Lost Document Formatting in all Sharepoint Word Documents

Question

Just recently we have lost all original formatting of our Word documents in our SharePoint folders and sites.

We are opening and editing with the desktop app not the Web version. it has layered all the other pages content onto page one on top of each other.

even in version history, all of the versions pull up the same way in the desktop app.

How do I fix and restore our files?

it is not just a folder, it is all folders on all SharePoint sites. this does not happen with files in our individual OneDrive folders.

Answer 1

Hi Bo, 

Thank you for reaching out and for laying this out so clearly.  

Based on what you are seeing, I think the most likely explanation is tied to how the documents were edited rather than the files being damaged. Word on the web is a lighter version of Word and does not support every feature found in the desktop app. Things like certain advanced page layout options, specific fonts, text boxes, headers and footers, WordArt, complex tables, and some section or column settings are either simplified or not fully handled in the browser. If any of these documents were opened and edited in Word on the web at some point, the web version can quietly drop or flatten the formatting it cannot fully support. That change then gets saved back to SharePoint, and the layout can look broken the next time the file is opened in the desktop app, which would explain why the pages collapse onto page one with everything stacked on top. 

As a next step, I would recommend checking the file's previous versions on your desktop through File Explorer. Open File Explorer, browse to the synced SharePoint folder, right click the document, and select Properties. Go to the Previous Versions tab to see the earlier copies stored for that file.  

 

Open one from before the formatting changed and see how it looks. If that earlier version opens with the layout intact, the original formatting is recoverable, and you can restore that version and work from it. 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation.  

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