Try this. Open Word Click on the Office Button -> Open Single-click on the file you want to open In the lower right corner, where the Open button is, click on the arrow beside it and select Open and Repair If it is indeed a corruption then MS Word would complain file is corrupted. From the gibberish you posted, it is likely that the file was saved in an older format of Office document without proper UTF8 encoding instead of a file corruption. Do the following to do some checking (assuming you are using office 2010): (1) Back up your file before attempting, and if any of them fixed your issue, you don't have to try other options 1. Open the file in office word -> save as into rtf file -> close the office -> re-open the rtf file (does it display properly?) 2. Open the file in the office word along with another blank office document -> press ctrl+home -> press ctrl+shift+end -> press shift+LEFTARROW -> press ctrl+c and paste into the blank office document (does it display properly?) 3. Try to remember what...