MS Project does not recognize the file

Question

I created a new project in MS project 2010 professional  over several days closing it at the end of each day, when done I created a PDF file and now when I go to try and open it to modify  I get a message that it does not recognize the file.  I checked the file name and path as well as tried to open it by right clicking to open, open in menu etc. with no luck. Anyone have this problem?

Answer 1

Tom,

It sounds like file corruption to me. Go to the MVP website at, http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm and try one or more of the applicable methods listed in FAQ 43 - Handling project file corruption and/or bloat.

Hope this helps.

John

Answer 2

Tom,

Yeah, unless you have a support contract with Microsoft, you're not going to get much help. That's just the way the business works. That's also why forums exist.

Very unfortunate that you do not have a backup. I know this is stating the obvious, but there is a lot to be said for save and save often and do backup on a regular basis. One other tip, I always use Save As back to the same filename, unless I'm creating a backup, then I save to a different name. I never use just a straight Save. I'm told it doesn't matter with today's apps, but I've never been burned with my method and I don't have file corruption or bloat issues either.

I'm curious. You mentioned that you saved to PDF. Why is that?

Also, it is rather rare that a single stand alone Project file becomes corrupt. Corruption normally results when the user is doing something different. For example, linked structures, whether external predecessor/successor links between files, a master/subproject, a resource pool/sharer, a file with paste links, or working with different versions of Project, are much more prone to corruption. Do you have any of those?

John

Answer 3

Hi John,

My Company just purchased the program and this file was created in the same MS Project 2010 pro just last week. I have contacted MS and they were no help without a credit card payment of $296.00. Love customer support these days.. HA .  I do not have a backup of the file. and may have to recreate the file from scratch.

Thanks Again

Tom

Answer 4

Tom,

Sorry that wasn't successful. I still believe it's file corruption but perhaps the corruption is so strong that the normal methods just don't work.

I assume you didn't save back to a previous version of Project. Correct?

I recently saw a response on another post in this forum or in the main Project forum (i.e. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/projectprofessional2010general) about a commercial product that claims to be able to recover corrupt Project files. I don't remember the post but you can do a search.

Just to be sure the bases are covered, can you create a new Project file, save it and then re-open it? If not, then something is wrong with Project itself. However, if a new file works fine, you may need to bite the bullet and revert back to the last valid version of the file and start from there.

John

Answer 5

Thanks John but did not work.