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WORD-UNREADABLE-CONTENT

Word Word Found Unreadable Content Applies to: Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 11

What it means

Word detected some form of corruption in the document when opening it.

Also seen as: Word found unreadable content in [filename]

Quick fix steps

  1. Click "Yes" on the prompt to let Word attempt its own repair — this succeeds more often than expected.
  2. If that fails, use File > Open > select the file > dropdown next to Open > "Open and Repair."
  3. Check File > Info > Manage Document for an AutoRecover version saved before the corruption occurred.
For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see Word Document Won't Open or Is Corrupted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same issue as an Excel file being unreadable?
The same general concept applies (structural damage Word's repair tool tries to fix), though the specific technical causes differ somewhat between Word's document format and Excel's spreadsheet format.
How much content typically gets recovered?
It varies a lot by how the corruption happened — sometimes nearly everything is recoverable, other times only partial text survives. It's worth trying regardless, since partial recovery is still better than nothing.

Other error codes

WORD-CONTENTS-PROBLEM — Word Found a Problem With the Contents

Word's XML parser hit something it couldn't read inside the document's internal structure — usually corruption from an interrupted save or a bad conversion between formats.

WORD-NOT-RESPONDING — Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working / Not Responding

Word crashed or froze completely, usually tied to a specific add-in, a corrupted template, or a very large/complex document — though it can also just be a long operation (a big mail merge, a macro, repagination on a huge document) still genuinely running.

WORD-COMMAND-SEND-PROBLEM — There Was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program

Windows tried to open a Word file through another program (like double-clicking an email attachment) and Word didn't respond in time — often a leftover invisible Word process.

WORD-LOCKED-FOR-EDITING — User Does Not Have Access Privileges / File Locked

Word believes someone else already has the file open, or your account doesn't have write permission on it.