Corrupted file/ changes not saved

[ziolo2310]

Hello,

I need your help.  I saved mpp (I'm using Microsoft Project Standard 2016) under two different names. When opening the first one no changes are visible, when opening the second one it says 'there seems to be a problem with this file that keeps us from opening it'. Both files should have the identical content. Last thing I did was trying to adjust non-working time and show time off in the gantt. I couldn't see any effect on the chart so I saved the file (under two different names, don't know why - probably suspecting sth is going wrong) and now looks like all the work is lost.

Is there any way to open the corrupted file or access version history?

Thanks,

Tom

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@ziolo2310 

If you can open at least one of the files I suggest you save the file as XML. Then re-open the XML file in Project. That often clears corruption. It likely won't recover your edits but at least it will be a "clean" starting point.

For the file that won't open, there are 3rd party utilities that claim to be able to recover corrupt Project files but I have no first hand experience so can't recommend any.

Why did your files go bonkers? It's hard to tell. If you are working on the files over a network it could have been a server glitch. If the file is part of a linked structure (i.e. master/subprojects or resource pool/sharer), those structures are prone to corruption.

John

[#3]

Thanks John for your reply.
I already tried to open the file by the recovery tools but without success. Now I see the file is crazy big ~16MB and after converting to XML and back to MSP it's resized to 1MB.
Cheers, Tom

[#4]

Tom,
You're welcome and thanks for the feedback. So, it sounds like your file had corruption and now it is cleared. Unfortunately you'll have to re-enter your edits but at least you have a starting point.

If I answered your question, please consider marking my response as the answer.
John