MS Word: Can't open file - xml parsing error

Question

I have completed a translation and am trying to save the target file and view it. It won't open and shows this error message: We're sorry. We can't open XXX file because we found a problem with its contents. Details: Xml parsing error. Location: Part:/word/document.xml, Line:2, Column: 3278 
 
 Can anyone help please?

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Ellie, 
 I think three things are worth trying. First make sure you can actually open the original source file in Word? 
 Next, make sure you have entered all the tags correctly in the Studio bilingual file. So run a verification and ensure nothing is missing. If there are missing tags then fix this and try again. 
 If that doesn't help, try opening the source file from scratch as if it was a new job and try to save the target file immediately and open that in Word. If it fails then there is a problem with this file for Studio and you need to try something else. If it works then add your TM and pretranslate the file then try again. 
 If nothing here helps then save the DOC as a DOCX and then pretranslate the DOCX, save the target, open that in Word and downsave it to DOC. You could also try using a different Word filetype? So change the order of th4ese filetypes, or uncheck the docx that is highest in your list, then process the file from the beginning again using this other word filetype: 
 
 Studio will use the first suitable filoetype it comes to normally. So in my case it will use the 2007 - 2016 DOCX filetype. In your case it might be different? The 2007 - 2016 version tends to be more forgiving, but sometimes the older one works better. 
 Regards 
 Paul

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Ellie, 
 
Can I see the source file and maybe your sdlxliff too? It would be good to find out what the problem is in case we need to fix something to handle whatever may be causing the problem in your file. If so you can email them to pfilkin@sdl.com 
 
Regards 
 
Paul

Paul Filkin · Answer

Hi Fernán, 
 
Send me your file and I can take a look. 
 
Thanks 
 
Paul

Luke Hipsher · Answer

Hi Ellie, I have experienced this same issue, and for my situation it was due to extended characters within the footer. Because of this, I see this as being due to MS Word limitations rather than a Studio bug. Here's how I was able to fix it: 1) Unzip the DOCX file. There should be a number of files contained within the DOCX. Inside the 'word' subfolder, you should see a document.xml file. 2) Open document.xml inside a text editor, preferably something like Notepad++. Go to Line: 2, Col: 3278. You can see what Column you are in in the bottom right-hand corner of the interface. This is shown here from Notepad++: 
 3) If there is an extended character at this location, replace it with a non-extended EN character. 4) Zip all files back up and change the extension from .zip to .docx 5) If you have replaced any characters, replace them back to the extended characters in Word. Please let me know if this works. Thank you Luke

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MS Word: Can't open file - xml parsing error