Step by Step Solution to File is Corrupt And Cannot be Opened Error


Microsoft Word as you all know is one of the most widely used word processing software that gives a user the ability to create and save a document, modify it by inserting graphics and charts in it. Often, it happens that when a user tries to open a document in order to modify it, he or she may encounter error messages that rather acts a barricade between the user and the word processor. One such error message that you might encounter is

"The file is corrupt and cannot be opened"

Although the errors are just a mere indications that your file has gone corrupt or damaged due to some reasons. You are not able to do operations on that particular word file of yours or access the contents present in it. If somehow you are able to open the document, the file will show nothing except some unusual primitive characters which will seem like an ancient language.


One should remember that there can be a number of reasons behind the appearance of this error in Word such as a corrupted template, malware, incompatibility, fast saving files, sudden shutdown of system and more. However, irrespective of what the message says, sometimes the problem is not that big means the file is not corrupted rather it just misleads you. Therefore, one can adopt certain ways and could implement them in order to fix The file is corrupt and cannot be opened error in word.

Step by Step Solution

Open & Repair Feature:

  • In word 2003, 2000 click on the Open option in the file menu. If you are using 2007 click on the office button and then Open option and click on File tab in Word 2010.
  • Now you have the Open dialog box on the windows screen. Click on the down arrow button on the right side of the Open button to choose Open and Repair option.

This is an inbuilt feature in Word provided by Microsoft to repair corrupt or damaged word files in one go and wouldn't have to go to a service center to do this.

If the problem is still intact, follow these steps to repair the Microsoft Office suite.

  • Go to Start → Control Panel → Programs
  • In Programs and features, choose Uninstall a program (You can do this directly in My computer in Windows 7 by selecting Uninstall or change a program)
  • Then, choose Microsoft Office listed over there
  • Select Change and wait for the entire modification or repair process to complete
  • Close the box when the process gets over.

Now try to open the file that was showing the file is corrupt and cannot be opened error to check whether the repair process was successful or not. In the event the aforementioned steps did not work, then the only good alternative left to you is to use a third party docx repair software which can you download and install to repair the corrupt file easily.