followed your comments and the .docm output is now valid. I still get the error with the .docx like you mentioned. If i resave the .docm file as a .docx the issue is present as well. If a file is .docm and has macros enabled should it still work as a .docx file or does .docx not support the macros and it needs to be a .docm to be valid?
Mike Bowen 2,051 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-04-14T18:39:39.6166667+00:00

.docx does not support containing macros. You can run macros on a docx file, but they can't be contained in the file. For macros, you need to use docm or dotm. Here's a post about that on anwers.microsoft.com: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/i-can-use-macros-in-docx-so-the-definition-of-docm/92ed9d8f-bf77-4ba5-baad-032f5546eba5

Answer 1

Hi @Connor Shore ,

I have investigated this further and you are correct the issue is the macros saved in docx. You cannot save macros to a docx file. To make the .docx valid, you will need to make the fixes to the xml in document.xml described in my fix for your docm and remove all macros and related parts and relationships from the .docx file and change its ContentType to application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document.main+xml

Please let me know if this answers your questions.

Mike Bowen Escalation Engineer - Microsoft Open Specifications

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Word document is corrupt for unknown reason

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