Rubbish In Your File

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 18, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

One astute WordTips reader reported that they started receiving complaints from clients about their Word 97 document files. It seemed that whenever they opened a saved document, the files had "rubbish" added to the end of them.

Upon closer examination, it was found that the default file type for the Open dialog box had been set to Recover Text From Any File. This caused Word to ignore the formatting information it normally saves at the end of a file, and instead try to treat it as regular text. The result was that any time the client opened a file, the formatting was stripped from the document and appeared as "rubbish" in the document. The solution was to make sure the file type was instead set to Word Documents.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1260) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Date Last Edited

You can insert several dynamic dates into your document. One you may want is to add the date when the last edit was ...

Discover More

Removing HTTP from URLs

Having problems when it comes to replacing information in URLs? You're not the only one; it can be confusing making mass ...

Discover More

Removing Spaces around Dashes

A common editing task with Excel data is to remove spaces that may surround dashes within text. This tip presents several ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Last Document Saves Not Saved

Click the Save button and you expect your document to be saved, right? What if you later discover it wasn't really saved? ...

Discover More

Saving Your Work Automatically

Word can be configured to save your work periodically, on any time schedule you desire. This tip explains this feature ...

Discover More

Can't Open a Word Document in Windows

Double-click on a Word document while using Windows Explorer, and the Word program should start with the document ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 0 + 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.