Missing content from bullet points on online document

Question

I've been using the online microsoft word for lecture notes, but I've stumbled across an issue. My lecture notes from january 13 are missing a big majority, but the highlights and bullet structure remain, while the content is gone. I've tried combing through version history, toggling between reading view/separate pages view/immersive reader views, exporting to PDF, and still the text is gone with the structure there. Can someone help me restore my notes?

Answer 1

It seems like you are experiencing an issue with missing content in your Microsoft Word online document. Here are some steps you can take to try to restore your notes:

1. Check Version History: Since you've already tried this, ensure you are looking at the correct version where the content was present. Sometimes, older versions may have the missing text.
2. Clear Browser Cache: Sometimes, clearing your browser's cache can help resolve display issues with online documents.
3. Try a Different Browser: If possible, try accessing your document using a different web browser to see if the issue persists.
4. Check on Another Device: If you have access to another device, try opening the document there to see if the content appears.
5. Contact Support: If none of the above methods work, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance, as they may be able to help recover lost content.

Unfortunately, if the content is not available in the version history and does not appear on other devices or browsers, it may be challenging to restore it without support from Microsoft.

---

References:

• Word for the web
• How to recover unsaved Word documents

Answer 2

Can you try downloading it as a .docx file and seeing your results?

If that doesn't work try:

Press Ctrl+A

Set Font color as Automatic

Set Font size as 11 or 12

Go to Home > Paragraph > ¶ to show hidden text.

Please let me know how this went.

Answer 3

Dear @Paulina,  

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

I would like to ask you a few questions below: 

• Have you tried opening that Word file in the Word desktop app yet? Do you encounter the same issue there? 
• Have you tried opening the file in a different browser or in an incognito/private window? 

There is a possibility that the text is actually still there, but the font color was somehow changed to match the background (white) or became transparent. Please help me rule out this cause first by doing the following: 

• Press Ctrl + A (or Cmd + A) to select everything. 
• Change the font color to Black. 
• While everything is still selected, clear all formatting by clicking the Clear All Formatting icon. 

Also, please try this for me: Try highlighting those empty bullet points with your mouse. Copy and Paste them into a plain text editor like Notepad (Windows) to see if any text appears. 

If the text is truly gone and not just hidden, in this case, please help me reach out to your school's IT Admin. Ask them to submit a ticket via the Admin Center to reach out to the Microsoft Technical team. They have the tools to investigate your account and check if Microsoft still has a backup saved on their servers. 

When submitting the ticket, please ask the IT Admin to include your email address and phone number in the Contact Information section, so the Microsoft Technical Support team can reach out directly. 

Here are the instructions for submitting a ticket in the Admin Center; you can forward this to your IT Admin: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 

If you’re unsure who the IT Admin is within your school account's organization, you can find guidance on locating them here: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support. (Alternatively, you can ask the academic department, your lecturers, or other students for information on how to contact the school's IT Admin department.) 

Looking forward to your response!  

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.