Chinese (?) text

jgltx · May 4, 2024

A bunch of my documants has been converted to Chinese text. This something I may have done accidentally. Could this be related to docx?
Can I convert them back to English?

garlin · May 4, 2024

Are you trying to read a Word .docx file using Notepad? Word files are saved in binary format, and unintelligible in Notepad.
Try using WordPad instead.

Kees · May 4, 2024

garlin said:
Word files are saved in binary format, ...

That is not completely correct.

docx files are XML files that are compressed by a process like the process to make a zip file.
If you change the extension of a .docx file to .zip, you can then uncompress it (in Windows), the result is this structure:

The folder _rels has this file:

The folder docProps:

The folder word:

This is for a simple file, only consisting of text, no pictures or other stuff.
All are xml files, even the file that has the extension .rels.

But indeed, it is not possible to read the (zipped) .docx into a Notepad without first decompressing it!
You get all kinds of strange characters, that it looks like Chinese is just coincidence.

PS. If you have saved them using Notepad, chances are that you can't convert them back.

garlin · May 4, 2024

.docx's zip archive isn't a binary format? :what:

Kees · May 4, 2024

Yes of course it is, but that it really is a zipped file makes a world of difference.

Wisewiz · May 4, 2024

@jgltx

Just so you'll know, your shot is not Chinese. A person literate in Chinese would no more be able to read that page than you are.

Dan (尉丹)

jgltx · May 5, 2024

Thanks for the responses, much of which is over my head. Can anyone give me step one, step two, step three instructions so I don't make things worse?
I tried to open one document with NotePad with no luck. I tried with WordPad. No luck. A popup said it is protected by Rights Management. I looked up Rights Management: Information Rights Management (IRM) helps you prevent sensitive information from being printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorized people. The permissions are stored in the document where they are authenticated by an IRM server.
I read the instructions and to give myself rights/permission seems to take a long, involved process for each document.
Do you think that there might be a service in Houston I could pay to sort this out?
JGLTX

Kees · May 5, 2024

The only way to open such a file correctly is in a wordprocessing program like MS-Word or LibreOffice Writer.
You might try that in the hope, the file was not beeing corrupted from openening and saving in either Notepad or Wordpad.

The file will not have been corrupted if you only opened it in one of those programs and did not save it at all, but a CTRL S is easily done...
So you could install such a wordprocessing app (LibreOffice and OpenOffice are free to be used) and try what happens.

jgltx said:
Do you think that there might be a service in Houston I could pay to sort this out?

I think you should ask them, while making an exact description of how you handled the file(s).
Every step you still use on the file(s) will make it worse, so please use a copy of the file to try something, not the original one(s).

BTW. Did you not make any baclup of the file(s) before trying to open in Notepad/Wordpad?