How to Troubleshoot Word File Error “A File Error has Occurred”

  •   Written By
     
  • Published on
    January 2nd, 2019
  • Updated on
    September 13, 2023
  • Read Time
    5 minutes

Let’s suppose you’re trying to save a Word document, but you receive an error something like this “A file error has occurred”. You may also receive this error message while opening a Word document or working with it. If you don’t know how to fix this common Word file error, let me help you with that. In this article, we’ll discuss this Word file error in more detail. Also, I’ll share an easy trick here to fix this Word file error i.e. “A file error has occurred”.

Almost 8 in every 10 users use Microsoft Word. It’s known to be one of the best Word processor applications. It’s almost on every PC in the world. Unluckily, every computer application is prone to errors, and Microsoft Word is no exception. You’re lucky if you haven’t faced any. But maybe you can come across an error sooner or later. There are many error messages associated with Microsoft Word. One such common Word file error is “A file error has occurred”.

A file Error has Occurred

Common Reasons for this Word File Error

It’s very important to find out the most possible reasons for this Word file error before we can try anything to fix it. Although it ain’t easy to figure out the main reason, I’ve listed a few common ones below which might be responsible for the error “A file error has occurred”.

  • You’re likely to receive this error if the Word document is password protected.
  • Even if the file is saved in the shared network folder, this Word file error may appear on your screen.
  • This Word file error may also appear when the file is available on the network server and two users are using it on different systems at the same time.
  • If you’ve enabled “Always Create Backup Copy” option, you’re likely to receive this Word file error.
  • And the most important reason is corruption. If the Word file is corrupted, you may receive different error messages including this one.

Also Read- How to Extract Images from DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX File?

How to fix “A file error has occurred” error?

The above Word file error most commonly occurs while saving the Word document. So the best way to troubleshoot this Word file error is by creating a new Word file and copying all the data from the old Word file to this new one. After that, you need to save this new Word file with a new name. Make sure there’s no space in the file name. Also, you need to make sure a few things to resolve this Word file error:

  • While editing a Word file, the “Always create a backup copy” option should be disabled. And once the editing process is done, you can enable the option.
  • If the Word document is available on the shared network, it’s advisable to keep a copy of that file on a different location of your hard disk before making any changes.

But remember, this is just a temporary fix. In case you’re looking for a permanent solution, you should try this one:

First, you need to show the hidden files and folders

  • Click the Start button, and select Control Panel>Appearance and Personalization.
  • Select Folder Options, and click the View
  • Under Advanced settings option, select “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” and then click OK. Now delete the files whose name contains “normal”
  • First, open Windows Explorer and search the following path. C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
  • In the template folder, you need to look for the files whose name contains “normal” character, such as ~$Normal.dot. Delete all such files. But make sure you don’t delete the temp folder anyhow.

Also Read- Create and Record MS Word Macro

Professional Word Repair Tool

If the Word file error “A file error has occurred” is still occurring, this means the file is corrupted and you need to repair it. In such a situation, there are two ways to repair Word file: either by using manual solutions or with the help of a professional recovery solution. Generally, a 3rd party Word Repair tool is considered the best way to repair Word file.

The Word Repair tool provided SysInfoTools Software can help you repair Word file which is corrupted due to any reason. It supports both DOC and DOCX files created by all versions of Microsoft Word including the latest 2016. The software can scan the corrupt Word file, and recover the maximum possible data from it. All the recovered data will be saved into a new Word file which you can open in Microsoft Word with ease.

Conclusion

The article has shared some useful information for all those Word users who often face a common error like “A file error has occurred”. Through this article, they can learn how to fix this particular Word file error manually. But if the error can’t be resolved manually, one should try the professional Word Repair tool mentioned in the article.

Related Post