📎 AI Summary:
The forum thread discusses a user experiencing corruption in a Word 2016 document that became unreadable after recovery. Another user suggests ensuring the file was saved properly before closing Word and recommends running system checks like sfc /scannow and trying to open the file online via a Microsoft Office account. The original poster plans to try these troubleshooting steps, indicating a constructive exchange aimed at resolving document corruption issues.
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John9210

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Thread Author #1
Word 16 suddenly would not open a document I've been working on for a while. I get the error that it needs to be recovered. After I recovered it the file contents were gibberish. My question is how do word documents become corrupt? Can this be prevented?
 

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livix07

livix07

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#2
Did you save the file before closing Word when you last modified the document?
 

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John9210

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Thread Author #3
Yes. You can't close word without a save dialog if you have made changes.
 

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livix07

livix07

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#4
John9210 said:
Yes. You can't close word without a save dialog if you have made changes.
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That's true but it can happen that people forget to close the application and turn off their computer.
Have you run sfc /scannow to check if the file system is corrupt?
You can also create a free Office account online and try to open that file online, see here Office 365 Login | Microsoft Office
 

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