An MS Word document is simply more than what you comprehend. It can be referred as a compound file. It comprises of four basic parts, viz. embedded objects, content, header, and summary. To work flawlessly, MS Word requires all these objects to perform efficiently.
While opening, MS Word checks the file format, which may be .doc, .docx, rtf, .txt etc. However, when the format is incorrect, MS word attempts to convert it to a form that can be read and understood.
After recognizing format or after converting it, Word moves to craft the Word object model. The data present in the document forms its basis. All objects like sections, paragraphs, and fields that are later used to perform some operations like printing, viewing etc, are made a part of the document. Though, conversion of the format is not possible in every case. This is because sometimes a document doesn’t open owing to corruption.
Corruption in the Word document can occur due to several reasons such as Macro virus, Invalid digital signature issue or Invalid Macro. Missing or partial data streams, header corruption are some other certain problems that may halt the working of a Word document. But again, the most common reason of corruption could be the bug in application itself which restricts content storage in the document, as a result of which it may fail to get opened correctly.
There is also a problem, what we call as round-tripping that may corrupt the document. It happens with the repetitive conversion of document in and out of Word formats. In some such situations, the data is converted in such a way that its tolerance level degrades and results into corruption. At this point of time, your document requires word repair.
The document corrupted in any of the above mentioned cases can be retrieved by using Word recovery software. The process of Word Recovery is done with exceptional care so that all your data can be recovered from the corrupted Word document.