Resolved Word 2010 Text Disappeared

Trying to help a friend recover text from a large Word file (not backed up - but will be in the future if we fix the problem). It is a book of some 300+ pages. File manager shows a file size of 6+MB.

When I open the file, there is no text to be seen. However, all the page numbers show up at the bottom of each page. As I scroll through the document, I can see some place holders and a couple of graphics - just no text. I can place the cursor on one of the pages and when I mouse over the "Headings" options, a paragraph of text will appear where the cursor is located. As soon as I mouse off the "Headings" options, the text goes away. I can move the cursor to different pages with the same result.

The text is obviously there but there is some switch or setting that has made it "hidden". Found some references to "Hiding and Unhiding" text in Word. One was to check the "Hidden" box in the Font properties. I looked at that and the box was not checked. Any ideas?

 

Sadly, you didn't tell us what version of Windows your friend is using. If Windows 8.1 or newer, try File History.

Note too, by default, Word keeps a backup copy using the same file name but with .bak as the file extension. However, if there have been several attempt to recover the source document, that backup file may have been overwritten with a corrupt version.

Last option might be to use a file recovery program. I recommend trying Recuva from the makers of CCleaner. Wise Data Recovery is also popular.

 

Sorry about that - it is Windows 10 Home, upgrade 1803 installed. I tried the File History link and when I got into the file history it stated there "...was no history..." and invited me to turn the feature on.

I also installed Recuva but it found the file in question as unrecoverable.

Any other thoughts?

 

The only other suggestion (besides looking for the filename.bak file where filename is the name of the file) is ShadowExplorer. Though frankly, at this point, especially with Recuva reporting the file is not recoverable, I don't hold out much hope.

Clearly, hindsight is 20/20 and as you noted, backups are essential.

 

Bill,

Thanks for the help. Was never able to get the text to appear in the phantom file. So I will mark this one as resolved.

We were able to locate a copy of the file (fairly complete) from late March but a couple of months editing were lost. The owner is now in the process of re-editing to get the file back up to where it was when the file in question went awry. We do have an active backup procedure now as well as turning on the File History feature.

 

Well, at least it was not a total loss. Thanks for the update.