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It’s torturous, the petrifying scenario that throws every computer user into a panic. The dilemma of finding that your treasured Excel, PowerPoint, Word, video or other files has, in some way, been damaged or corrupted. The file won’t open, and you’re only able to see part of the content – the rest appears to have vanished.
The sight of long hours, days and even weeks of hard-work possibly gone for good will ruin anybody’s day, but don’t lose hope. The circumstance may not necessarily be as dreadful as it appears.
Corruption occurs in multiple ways; the damaged file was built by a buggy program that miswrote the file. At times a program requires to maintain a file open throughout its use and should the program crash, the file gets scrambled. Viruses also ravage files.
Sadly, restoring damaged or corrupt files is challenging.
The likelihood of success hinges on the flexibility of the file format, the amount of jumbled or missing data and the efficiency of the recovery software.
We believe you’ve encountered issues relating to damaged files and you wish to find more info here. Read on to learn a few tips on how you can recover corrupt files.
1. Open and repair
In the case of damage to a Microsoft Office document, Office can repair some damaged documents by itself, often automatically. You’ll note a longer than usual pause as Office works on the file and the document will open normally, or you may see an error message outlining the issue.
Supposing Office doesn’t repair the file by itself, you can fix the particular document manually. Simply go to open the file, as usual, select the problematic document, then hover on the downward-facing arrow on the right of the Open button and click on Open and Repair.
The above process is enough to repair minor damages.
2. Use system file checker
How do you deal with file corruption to system-level files? Such damage isn’t prevalent today as it was ten or so years ago; it’s still a possibility – and when it does occur your best chance is to employ Windows inbuilt utility: System File Checker.
Luckily, System File Checker is easy to run. Press the Windows key + X and click on Command Prompt (Admin) and type; sfc/scannow to initiate a Command Prompt.
The full scan may take anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour to run a full scan resting on your computer hardware. System File Checker is a must-know for all Windows users. By restoring missing and damaged system files, the System File checker fixes a damaged Windows 10 Menu and a faulty Windows 10 installation.
3. Undelete
Hinging on your Office system and your file history – in this case, an Office document – you might have auto-recover, backup or other short-lived copies of the file in question. For a Word document, search for *.ASD or *.WBK files of the due date and size, and open possible matches in Word to observe what happens.
4. Test your assumptions
Assuming Office notifies you of damage to a particular document, you’ll most likely believe it – however, there might be other justifications. Your Office software may have fundamental issues, for example.
If you experience problems with one document, test your outcome by creating or opening a new document, save it and reopen. If the application functions well, you’ve proved the original document is faulty.
If problems lie elsewhere, the issue most likely arises with the operating system. You may repair the current Windows installation or reinstall a fresh.
5. Use the repair toolkit or software
A repair toolkit comprises of utilities that individually specialize in restoring individual file types: Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, ZIP archives or Word documents.
Upon running the utility, you can scan the whole system for damaged and corrupt files or state a particular file you wish to repair.