Open DOCX File

Can't open DOCX file

If you are opening a previously saved Word file in Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016 and it suddenly refuses to open it with the following error:

'Cannot open the file because there are problems with the content'

This error generally indicates that the files is partially corrupt or is in an incorrect format. Below are instructions on how to fix this problem and recover the Word file.

Solutions to the error 'The file cannot be opened because there are problems with the content'

Use the Open and Repair function to open the Word document

1. Open Word.
2. On the File menu or Microsoft Office Button, click Open.
3. In the dialog box, click to select the Word file which reports an error.
4. Click the down arrow on the Open button, and then click Open and Repair. On Mac OS system select "Repair" in the "Open" combo box and then click "Open" button. The built-in "Repair" function of Microsoft Word will solve the problems or corruptions that are detected in the documents
5. The file should be repaired. If the problem persists you can select "Recover Text" option in the "Open" dialog instead of the "Repair". With this option Microsoft Word will try to recover text while skipping potentially corrupted format.

Use Google Docs to open the Word document

1. Send the corrupted Word file to your Gmail account.
2. Click the attachment to open it in the Google Docs preview.
3. Click on 'Open with Google Docs'. The document should be opened and viewed.
4. Click File> Download As> Microsoft Word (.docx)
5. Use Microsoft Word to open the document you just downloaded.

Use some Word recovery software to recover DOCX document

Except for the above two solutions, there are also several third-party Word file recovery online services, for example:

OfficeRecovery

OnlineFileRepair