Microsoft KB Archive/275322

= BUG: You receive a &quot;The document may be in the incorrect format&quot; error message when you try to restore AutoCorrect entries in Word =

Article ID: 275322

Article Last Modified on 1/29/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q275322





SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to restore your AutoCorrect entries by using the AutoCorrect utility, you may receive one or more of the following error messages:

There was an error. The document may be in the incorrect format.

5488 Unable to add because AutoCorrect entry is too long. 

-or-

There was an error. The document may be in the incorrect format.

5484 AutoCorrect entries cannot be blank. 

-or-

There was an error. The document may be in the incorrect format.

5491 AutoCorrect cannot replace text which contains a space character. Please remove the space, or replace it with something else.

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After you click OK, only part of the AutoCorrect entry that you wanted to restore is actually restored.



CAUSE
This problem can occur when the AutoCorrect entry that you want to restore consists of several paragraphs. When the AutoCorrect entry was backed up, the second and remaining paragraphs of the AutoCorrect entry were separated incorrectly in the table structure of the AutoCorrect backup file.

An incorrectly saved AutoCorrect backup file may appear similar to the following example, for an AutoCorrect entry that consists of more than one paragraph.



WORKAROUND
To prevent this problem when you have an AutoCorrect entry that consists of several paragraphs, follow these steps before you restore your AutoCorrect entries:  Open the AutoCorrect backup file in Word. By default, the AutoCorrect backup file is named AutoCorrect Backup Document.doc and is saved in the My Documents folder. However, the location may vary on your system or if you saved the file to a different location (for example, a floppy disk). Find the AutoCorrect entry in the table that is similar to the example in the &quot;Cause&quot; section of this article, and modify the entry so that all of the text is contained within the same table cell, as in the following example.

 After you rearrange the AutoCorrect text into the correct table cell, several blank table rows may remain. Delete these blank table rows. To delete the table rows, follow these steps:  Click into any table cell contained in the blank table row. On the Table menu, point to Select and then click Row.</li> On the Table menu, point to Delete and then click Rows.</li></ol>

Repeat steps a through c for each blank table row that remains in the AutoCorrect backup file.</li></ol>

NOTE: If you do not delete the blank rows, Word displays a 5941 error message similar to the error message listed in the &quot;Symptoms&quot; section of this article when you restore your AutoCorrect backup file.

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STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

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MORE INFORMATION
The AutoCorrect utility creates a document that contains a three-column, multiple-row table to back up AutoCorrect entries. The three columns are titled Name, Value, and RTF.

The Name column contains the name of the entry (for example, abbout).

The Value column contains the actual text that you want (for example, about).

The RTF column contains either a True or a False entry. The only time this column should be True is if the Value is in the Symbol or Wingdings font.

If all of your AutoCorrect entries are in the AutoCorrect Backup Document.doc document but are not in the correct format, the best method to restore the entries is to change the document to conform to the correct format for the utility.

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