Open XML file ___ cannot be opened...

Since your post is from 2014, I hope you found a solution....

Today 5/29/2016 this is what I did and it worked.

1. Make a copy of the file in question and put it on your desktop.

2. Log into Google Docs (if you don't have an account, you have to create one and trust me you will be glad you did).

3. In google docs start a new file (don't know why this works, but it does)...

4. Go to the file menu and select "Open". Along the top are several options (my drive, shared with me, Starred, recent or upload).

5. Select "Upload" to Open your file in Google Docs... Violå... it opens formatting and all!!!!

6. Save it as a google doc (so you have a backup). Depending on your system you may have to select Make a copy....

7. Once you have a Google doc saved as a google doc....Gso to the file menu and select DOWNLOAD AS "Microsoft Word (docx)... It will ask you what app on YOUR Mac to open it with, select Microsoft Word...

Hope this helps.

Pam

PrfPam -- I am SO relieved I found your response. You saved my thesis. For some reason, after working on my document from the plane, my computer told me my document was 'corrupt'. By following your directions I was able to retrieve it. Jumping up and down with thanks. I so appreciate you having taken the time to write out these steps.

Sam

While all of these are great solutions I am having a constant problem. I have thousands of word documents hosted on a shared server for the office. Every single word document created and saved on this server has the same issue every time I try to open it. And I can't theoretically convert ALL of the documents on the server.

My warning messages are this: The Open XML file 'filename' cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents or the file name might contain invalid characters

Details: The File is corrupted and cannot be opened.

Then I click OK, and a new window pops open.

Word found unreadable content in 'filename'. Do you want to remove the contents of this document? If you trust the source of this document, click Yes.

I click yes and it opens, but as Document 1 and no longer in the same folder it was.

There has got to be some underlying solution to fix this.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

iMac refurb (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), SL & ML, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

I resolved a "The open XML file cannot be opened" error on a Word 2011 for Mac document by opening the document in Pages and exporting to Word. I lost some of the style definitions, but otherwise the information and formatting was intact, and the styles were still applied. I just had to adjust the style definitions to fully restore the original file. This worked even though I'd saved the file with a password in Word.

Hi, I had the same problem in my thesis, which contains many equations as well as figures and tables. I saw a reply on the Microsoft forum suggesting opening the file with Libre Office, and then saving it. This worked fine, except as another comment mentions, it also changed my style sheets. Apparently the problem might have crept in via one of my equations. What a relief!

The Google Docs solution worked for me! Thank you very much, Pam. I did not want to have to rewrite a 23-page paper.

Thanks so much for the Google Docs solution! As Sanjac said, I didn't want to have to recreate my 57-page document.