Ultimate guide to fix damaged or corrupt Word documents. If the file is not opening, showing garbage, or stuck on loading. Try these fixes!

Familiar file extensions, including the .doc Word default, sprouted an "x" at the end, and users who still relied on earlier Office versions discovered they no longer could open files created in ...

Display file format conversion panel on open in Word using this guide. Enable or disable this option using Word Options, GPEDIT, and REGEDIT.

Learn how to use a Microsoft 365 setting to choose whether to open files in the online or desktop app, giving you full control for each file.

To automatically open Word files in OpenOffice, change the default program to OpenOffice on either Windows 8 or Windows 7 workstations.

Open file with text recovery converter on Word (2019/2021) Actually, users using Word 2019 and 2021 versions enjoy the Open and Repair option to fix Word corruption issues.

Writer online word processor, with a look mimicking DOS-based text editors running on a green-phosphor display, makes it easy to create and return to a text file, with no sign-in.

Lost your Word doc in a crash? Discover the three easy ways to recover unsaved files – even if you've never saved your document. No more lost data nightmares!

Will you be able to open today’s Word docs in 20 years? Probably not, unless you take some necessary steps to give those digital files an extra-long shelf life.