How to repair a corrupted Word document
- Drop the damaged DOCX, DOC, ODT or RTF file.
- Click Repair.
- Download the repaired copy and check it before deleting the original.
“Word experienced an error trying to open the file”, “The file is corrupt and cannot be opened”, “Unreadable content was found”: these messages usually mean the file's internal index or one of its parts is damaged, often after an interrupted save, a bad download, a full USB stick or a sync conflict. The text itself is frequently still there.
The repair works in two steps. If the file's internal archive is broken, it is rebuilt from the parts that are still readable. The document is then reopened by a tolerant engine (LibreOffice on our server) and saved again as a clean DOCX, which rewrites every part in the standard form Word expects.
What can be saved depends on what survived: usually all the text, tables, formatting and pictures; sometimes a damaged picture or a comment is lost. If the content was never written to the file (a save that stopped at the start), nothing can be recovered. Encrypted documents must be unlocked first. Files are deleted after 30 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Which errors does this fix?
Files Word reports as corrupted, unreadable or impossible to open, as well as DOCX files that are actually zip archives with a damaged index.
Will I get the whole document back?
Everything that is still intact inside the file. In most cases that is all the text, tables and pictures; a damaged picture or comment can be missing.
Can it recover an unsaved document?
No. It repairs a file that exists on disk. For an unsaved document, look in Word's AutoRecover folder.
Does it work on .doc, .odt and .rtf?
Yes, those are reopened and saved as a clean .docx.
Is it free?
Yes, no sign-up. The file is deleted from the server after 30 minutes.