Fix Blank Word Document: 5 Ways to Open a Document When Only a White Screen is Shown

Swift navigation to the fixes for a blank Word document issue:

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Issue - My saved Word document is now blank

"I was editing a Word document (about 5 pages of a report) and saved it multiple times yesterday. But this morning, when I tried to open the file, it showed up blank without any text. I'm in big trouble. Why does my saved Word document open blank? How do I recover a blank Word document? Are there any solutions?"

The reasons that cause a Microsoft Word document to open but not display the content are uncertain. There are two possible causes for this issue.

• The document is corrupted in some way. In this case, the content of your Word document is lost, and the file appears empty.
• Malware, viruses, or other external threats have attacked Word, resulting in blank Word documents.

What should you do when you encounter an empty saved Word document? This article will provide the answers. If your Word document opens blank because you forgot to save it, the solution will be different. Read the article on how to recover unsaved Word documents in Windows 10.

On this page, we've provided some possible solutions to the issue of a blank Word document after saving. Please try these methods sequentially until your problem is resolved.

Solution 1: Use the "Open and Repair" tool to open a blank Word document In Microsoft Word, the "Open and Repair" feature can sometimes resolve issues with opening blank documents. Follow these steps: 1. Launch the Microsoft Word application. 2. Click on the "File" option in the menu bar. 3. From the dropdown menu, select "Open." 4. In the file explorer window that opens, locate the blank document you were unable to open previously. 5. After selecting the document, click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the "Open" button. 6. From the dropdown menu, choose "Open and Repair." 7. Wait for the program to examine and repair the document. 8. If the repair is successful, the document should display normally. If the issue persists, try alternative solutions. Please note that this method may not work in all cases, but it's worth attempting.

This built-in Microsoft Word feature will attempt to fix any corruption issues it finds in the document.

1. Start Word. 2. On the File menu or Microsoft Office button, click Open. 3. In the Open dialog box, select the blank Word document. 4. Click the down arrow on the Open button, and then click Open and Repair.

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Solution 2: Recover Word Document with File Repair Software

If your saved Word document is corrupted, you might not be able to open it or it may appear blank when you do. In this case, you'll need a Word document repair tool. The Fixo Document Repair tool can easily fix any damaged photos, videos, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or other files. Learn more about document repair tools.

Before we proceed with the solution for an empty Word document, watch this video first for more detailed information on how to recover a corrupted Word document.

1. 00:14 - Method 1: Insert into a New Word Document
2. 00:38 - Method 2: Open and Repair
3. 00:55 - Method 3: Default Settings
4. 01:30 - Method 4: Using the Fixo Document Repair Tool

Main features of the Fixo tools for file repair:

• Repair any type of damaged .doc and .docx Word documents
• Restore severely corrupted XLS and XLSX files without changing their original format
• Recover damaged PDF files, extracting text, annotations, bookmarks, graphics, etc. from PDFs
• Fix corrupted files from desktops, laptops, external hard drives, SD cards, USB flash drives, and other devices

Please download and install this file repair utility on your computer, then follow these steps to fix the blank Word document.

Step 1: Download and run Fixo on your desktop or laptop. Choose "File Repair" to fix corrupted Office documents, including Word, Excel, PDF, and more. Click "Add File" to select the damaged document.

Step 2. Click on “Repair All” to fix multiple files. If you want to repair only one, hover over the target file and click “Repair.” You can also preview the document by clicking the eye icon.

Step 3: Click “Save” to save the selected documents. Choose “Save All” to save all repaired files. Select “View Repaired Files” to locate the folder with the recovered items.

Solution 3: Start a blank Word using the /a switch

Another solution to the blank Word document on opening issue is to use the /a switch. The /a switch is a troubleshooting tool that helps identify the problem in Word.

When you start Word with the /a switch, none of the add-ins, global templates, or settings are loaded, allowing you to determine whether any of these are causing your blank document problem.

Follow these steps:

Type Run in the search box, then press Enter. Type winword /a in the Run dialog box, then press Enter.

If the Word document opens as plain text, you've found the problem – you need to disable add-ins. If your Word document is still blank, try the next solution, or use a tool on your computer to fix the blank Word document error.

Solution 4: Fix Blank Word Document by Removing the Word Data Registry Subkey

One common solution to problems with Word is to delete the Word Data subkey, which stores most of Word's options and default settings.

When you restart Word, the program will rebuild the Word Data subkey with the default settings. Let's hope that this works for you.

1. Exit Word, then right-click the Start button and select "Run." 2. Type in **regedit** and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

Run the Registry Editor

3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data. Right-click on "Data" and delete it.

4. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart Word.

Fix 5: Recover Blank Word Document from a Previous Version

Users have reported that this workaround is effective in recovering an empty Word file. It's worth a shot. However, note that to restore a file from a previous version, you need to have enabled File History or System Restore points beforehand; otherwise, this option won't be available.

1. Right-click on the blank Word document and select "Restore Previous Versions." 2. In the list of previous restore points, choose the latest one. 3. Click the "Restore" button to revert to that version.

In short

We hope that after trying these methods, you can fix your blank Word document when opening it. To repair a corrupted Word document, you can try tools like Fixo that effectively repairs your damaged files.