Blank Word Document

Question

My daughter saved a book she was writing when she was using the old version of Word. The file title is: The Box 97 - 2003 Version [Compatibiilty Mode]. She now has Word 2007.  The file opens but all the pages are blank.

When the "Show/Hide" button is pressed the entire document shows a lower case y with two dots on the top. I have copied one line of this into this query and it copied over as follows:

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000202 EndHTML:0000020780 StartFragment:0000020740 EndFragment:0000020740 SourceURL:file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\THE%20BOX%20-%20Word%2097-2003%20version.doc

When I tried to save it as a normal Word Windows 7 doc, it still comes up blank.

Your solution to this huge problem would be much appreciated as it would be a very sad day if she has lost the book she was writing.

Many thanks for your help.

Dawn van Antwerpen

Answer 1

Hi Doug

Thanks for your response - I appreciate it.

No, she simply copied the files from her desktop onto her portable hard drive.

I wish someone could explain to me why the blank document "registers" as being 180 pages long but with "Show/Hide" comes up with lower caps y with two dots on top and when it's copied translates to:

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000202 EndHTML:0000020780 StartFragment:0000020740 EndFragment:0000020740 SourceURL:file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\THE%20BOX%20-%20Word%2097-2003%20version.doc

What does it mean?

If I got a message from the program that the file is corrupt I guess I would just have to accept that it is irrecoverable. But I still get the feeling that something can be done??

Answer 2

If the backup was done by the use of a backup utility, there may be a correspondign restore utility that must be used to retrieve the files so that they can be used.

Answer 3

Hello Charles

Thank you so much for your reply.

My daughter was using Word 97-2003 when she typed her book and a number of short stories. She backed up these onto her portable hard drive.  All these files are blank when opened!

Subsequently her computer was upgraded and she started using Word 2007.  The last short story was saved (.docx file) and backed up onto her portable hard drive. The document is perfectly fine when opened.

Answer 4

Backup. Backup. Backup.

Since that is wishful thinking...

Work with copies of the problem document. Many things that you can do will change the structure so that nothing will work.

Does she still have Word 2003? If so, can she open it in that?

See Document Corruption.

Is this a problem with only this document or with all existing documents?