Repairing WordPerfect® documents using WPLOOK

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WPLOOK is an utility included in the WordPerfect® Software Developer Kit which can help you strip out unused styles and corruption from a document.


Launch Wplook, ensure all repair options are selected, open the file and click repair.

  1. For WordPerfect X6 and higher, WPLOOK is included without needing a download. Here's how to open it:
    1. In WordPerfect, click Help, About WordPerfect
    2. While holding Ctrl + Shift, click System Info
  2. For WordPerfect X5 and earlier, follow these steps to download and run WPLOOK:
    1. Download the WPLOOK file utility by clicking the following link:
      Click here to download WPLOOK.EXE
    2. Save the file to a location you can easily find, for example the desktop.
    3. Once downloaded, double-click on the file (wplook.exe), this will launch the utility.
  3. Select the Repair Document tab, this should be the default tab anyway.
  4. Make sure that in the Repair section (top right), all 3 check boxes are selected.
  5. From the menu, click File, Open and navigate to the file.
  6. Select the file, and click the Open button.
  7. Once the file is open, then click the Repair button to begin the process of repairing.
  8. You will be present with a Save As dialog box prompting you that the document exists and would you like to replace it. Select the Yes option. At this point, the extra formatting codes should be removed and the document should be repaired. Sometimes these steps have to be repeated a second time to completely repair a WordPerfect document. Depending on the extent of the file corruption it is possible that WPLook may not be able to repair some files.

To see this feature in action, click here (365 kb). Requires Windows Media Player 9.

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