Opening Word Document in Text Editor Displays Deleted Text

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0x, 6.0x

• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a

SYMPTOMS

If you open a Word for Windows document in a text editor such as Windows Notepad, the file may contain text that was previously deleted.

CAUSE

By design, when you save a document with the Allow Fast Saves option selected, Word records only the changes to the document and appends them to the end of the document. This means your document still contains the deleted text, even though it does not display on the screen. Word removes deleted text from your document only when you perform a full save. (To display the Allow Fast Saves option, choose Options from the Tools menu and select the Save tab.)

Word always performs a full save when the Allow Fast Saves option is turned off. In addition, even with the Allow Fast Saves option turned on, Word periodically performs a full save of your document.

The Allow Fast Saves option provides greater operating speed while you work in Word. It takes less time to append changes (fast save) than to incorporate them in your document (full save).

WORKAROUND

Method 1: If you do not want your document to contain any deleted text that

          someone could view using a text editor, be sure to perform a full
          save operation. To do this, clear the Allow Fast Saves option in
          the Tools Options dialog box under the Save tab, then save your
          document. When you do this, Word incorporates all the changes,
          which includes removing deleted text.

          When all final revisions are completed, select the entire
          document and choose Copy from the Edit menu. Start a new document
          and choose Paste from the Edit menu to copy the original document
          into a new document that will contain no previous edits.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, pages 714-715