Some files, mostly WORD docx, unable to open -- files corrupted?

Deverell
I compiled a big Zotero library a decade ago while on leave, researching a new project. I am ready to get to these now. The citations/biblio data has held up. But a number of the docx files are unopenable, with a corrupted message. A few PDFs as well. Any suggestions about how to retrieve these? I am not a sophisticated user of Zotero, but it seems to me that the files are there, I just can't get at them. Thanks for any help anyone can offer; really grateful.
  • adamsmith
    Generally Zotero doesn't do anything with attached files other than storing them. What's the error message you're getting, exactly?
  • Deverell
    Thanks -- on attempting to open a .docx file, I get a "we found a problem with its contents" note and then a "Word found unreadable contents" follow-up message
  • dstillman
    This is likely due to local file corruption, not anything related to Zotero. If these files have been synced to your online library, you could try deleting them locally (right-click → Show File) and then double-clicking them in Zotero to redownload the originals.
  • adamsmith
    Also completely unrelated to Zotero, but if you have a newer Word version, this is at least worth a try with the .docx files:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/open-a-document-after-a-file-corruption-error-47df9d48-2165-4411-a699-1786ac734bc3
  • Deverell
    I want to thank you all. It turns out that it was an easy fix. For whatever reason, Zotero began to compile some of the files with an underscore in the prefix of the title, as a kind of pointer, I guess. The real file appears to be just elsewhere in my library and can be discovered -- and opened! -- without trouble. i really appreciate the collegial offers of ideas and techniques.
  • dstillman
    I’m not sure what you mean by that, but that’s not something Zotero would’ve done.
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