Microsoft Word for Mac (14.3.8) keeps corrupting my files. I’ve lost hours of work to unrecoverable corruption–usually, in long documents, especially ones involving lots of objects (pictures, clipart, and equations). Any ideas how to diagnose the problem?
I think you need to provide more *descriptive *details to get a helpful response.
Check fonts first, one of the top reasons for file trouble.
As a preventative measure, use Time Machine. That way you can revert to an hourly backup if needed.
Such as?
What exact Mac and OS X?
Has it always done this, or only since what change or update?
Do you use other Office apps, if so does it happen to their documents too?
Are the document files local or on a server somewhere?
Do they corrupt as you are using them, or you only discover it after trying to load one that apparently closed and saved OK last session?
Is there anything that seems to trigger it on a particular document - over a certain size perhaps, using odd fonts, after the Mac goes into hibernation and then wakes up - any pattern at all?
Do you use any anti-virus or other such software?
Are you having any Word or OS X crashes?
Does anyone else use your machine, especially as another user name, if so does it happen to them too?
Are you using the Master Documents “feature”? It’s a known corrupter.
Have you tried a fresh install of Word?
How do you know the file is corrupted? Do you get any error messages? Write it down exactly as you see it and post it here. If you don’t get an error message, write down exactly what you do see and post it here.
Are you passing these documents back and forth to other authors? Are there lots of fingers touching these documents? (More users leads to greater chance of corruption.)
Are you using the built-in review features, like Track Changes?
Are you passing back and forth between Windows and Mac users?
The Normal.dot template - the background template that all Word documents are built off of - can itself get corrupted, and spread that corruption to other documents. Have you tested creating a brand new, shorter document to see if it gets corrupted as well? That might point to Normal.dot being corrupt. (Don’t worry, it’s an easy fix.)
:smack:
Apart from any Word advice (the chief of which in my book is “Don’t.”), have you tried opening the corrupted documents with LibreOffice? You might be able to salvage at least part of them that way–I’ve found it will often open files that MSOffice won’t.