If you are experiencing the “Word found unreadable content in the document” error message when opening a document in Microsoft Word, this post will help you. As reported by some users, they keep getting this error message when opening certain document files in Word. Here is the full error message you get:
Word found unreadable content in
. Do you want to retrieve the content of this document? If you trust the source of this document, click Yes.
This error message basically indicates that there is some corrupted content in the input document. Now if you are facing this error then follow the fixes mentioned below to resolve it.
Word found unreadable content in the document
if you see the Word found unreadable content in the document error message when opening a document in Microsoft Word, you can use the following solutions to fix the problem:
- Try the Open and Repair tool.
- Use the Recover Text from Any File feature.
- Repair the Word document using a third-party application.
1]Try the Open and Repair tool
The error is likely to occur if your document contains some corrupted content. So the first thing you need to do is to use the Open and Repair tool to repair the damaged content in your Word document. It is a tool built into Microsoft Word that allows you to repair your documents. You can use it while opening the document. That is how:
- First of all, go to the File menu and click on the Open option.
- Then press the Browse button and select the document with which you are facing this error.
- Now, tap on the little down arrow icon present inside the Open button.
- After that, choose the open and repair option from the options that appear.
The document will be repaired and open in Microsoft Word now. But, if the error still appears, then you can use the next potential solution.
Read: Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error.
2]Use the Recover Text from Any File feature
Microsoft Word comes with a feature called Recover text from any file. This feature basically allows you to recover text from a Word document that might be damaged. Therefore, you can use this feature to recover text content from the problematic Word file. But please note that this feature will not recover document formatting, media, drawings and other content that is present in the document. But plain text with field text, headers, footers, footnotes, and endnotes is preserved.
Here are the instructions for using the Recover Text from Any File feature in Microsoft Word:
- First of all, open Microsoft Word and click the File > Open option.
- Now, hit the Browse button and locate and choose the problematic document.
- After that, click on the arrow button associated with the All Word Documents dropdown menu.
- Next, from the dropdown options that appear, select the Recover text from any file option.
- Finally, press the Open button and wait until the document opens.
The text from the damaged document will be recovered and opened in Word. Now you can edit it accordingly and save it as a new document file.
See: Word experienced an error trying to open the file.
3]Repair Word document using a third-party application
If the above solutions don’t help, you can use third-party software to repair the damaged Word document. There are software like S2 Recovery Tools and Repair My Word that allow you to repair a damaged Word file without any hassle.
Besides that, you can also use this free online tool called Recovery Toolbox. It allows you to repair damaged Word documents in a web browser. You don’t have to install an app on your system to use it. Just open your website, browse and select the problematic Word file, enter your email address and hit the Next Step button. The file will be repaired and sent to your email address.
How do I troubleshoot Word with content error?
If you experience the error “There are problems with the content” or a similar error message when trying to open a document in Word, the file may be damaged. Therefore, you can try to repair your document using Word’s Open and Repair tool. Or, you can try opening the same document in Google Docs or Word Online.
Why does my Microsoft Word document show strange and unreadable text?
If you see incomprehensible or strange text in your Word document, the font used may not be installed on your system or may be incompatible. Other than that, such a Word document might be corrupted thus displaying strange and unreadable text.
Now read: Word cannot save or create this file – Normal.dotm error.
