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Jan 12, 2009 Hello. I just bought a new MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5.7). I have MicroSoft Word documents saved as attachments in Hotmail e-mails. When I download one of these MicroSoft Word Documents, it automatically opens in Text Edit.

• Word Document For Mac
• Microsoft Word Opens All My Documents Mac Book
• Microsoft Word Opens All My Documents Mac
• Word Document For Apple Mac

Open Word, select File Open Browse, then navigate to the file location. Don't open the file from the Recent section. In Office 2013, select the location, then select Browse. You can change the default settings for new documents by making changes to the Normal template that new documents are based on. You can modify the Normal template to change its default formatting or content so that any new document that you create will use the new settings. How to recover a lost Word document. 3/30/2020; 7 minutes to read; Applies to: Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010. Select any instance of Winword.exe or Microsoft Word. In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files. In this article we show how to open and edit.docx files created in Microsoft Word on a Mac, iPhone or iPad, as well as how to save changes in a format that can be opened on a PC. Editing a.docx. Apr 16, 2018  Start the Word for Mac application. On the File menu, click Open. In the Convert File window, scroll down and select Recover Text from any file. If you get a warning, click OK. Note Some formatting might change. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Format list, select Word Document (.docx), then click Save.

Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

If you're looking for recent Word document recovery info, see:

• Recover your Office files (For versions through Office 2019)

For more on earlier versions of Word, see:

Resolution

To fix this problem, use the following methods in the order in which they're presented, as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1: Search for the original document

To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Windows that you're running.

Windows 10 and Windows 7

1. Select Start, type the document name in the Start Search box (.doc or .docx), and then press Enter. If the File list contains the document, double-click the document to open it in Word.
2. If the File list does not contain the file, go to Method 2.

Method 2: Search for Word backup files

Word backup file names end with the .wbk extension. If the Always create backup copy option is selected, there may be a backup copy of the file.

Note

To locate this option:

• Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013:Select File, then Options, and then Advanced. Scroll down to the Save section and select Always create backup copy.
• Word 2010:Select File, then Options. In the Save tab, select Always create backup copy.

To find the backup copy of the file, follow these steps:

1. Locate the folder in which you last saved the missing file.
2. Search for files that have the .wbk file name extension.

If there's no .wbk file in the original folder, search the computer for any .wbk files. To do this, follow these steps:

Windows 10 and Windows 7

1. Select Start, type *.wbk in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
2. If the File list contains the backup file, repeat the steps in step 2 ('Search for files that have the .wbk file name extension') to open the file. If the File list does not contain the backup file, go to Method 3.

If you find any files that have the name 'Backup of' followed by the name of the missing file, use one of the following procedures, as appropriate for the version of Word that you're running.

Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013

1. On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse. (In some versions, select Computer and then Browse.)
2. In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
3. Select the backup file that you found, and then select Open.

Word 2010

1. On the File menu, select Open.
2. In the Files of type list (All Word documents), select All Files.
3. Select the backup file that you found, and then select Open.

Method 3: Search for AutoRecover files

AutoRecover file names end with the .asd extension. By default, Word searches for AutoRecover files every time that it starts, and then it displays all that it finds in the Document Recovery task pane.

1. Use Word to automatically find the AutoRecover files. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. Right-click the taskbar, and then select Task Manager.

   2. On the Processes tab, select any instance of Winword.exe or Microsoft Word, and then select End Task or End Process. Repeat this step until you have exited all instances of Winword.exe and Word.

   3. Close the Windows Task Manager dialog box, and then start Word.

      If Word finds the AutoRecover file, the Document Recovery task pane opens on the left side of the screen, and the missing document is listed as 'document name [Original]' or as 'document name [Recovered].' If this occurs, double-click the file in the Document Recovery pane, select Save As on the File menu, and then save the document as a .docx file. Manually change the extension to .docx, if necessary, by right-clicking the file and selecting Rename.

2. If the Recovery pane does not open, manually search for AutoRecover files. To do this, use one of the following procedures, as appropriate for the version of Word that you're running.

   Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013

   1. On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse.
   2. If you don't see your document listed, select Recover Unsaved Documents.

   Word 2010

   1. On the File menu, select Recent.
   2. If you don't see your document listed, select Recover Unsaved Documents.

3. If you can't locate an AutoRecover file in the location that is identified in the Folder name list, search your whole drive for any .asd files. To do this, follow these steps:

   Windows 10 and Windows 7

   1. Select Start, type .asd in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
   2. If the File list does not contain AutoRecover files, go to Method 4.

   If you find any files that have the .asd extension, use one of the following procedures, as appropriate for the version of Word that you're running:

   Word 2019, Word 2016, or Word 2013

   1. On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse. (In some versions, select **Computer **and then Browse.)
   2. In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
   3. Select the .asd file that you found, and then select Open.

   Word 2010

   1. On the File menu, select Open.
   2. In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
   3. Select the .asd file that you found, and then select Open.

Note

If you find an AutoRecover file in the Recovery pane that does not open correctly, go to 'Method 6: How to troubleshoot damaged documents' for more information about how to open damaged files.

Method 4: Search for temporary files

Temporary file names end with the .tmp extension. To find these files, use one of the following procedure.

Windows 10 and Windows 7

1. Select Start, type .tmp in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
2. On the Show only toolbar, select Other.
3. Scroll through the files and search for files that match the last few dates and times that you edited the document. If you find the document that you're looking for, go to 'Method 6: How to troubleshoot damaged documents' for more information about how to recover information from the file.

Method 5: Search for '~' files

Some temporary file names start with the tilde (~) character. To find these files, follow these steps:

Windows 10 and Windows 7

1. Select Start, type ~ in the Start Search box.

2. Select See more results.

   Scroll through the files, and look for any that may match the last few dates and times that you edited the document. If you find the document that you're looking for, go to 'Method 6: How to troubleshoot damaged documents' for more information about how to recover information from the file.

For information about how Word creates and uses temporary files, see Description of how Word creates temporary files.

Method 6: How to troubleshoot damaged documents

For information about how to troubleshoot damaged Word documents, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

More information

You can lose a Word document in certain situations. For example, the document may be lost if an error occurs that forces Word to close, if you experience a power interruption while editing, or if you close the document without saving your changes.

Note

The whole document may be lost if you have not recently saved the document. If you have saved your document, you may lose only the changes that you made since the last save. Be aware that some lost documents may not be recoverable.

The AutoRecover feature in Word performs an emergency backup of open documents when an error occurs. Some errors can interfere with the AutoRecover functionality. The AutoRecover feature is not a substitute for saving your files.

We do not provide any utilities to recover deleted documents. However, some third-party utilities to recover deleted documents might be available on the Internet.

For more information about AutoRecover, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Summary

If the Word document contains a font that is not installed or not compatible on the system, or if the Word document is corrupted, or if the Word documents being transferred over internet being have been edited on multiple platforms/systems, the Word file may open with weird symbols or gibberish. To address this problem, you can use effective methods below. Besides, if you have Word loss, you can use the highly recommended file recovery software to restore files with ease.

Have you encountered Word file suddenly corrupted and was opened with random codes or data turned into wired symbols or gibberish? Is it possible to repair and recover gibberish Word files? How to fix corrupted Word files turned into unreadable symbols? If you are facing with Word document changed to symbols but found no way to troubleshoot, you can try the solutions in this article to fix the issue. Meanwhile, data recovery software is recommended to help you recover corrupted and lost Word document most effectively!

Quick Fixes for Word Document Open with Weird Symbols

Before you repair and restore the corrupted Word files, you can first try the following simple tips to fix the issue.

1. Use fonts that are mostly used on most computers, like Arial and Times Roman.

2. Install the required font by dragging it into 'Library' > 'Fonts' on your computer.

3. Enable Font Book on Mac in the Applications folder.

4. Substitute a new compatible font in Word.

How to Repair/Restore Word Document Turned into Symbols/Gibberish

To repair and restore corrupted Word document with weird symbols, here are two possible methods.

Method 1. Repair Corrupted Word Files Showing Gibberish with Microsoft Office

Step 1. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click 'Open'.
Step 2. In the Open dialog box, click your Word document.
Step 3. Click the arrow on the Open button, and then click 'Open and Repair'.
Step 4. Verify that repairing the document fixes the problem and the strange behavior no longer occurs.

Word Document For Mac

Method 2. Restore Word Files Open with Wired Symbols from Previous Version

Step 1.Right-click the corrupted/damaged Word files and select 'Restore previous version'.
Step 2. Find an earlier version of the damaged or corrupted Word file, and click 'Restore'.
Step 3. Run Word and open the restored Word file again, click 'OK' when a message pops up to warn that some text layers contain fonts are missing.
Step 4. Check all layers and remark the lost part with layers and save them as a new Word file.

Method 3. Recover Word Document with a File Recovery Tool

Microsoft Word Opens All My Documents Mac Book

If you can't restore the corrupted Word document from previous versions, there is still another useful way to make it by using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This data recovery program enables you to restore the corrupted Word document opening with wired symbols in the easiest way.

EaseUS data recovery software will help you recover lost Word document due to mistaken deletion, system/application crash, virus attack, storage device formatting/damage, and more. And you can recover data from external hard drive, emptied recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorder on all Windows and macOS computers.

Now, download and use this software to restore Word document opens with random codes or unreadable symbol by following the steps below.

Step 1. Choose the Word file location.

Do you know where you lost Word files? Choose the hard disk drive or a specific folder and click the San button. If it's on a USB flash drive or SD card, take one more step to connect it to your computer.

Step 2. Scan all lost data.

The software will start immediately scanning all lost data on the selected drive, and you'll see more and more data showing up in the scan results. After the scan, use the quickest way to the wanted Word documents by choosing 'Documents' from the drop-down list in 'Filter'.

Microsoft Word Opens All My Documents Mac

Step 3. Select Word files and recover.

Word Document For Apple Mac

You're allowed to preview a Word file if you have Microsoft Word application installed on your computer. Finally, select the desired documents and click 'Recover'.