Need a Word doc doctor

[jimking]

This is an issue my wife is having, maybe someone can give advice on this cause I hate Word.:eek: She has 50 seperate Word docs that were first created in 1997. Working in the latest version of Word, each year she and her coworkers modify the files. Now the files have become very buggy, freezes, format changes, crashes etc. These files have Excel files that are embedded. I suggested that she select all and copy into a new doc but she says all the formatting gets lost. She also tried going back and forth making a pdf then back to Word with worse results. I also suggested that she remove the Excel files to see if that was the cause. She said she'll try it but they still need to reside in the Word doc. She also saved as with no luck. Also the template that created the files in the old version of Word does not reside in the new version. Does anybody out there have a trick up their sleeve that'll straighten out buggy word files?

[urstwile]

By no means am I a Word expert, but extrapolating what sometimes helps me fix Quark files that have been converted to InDesign is to save down to the Interchange format, which allows InDesign CS1 to open InDesign CS2 files, but also fixes a lot of the inherited problems from the Quark to Indy conversion.

So, using that same "logic", is the formatting in the file something that's specific to the version of Word that she's using, or would it perhaps help to try saving the file down to an earlier version of Word and then opening that up in her current version?

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Contact Microsoft!

[urstwile]

Ha! Good luck with that. I admire your optimism, Sama. :)

[Jam]

Does she have the original files... an original blank template and the original exel files?
If the file is that old and has been edited that many times it could simply confuse the current version as it tries to adapt to each version of word.
If she has the original files, go back to these save them as an up to date version and then reconstruct the document from these. Try not to cut and paste directly from one word document to another as this simply copies across everything we are trying to undo.
Paste the text in to note pad (remember to save the txt file each time you copy text into it) and then copy and paste from this - it should remove the extra tags that may cause the problem.
It sounds long winded but it should remove any unwanted and unseen code.
Let me know if this helps.

[Mynock]

Rich Text File?

[jimking]

Thanks everyone for the response. The Word doc needs to stay in Word because these files are financials and will be sent all over the U.S. for others in her company to screw around with unfortunitly. So transfering this info into another program or format isn't going to fly. urstwile, she's going to save down to see if that works but, she only has the new version of word and will have to open them in the new version. It may do the trick. Jam, These files have migrated through the years and versions. They do have the original Excel files but not the original Word docs. Pasting the text into the note pad etc. sounds like a good idea, I think I read that somewhere, thanks everyone. :)

[urstwile]

Let us know what, if anything, works, Jim. :)