By Sophia | Last Updated
It is really confusing and alarming when opening a Word document only to see a completely blank screen, especially if the file previously contained important content. Whether it's a personal file, a business document, or something received via email, this issue affects many users across Windows and Microsoft Word versions. In this guide, we’ll explore why a Word document is blank when opened and how to fix it step by step.
Why Microsoft Word not displaying text? Here are the possible reasons for this issue:
You can check the solutions below to fix the blank Word document and recover the text.
Sometimes the content is there, but the view mode hides it. You can go to click the View tab on the Word document, then choose other mode to view. Print Layout is the most reliable for full content display. You can take it into consideration.
Your text may be there but invisible due to formatting. You can choose all content with the shortcut keys Ctrl + A. Then click the Home tab to change the font color to black. After that, go to Home> Font and make sure the Hidden effect is unchecked.
Corrupted or incompatible Add-ins can cause Word to malfunction.
Step 1: Press Win + R to open Run box. Then enter winword /safe and click the OK button to start Microsoft Word in safe mode.
Step 2: After Microsoft Word opens normally, click File > Options> Add-ins.
Step 3: On the right pane, go to the last part. Click the Go button behind Manage COM Add-ins section.
Step 4: Uncheck the suspicious Add-ins and click the OK button to turn off the Add-ins.
Step 5: After that, close the Microsoft Word in safe mode and restart it to check whether all contents appear.
For the file that cannot be opened normally or encounter the blank issue in the content, Microsoft Word has a built-in recovery option. Here is how:
Step 1: Launch Microsoft Word and click File > Open.
Step 2: After that, browse and select the file that is opened with blank content.
Step 3: Click the drop-down arrow next to Open, and choose Open and Repair option. After that, Microsoft Word will detect and repair the issues on your files automatically.
If the Word document is corrupted or damaged, you cannot open it or shows the blank content when opened. In such situation, you can use the professional Word document repair software to restore the content. iSunshare XRepair Genius enables you to fix any corrupted Word/Excel/PowerPoint file with ease.
Step 1: Download and install XRepair Genius on your computer. Launch the software and choose File Repair > Add File to repair the Word document.
Step 2: To repair several documents at the same time, you can click the Repair button in the lower right corner. If you want to repair only a single file, just go to the target file and click Repair.
Step 3: You can click the save icon to save each file or click the Save button on the bottom right corner to save all files. After that, just go to the destination folder to open the Word document to view the content.
If there are corruptions in the Word registry entries, your Word content will disappear when opened. In such situation, you can try to delete the Word Data registry subkey. In this way, the Word will rebuild the settings after it restarts.
Step 1: Open Registry Editor on your computer.
Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office. Then choose the current version and expand the Word folder.
Step 3: Find the Data folder and right-click it. You can see the drop-down menu now. Select the Delete option to remove the registry entries from your computer.
Step 4: Shut down the registry editor and run your Microsoft Word again.
Q1. Can a Word file be corrupted but still open?
Yes, it might be opened but display no content or prompt strange behavior. You can use the built-in Open and Repair feature to repair it. Or choose the file repair tool, such as iSunshare XRepair Genius to fix it.
Q2. How do I fix a Word document that shows no text?
You can follow the above solutions to fix the Word document.
Q3. My Word document shows blank when opened on Mac, how to fix?
You can fix this issue with the following method: the built-in feature--Recover Text from Any File; save the Word document in Rich Text Document format; or choose the third-party tool to repair it.
A Word document opening blank doesn’t always mean your content is lost. Often, it’s a display or formatting issue that can be resolved by changing settings or recovering the text. If the file is severely damaged, try using Word’s repair tools or iSunshare XRepair Genius as a workaround.
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