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MS Office Forum / Word / Long Documents / July 2005Corrupt Word Doc While Editing
Hi. I'm creating a manual in Word for a program we use at work. While I am working (40 pages) the formatting gets very complicated and autosave and autoformating becomes a nightmare, Finally, Word halts for ages as thought it's either updating or something, though it allows me to continue on other applications. This can take up to 10 minutes. Just adding one word or saving would take another 10 minutes. In the meantime, the size increases constantly, from a normal 10 mb to 116 mb in just 2 minutes. I know it's to do with formatting as this happens mostly when inserting number/bullets. Normally the doc automatically adjusts and one can backspace if necessary. However, in my doc, this causes the whole document to go crazy, and takes forever, and gets worse by the minute. While this is going on, I try 'saving as' in another name, but doesn't help. I copy and paste, which has worked much in the past, as if cleansed from whatever was plaguing it, but by now the file is complicated, with many images and screen shots. I have tried splitting the file up in three bits, copied pasted, fixed the formatting and copied and pasted bit by bit. it worked!! But, then after a couple of days, adding a little to it here and there, it happens again, till it finally collapsed. The other day, it auto recovered on 2003 and something got fixed because it went down to 10,000 kb and worked like a dream. Two days later (today) I'm just finishing it off at work, small details, corrections and it starts to happen again, until I couldn't even do my normal work. Word would just crash, every time I tried to save it. Any ideas please? Also how can you repair a damaged file? Thanks in advance Corruption as you describe usually relates to one specific bit of the document: typically a graphic with an internal corruption or a table -- especially a very long table that spans several pages. You describe recovering the document and everything was fine for a few days -- it might be that during that time you didn't visit the bit of the document that contained the corruption. What sort of 'very complicated' formatting does your document contain? In what way do AutoSave and AutoFormatting become nightmarish? > Hi. > I'm creating a manual in Word for a program we use at work. [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > Also how can you repair a damaged file? > Thanks in advance Thanks for your time. There are no tables at all but numerous images. Alot of the images, all pasted into doc. most have drawing objects and autoshapes grouped with them. Styles consist of 3 headings, Numerous bullets and numbering The formating isn't complicated in itself but plays up as more editing is done until it all grinds to a stop. i.e. I could add a bullet or enter or start a new paragraph in page 20 and suddenly the timer comes up ( which i guess is autoformatting in action) and when it's done all the tabs and indents of previous bulleting goes aray not respeting their setting and some are added like a.a.a.a.a.a.a. or b.b.b.b.b.b also I have to keep checking the header and footer because suddenly it grows a few extra lines. When it starts to grind to a halt with the timmer appearing too often the size of the file goes from 28mb to 130mb ! I've been working on this file between 2 pcs. Word 2000 at the office and Word Xp at home. But the problem happens with both. I have been saving the file regularly by different names so have been able to go back to last 'good' files to edit all changes. This is wearing me out. So any help would be really appreciated. Jen > Corruption as you describe usually relates to one specific bit of the > document: typically a graphic with an internal corruption or a table -- [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> Also how can you repair a damaged file? >> Thanks in advance Sorry I was on my son Ads' pc when I replied ----- Thanks for your time. There are no tables at all but numerous images. Alot of the images, all pasted into doc. most have drawing objects and autoshapes grouped with them. Styles consist of 3 headings, Numerous bullets and numbering The formating isn't complicated in itself but plays up as more editing is done until it all grinds to a stop. i.e. I could add a bullet or enter or start a new paragraph in page 20 and suddenly the timer comes up ( which i guess is autoformatting in action) and when it's done all the tabs and indents of previous bulleting goes aray not respeting their setting and some are added like a.a.a.a.a.a.a. or b.b.b.b.b.b also I have to keep checking the header and footer because suddenly it grows a few extra lines. When it starts to grind to a halt with the timmer appearing too often the size of the file goes from 28mb to 130mb ! I've been working on this file between 2 pcs. Word 2000 at the office and Word Xp at home. But the problem happens with both. I have been saving the file regularly by different names so have been able to go back to last 'good' files to edit all changes. This is wearing me out. So any help would be really appreciated. Jen > Corruption as you describe usually relates to one specific bit of the > document: typically a graphic with an internal corruption or a table -- [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> Also how can you repair a damaged file? >> Thanks in advance Hi Jen I think there are several things going wrong here. 1. First of all, Word has no "AutoSave". The "timer" you are seeing is probably the AutoRecover mechanism kicking in. For more information about that, see: How can I make Word save or back up my document automatically? http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/AutomaticSave.htm 2. Word does not "auto format" your document unless you tell it to using Format > AutoFormat (and I've never met anyone yet who found that to be useful, so don't tempt fate by playing with it!). However, Word does like to think for itself, which is rarely a good experience for the rest of us. To avoid that, do Tools > AutoCorrect options. On the AutoFormat As You Type tab, un-tick everything in the "Apply as you type" and the "Automatically as you type" sections. 3. At Tools > Templates and Add-ins, make sure you have *not* ticked the box "Automatically Update Document Styles". This may be the cause of some of the changes in numbering and headings you're experiencing. 4. There is clearly something wrong that's causing the huge changes in file size. Here is Suzanne Barnhill's classic list of the causes of big files, so go through each item and make sure your're OK: 1. Fast Saves: Disable this at on the Save tab of Tools | Options. 2. Preview Picture: Clear the check box on the Summary tab of File | Properties. 3. Versions (File | Versions): Make sure "Automatically save version on close" is not turned on. 4. Revisions (Tools | Track Changes): Highlight Changes: Make sure "Highlight changes on screen" is turned on (or that "Final Showing Markup" is displayed). Accept/Reject Changes: If "Accept All" or "Reject All" is available then revisions are present; accept or reject all changes, then turn Track Changes off. 5. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should be avoided wherever possible. 6. Embedded graphics: When feasible, it is preferable to link the graphics. That is, when you insert the graphic, click the arrow beside Insert in the Picture dialog and choose Link to File rather than Insert or Insert and Link. 7. Embedded objects: These are even worse than ordinary graphics saved with the document. If you see an { EMBED } code, the graphic is an OLE object. Unless you need to be able to edit the object in place, unlink it using Ctrl+Shift+F9. 8. File format: Make sure you are saving as a Word document; in some cases .rtf (Rich Text Format) files are significantly larger than .doc files. 9. Document corruption: See http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm. > I have been saving the file regularly by different names so have been able > to go back to last 'good' files to edit all changes. Good move! Don't stop doing that. Hope this helps. Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP. http://www.shaunakelly.com/word > Sorry I was on my son Ads' pc when I replied > ----- [quoted text clipped - 65 lines] >>> Also how can you repair a damaged file? >>> Thanks in advance Wow! thank you so much for taking the time to help. I'll follow all your advice. Most of it makes so much sense reading it. J > Hi Jen > [quoted text clipped - 144 lines] >>>> Also how can you repair a damaged file? >>>> Thanks in advance
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