As a MS Word user you might have come across this error message at some point of time or the other. The contradictory vibes contained in this error message might confuse a beginner and in some cases, even a person who is an old hand in the trade.

In reality it does reflect an apparent difference that exists between the two spaces, one being the RAM which serves as a platform for running other programs on it and storing files that are subjected to editing and the other being the computer’s primary storage device like hard drives where the saved data is permanently stored for future references.

This particular message can get reflected in many ways and the jargons used to express it might differ but the basic crux and the manifestations that follow suit remains the same.

Provided below are a few variants of the given message which are most likely to appear when you attempt to open a Word document in Word 2003 or in Office 2003 program:-

• Word failed reading from this file (). Please restore the network connection or replace the floppy disk and retry.

• Do you want to save the changes you made to filename?

• filename is read-only. Do you want to save changes to a different file name? (Here filename refers to the name of the Office file)

• Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Try these suggestions.

• Check the file permissions for the document or drive.

• Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space.

• Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.

One possible reason that causes this error to appear in Office 2003 is a changed bit in the file record that describes the empty "complex" properties that get introduced into the file when a Word 2003 file is opened in an earlier version of Office. By rule, the earlier version of Office ignores this bit value but when this bit value is detected in Office 2003, the errors are generated.

The symptoms that accompany this error message are as follows:-

• Corruption in the given document

• The document refuses to open completely

• The content in the document go missing

• Other complex error messages pop up

The best way to deal with this error message is to do as it instructs. It might seem weird to you but saving the open file immediately and storing it on the computer’s hard drive or on some other storage device is the only thing that can save your data from deletion and loss. The next thing that should be attempted upon is shutting down as many programs as possible that are running in the background as they may be instrumental in consuming the RAM that could be allocated to the given file that is in question.

If you feel that the given file is too large to fit within your computer’s RAM and its insufficient memory that’s causing this error consider adding more memory to your RAM by adding chips or replacing the existing modules with higher-capacity ones.

If this problem has not yet lead to a data loss scenario or a gross file corruption and you are still in control of the situation, try opting for Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1. If you choose to download and install the update, review your decision carefully as the update cannot be removed once installed. To revert to an installation before the update was installed, you would be required to remove Office 2003, and then install it again from the original CD-ROM.

If you are suffering from an ensuing data loss situation due to gross file corruption which has rendered all the important data stacked in the given MS Word document defunct, rely on Stellar Information Systems Ltd, a pioneer data recovery software company specializing in word recovery for assistance.

Stellar has devised innovative software Stellar Phoenix Word Recovery and data recovery services which effectively repairs and recovers lost/missing data from corrupt and damaged Word documents. The technologically sound and advanced algorithms extract as much recoverable data as possible from the defective Word documents and provides optimum repair and restoration without deleting or modifying the original data or the original format of the document.

The software supports all modern file versions, including Word 2003, XP (2002) and 2000 and can efficiently retrieve data from RTF (rich text format). It is compatible with Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista and the user-friendly interface can lessen the onslaught of the ordeal to a considerable extent.

The demo version of the software would enable you to gauge the performance and recovering capacity of the software besides providing you with a log report that would help you in viewing the number of recoverable files and their status.