A. Recovering Files and Repairing Word

Recovering Document Files

So your computer just crashed, or lost power, and you haven’t saved your work lately. Nearly everyone who has ever used Word has experienced this now and then. It happens. Programs crash. Data gets lost.

However, with Word 2013, not much data typically gets lost because of the very good data-recovery features built in. As in earlier versions, Word saves your work in temporary files every few minutes, and after a crash, it attempts to load those temporary files so you can recover any unsaved changes to your documents. Therefore, the most you are likely to lose is a few minutes’ worth of work.

In this appendix, you find out how to use and configure Word’s data recovery features, how to repair problems with Word and with corrupted files, and how to safeguard your work by enabling Word to create automatic backup copies of previous document versions.

Using the Document Recovery Task Pane

As you work, Word silently creates AutoRecover versions of your document in the background. These are not regular saved files, but temporary files that store the edits you have made to the file since you last saved it. They are deleted when you successfully close the file or exit the program. If the program doesn’t exit normally, though, the files are still hanging around, and the AutoRecover feature can use them to help you restore your lost work the next time you start Word.

When you start Word after a crash, the opening screen shows a Recovered heading, with a note beneath it saying Word has recovered files you may want to keep. Click Show Recovered Files, and a Document Recovery pane appears, as shown in Figure A.1.

Figure A.1. Select files to recover upon startup after a crash.

In Figure A.1, there are actually only three documents represented; there are two versions of a couple of the documents offered. Two are tagged [Autosaved] and the others are tagged [Original]. An Autosaved version is the more recent one, containing changes made since the last save.

To open one of the Autosaved versions, click it. When you have finished opening Autosaved files, click Close to close the Document Recovery task pane.

It’s important to note that the Autosaved version is not a “real” Word document. It’s a temporary version, and it won’t exist anymore after you close Word, unless you save it. You can save it under a new name with Save As, or you can replace the original copy by clicking Save.

Setting AutoRecover Options

By default, AutoRecover makes temporary copies of your open files every 10 minutes. If your time is very valuable and your work important, you might want to change the time to a smaller interval, such as 5 or even 3 minutes. Word slows down (very slightly) for a moment whenever it does a background save operation, but you lose less data in the event of a crash.

You can also change the AutoRecover file location. By default, it is in a user-specific location, so each user’s Autosaved files are private: C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWord.

If you want one user to be able to access another user’s Autosaved files, change the folder to one that’s more easily accessible for all users.

To set the interval and the file location, follow these steps:

1. If file extensions are not already turned on in Windows, do the following so you can see them; it will help you with the rest of the procedure:

• In Windows 7, from Windows Explorer, choose Organize, Folder and Search Options. Click the View tab and clear the Hide Extensions for Known File Types check box. Click OK.

• In Windows 8, from File Explorer, click the View tab, and mark the File Name Extensions check box.

2. In Word, choose File, Options. The Word Options dialog box opens.

3. Click Save.

4. If desired, change the interval in the Save AutoRecover Information Every ___ Minutes box (see Figure A.2).

Figure A.2. Set AutoRecover options here.

5. If desired, change the AutoRecover file location. You can either type a path or click the Browse button to browse for a location via the dialog box interface.

6. Click OK to save the changes.

To turn off AutoRecover, you can clear the check box. But, why turn it off? There’s a tremendous upside to using it, and virtually almost no downside.

Recovering Data from an Unreadable File

If Word can’t open a file, and it’s in the native Word format (that is, WordML format, for Word 2007 and later), you might be able to extract some of the text from it by deconstructing the file and browsing it as XML code.

Here’s how to do this:

1. In File Explorer (in Windows 8, or Windows Explorer in Windows 7), rename the file to have a .zip extension instead of .docx. Ignore any warning about changing the extension.

2. Double-click the .zip file. A set of folders and XML documents appears.

3. Double-click the Word folder.

4. Double-click Document.xml. The text for the document appears in XML markup.

5. Copy the text to the Clipboard (select it and press Ctrl+C), and then paste it into a new document in Word or any text editor.

6. Clean up the text by deleting the XML codes.

Creating Automatic Backup Copies

Have you ever made changes to a document, saved your work, and then regretted it? You’re in good company. Most people have. And because it’s a user error and not a program error, Word can’t protect you.

However, you can configure Word to automatically save a backup copy of each document right before you save changes, so you’ll always have the next-to-last version as well as the last one on hand. To set this up, follow these steps:

1. Choose File, Options. The Word Options dialog box opens.

2. Click Advanced.

3. Scroll down to the Save section and mark the Always Create Backup Copy check box.

4. Click OK.

The backup copy is stored in the same location as the original, with the same name except with “Backup of” added to the beginning. The extension on the backup files is .wbk rather than the usual .docx. When you open a backup file, it opens in Protected mode.

Dealing with Word Crashes

Word does occasionally crash, just like any other application. What do you do? The following sections provide some advice.

Sending Error Reports

Depending on the way you have set up your system, when Word crashes you might also see a prompt to send Microsoft an error report. No personal information about you is sent with these reports; Microsoft simply wants the technical codes behind the crash so that it can keep track of what’s wrong with the program and fix it.

Occasionally, after you agree to submit an error report, an additional dialog box appears asking for more information about the crash. It usually asks for your permission to upload portions of the document that was open when the crash occurred. You’re free to say no to this if the data is sensitive, but rest assured that the people who see it at Microsoft have no interest in your personal or business life; they just want to stop the program from crashing.

One benefit of submitting the report is that sometimes a dialog box appears afterward with a hyperlink you can click to take you to the Microsoft support site where you can read an article that explains how to prevent that particular crash in the future. If you decline to send the error report, you don’t get that information.

Fixing Crashes Related to a Certain Document

If the problem reoccurs but only with a certain file, here are some things to try:

• Reboot. Until you’ve tried this, you can’t assume that the document is at fault.

• If you can open the file in Word, immediately save it in a different format (such as Word 97-2003 Document format). Sometimes, a different format clears a corruption problem with a file.

• If saving in a different format doesn’t help, select all the content from the file and copy it to the Clipboard; then, start a new blank document, paste the Clipboard content into it, and save the file.

If you cannot open the file in Word at all, see “Recovering Data from an Unreadable File,” p. 904.

Disabling Add-Ins and Extensions

Often, Word itself is not the cause of a recurring crash, but rather an add-in (an optional component, usually created by some company other than Microsoft). Add-ins are covered in Chapter 24, “Macros and Add-Ins.”

If Word is able to identify a startup item that is causing a problem, it disables that item automatically the next time you start Word. This is called Automated Safe Mode. When this happens, a prompt typically appears, letting you know that the item is being disabled.

If Word starts up okay but then crashes frequently after it has been running a bit, it’s possible the problem is occurring when a certain add-in or extension is executing its code in response to some action you are taking. In a situation like this, you at least have the leisure of examining what’s loading and trying to disable some things. Follow these steps:

1. Choose File, Options.

2. When the Word Options dialog box opens, click Add-Ins. A list appears of all your add-ins, both active and inactive (see Figure A.3). The add-ins on your system might differ from the ones shown in Figure A.3.

Figure A.3. Check what’s loading automatically at startup.

Types you might see include the following:

• Template—A template can contain macros, so there’s a possibility of a macro causing a problem or carrying a virus. However, Word manages templates pretty tightly, so they’re not a likely suspect for a crash.

• Action—Most of these are Actions (aka Smart Tags) provided by Microsoft. Actions are generally harmless and can be left enabled.

To learn more about them, see “Working with Actions,” p. 112.

• COM Add-Ins and Word Add-Ins—Here’s what’s probably causing the error. A COM add-in is a mini application that runs within Word, usually written by a third party. A Word add-in is one that’s specific to Word. Poorly written add-ins can cause crashes.

• XML Schemas and XML Expansion Packs—These help extend Word’s XML capabilities. They’re not likely to cause problems.

• Document Inspector—These inspect the document for non-printing information of various types, and provide that information when you use certain in-program features.

If you have a hunch about a particular add-in causing a problem, try disabling it. Note the add-in type in the Type column (see Figure A.3) and then open the Manage list, select that type, and click Go. (Document Inspector isn’t one of the available types, but Document Inspector items are very unlikely to be causing the problem you are experiencing.) The dialog box that appears depends on what type you’ve chosen. For example, Figure A.4 shows the one for COM add-ins. (COM stands for common object model; many third-party add-ins use this format.)

Figure A.4. Check what types of add-ins are loading automatically at startup to track down a malfunctioning add-in.

You can disable the add-in by removing the check mark from the add-in’s check box or by highlighting it in the dialog box and clicking the Remove button.