Word Web App can't open a document (corruption) but Word Desktop can

Hi,

My team and I are currently working on integrating a custom WOPI-Host and everything is going pretty good.  While testing out different documents that will be used in the system to see the supported features and the reaction of Word Web App we found a document that is problematic.

First things first, we took a document that was in Word 97-2003 version (.doc) and converted it in Word Documents (.docx).  We had to actually use the Word Desktop Convert functionality because using "Save As" wouldn't work.  We found out that the document had Custom XML Data which was the reason that the "Save As" didn't work.  So we did 2 version of the document in docx version.  One that kept the Custom XML Data and one that didn't have it.

Now when we try to open the documents in the Word Web App, both trigger the same error: "Sorry, Word Web App can't edit this document because it appears to be corrupt.".  What I don't really understand is that I can open them in the Desktop version of Word without any problems.  Also, if it was simply the Custom XML Data that would prevent Word Web App to open the document, how come the version of the document without these Custom XML Data is still considered corrupted by the Word Web App.

If needed, I can send the documents in question (probably by email since I don't see an option to attach them to this question).

Thanks,

Patrick Racicot

August 6th, 2014 2:20pm

Hi,

I understand you can't open the Word documents from Word Web App, but may I know how you converted them? What is that "Word Desktop Convert functionality"? Would you please detail the steps of the conversation?

When you try the "Save As" method, any prompt or error? Can you keep saving just ignoring the error?

Before the conversation, I suggest you try removing the hyperlinks in the original .doc document, then convert the document to .docx format, check if then it can be opened from the Word Web App.

Feel free to post back to provide more information.

Thanks,

Melon Chen

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August 7th, 2014 3:02am

Hi,

1) The convert functionnality is in the File tab.  It's the button on the left of the Compatibility Mode

2) For the steps of the conversion, I basicly click on Convert, then I "Save As" docx

3) If I try the "Save As" before doing any conversion, I get an error saying that word cannot save the document in a macro-free document since their is a VBA Project.  Whats weird is if I got in the VBA Project viewer of the document, their is actually no macros coded and if I go in the document macros panel, their is no macro.

3.1) Yes I can ignore the message that is prompt, but if I do that, the document will be corrupted and that even for the desktop version of Word.

4) I tried what you said (removing the hyperlinks inside the document before saving in docx) and now the document can be opened in Word Web App.  But why is that? I have multiple other documents with hyperlinks in them that don't have that problem.

------------------------------------------

I have made further investigation and I found the problem that is making the Word Web App crash.  In our documents we have hyperlinks that are written like this doc://document.extension!section!section or media://mediaName.extension.  When I open a document that contains either of those hyperlinks in the Word Web App, the app tell me that it cannot open the document because it might be corrupted.  Is their a workaround for this issue


Thanks,

Patrick Racicot


August 7th, 2014 12:44pm

Hi,

As far as I can tell, Word web app does not support relative links because it is blocked due to the whitelist and usage of JavaScript. The workaround is to update the Document with absolute links or open the document in Word Client. That's why we say it is a known behaviour that you can't open the file in Word Web App. This is by design.

Regards,

Melon Chen

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August 15th, 2014 7:47am
I've opened many a word and excel document that had "broken links".  Why can't Word Online just treat the link as "unresolvable"?  If you click on it, it says, this is not allowed in the "online version"?
June 25th, 2015 7:38am

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