Microsoft KB Archive/61824

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

File Err Msg: Incorrect Datafile Format
Last reviewed: February 21, 1995

Article ID: Q61824

Summary:

When you attempt to open a damaged data file in Microsoft File, an error message appears that states &quot;Incorrect Datafile Format.&quot; This message indicates that a pointer within the data file has been damaged or lost. This pointer identifies a document to Microsoft File as a data file.

One possible way to retrieve the information within the damaged data file is to open the file with Microsoft Word using the Open Any File command (hold down SHIFT and choose Open Any File from the File menu).

Provided the document is readable, Word opens it and displays it on the screen. Unreadable ASCII characters, such as boxes and symbols, will be displayed. Edit the document to remove these characters. Save the edited document as a text file and then try to open it again in File.

To open a text document in Microsoft File, do the following:


 * 1) Create a new data file.
 * 2) Open an existing form or create a new form that contains the same number of fields as the damaged file.
 * 3) Close the form.
 * 4) From the File menu, choose Open Datafile.
 * 5) Select the text file from the documents in the Open dialog box. The text file will merge into the newly created data file document.

More Information:

If the damaged data file is small, it may be less time-consuming to re-create the document in Microsoft File. Significant editing will be required to remove the ASCII characters from the damaged file once it is opened into Microsoft Word. (In one instance, a damaged data file opened in Microsoft Word as 30 pages in length. The document actually contained less that 5 pages of real data; the remaining pages consisted of ASCII characters unrecognized by Word.)