ONE Word file is stuck in draft mode. It can't be the normal.dotx file because it's not affecting other files. Starting in safe mode doesn't change a thing. All the tricks I've read on various forums about changing the columns etc don't do anything. I even tried checking the option to allow opens in draft, so that I could then uncheck it (since it was opening in draft even when that open was not checked). Nothing works.

I read in another forum that the only solution is to select the entire contents of the document and save it to Notepad, so that it is txt. Then just start over. I have quite a bit of formatting and I'd rather not, but I guess it won't kill me.

Any better ideas?

I currently have the same issue.  Your suggestion does not work as it is stuck in Draft Mode and you cannot select Print Layout View.  Any other suggestions?  Thank you for

I'm having the same problem with a doc using word 2007.. a coworker edited it using word 2010 and sent it to me and another cooworker using word 2007.. for both of us, the file seems to be stuck in draft mode.

Alt V, P doesn't change it out of draft mode.

Because of this, all the images in the doc are NOT visible.

note: we seem to have gotten around this by having the 2010 machine save the file as a .doc file (instead of .docx) file

• Edited by TMazzotta Tuesday, July 30, 2013 10:59 PM

I'm having the same problem with a doc using word 2007.. a coworker edited it using word 2010 and sent it to me and another cooworker using word 2007.. for both of us, the file seems to be stuck in draft mode.

Alt V, P doesn't change it out of draft mode.

Because of this, all the images in the doc are NOT visible.

note: we seem to have gotten around this by having the 2010 machine save the file as a .doc file (instead of .docx

I'm having this problem too. I use Word 2013. I'm tracking changes on this document, so cutting and pasting is not an option.

And yes, I HAVE tried clicking on "View tab | Print Layout". Obviously, that was the first thing I tried. I tried it many times. I tried closing the file, reopening it, and clicking "View tab | Print Layout". I tried redownloading the file, opening it, and clicking "View tab | Print Layout". I tried having the file resent, both as .docx and .doc,, opening it, and clicking "View tab | Print Layout".

It's not in protected view.

Nothing has worked. Please let me know how to fix this.

When a command doesn't work, or when it does something it usually doesn't, you should check for a macro that intercepts the command. Such macros may be in the Normal template or in an add-in. In this case, the name of such a macro would be ViewPage.

It is a bit strange that only one document is affected, obviously. If you like to share it with the forum, for example by posting it to SkyDrive and linking to it here, I'd be interested in taking a look.

There are no macros running; I checked that. The file is a private, proprietary document, so I'm not linking to it.

I spent 90 minutes with MS tech support today, 60 of those with them remotely logged into my computer. All they did was click random buttons and tell me repeatedly they were "checking resources." I am extremely frustrated that there isn't a known solution for this, as it seems to be a problem that others are having as well.

Thank you for your prompt response. However, it seems that I'm better off just trying to figure it out myself, as Microsoft seems to be baffled by this problem and unable to help.

Since this is document-specific, troubleshooting is going to be very difficult without looking at a document that exhibits the problem.

Could you make a copy of the document and replace the content with nonsense? Obviously, no one here needs to see the actual content.

Hi, My 32 page picture document has just started giving that issue as well. The pictures are all invisible and the document was stuck in draft mode. I followed the instruction to edit the doc and reopen it to get it out of draft mode however, my images are still all invisible (over 100 images) with exception to the image on the first page. The page count is now showing 2 pages and I cannot scroll beyond the first page anymore. I also tried changing the format from docx to doc. I am using Microsoft 2010.

I also have the document in PDF. I used CutePDF to create a PDF version of the document yesterday. If the original word document cannot be restored at lease can the pdf version be converted back into a word document? I don't have  a software that can convert back to word.

I have uploaded both the DOCX and PDF versions of the document to my skydrive. Its a picture project about races and cultures around the world.

Link to DOCX: http://sdrv.ms/H72lDS

Link to PDF: http://sdrv.ms/H72ZBm

This has nothing to do with Draft view. Your document is corrupt. You can try recovering it as discussed in the KB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918429/en-us/.

However, you may have more luck re-converting the PDF into Word format. You need a full version of a PDF creator/editor such as Adobe Acrobat. You could also try one of those free online converters, but your document may be too large for the online converters. If it is, you can break it up into smaller documents using freeware converters.

It's more likely that (what appeared to be) Draft view was just a symptom of the corruption, unless of course you have seen this with other documents as well, in which case you should troubleshoot poorly designed add-ins again.

Anyway, have you had any luck recreating the document? What have you tried so far?

Hi,

I've been having an identical issue with one document, and had tried many things proposed in this thread, including copying content to a brand new document.  In the end I saved it as a Word 97-2003 doc and this fixed the issue.  It converted some shapes to 2003 compatible ones, maybe these were the cause of the corruption.

• Proposed as answer by Keiren Wednesday, May 07, 2014 12:14 AM

I was frustrated too,, then had a brainwave! I clicked on the 'Office Button' top far left big round button - selected 'word options' right at the bottom under recent documents' , then selected 'display' and un-ticked show all formatting and maybe something else... but anyway..it all went back to normal! what

It, sometimes, happens when the document includes comments.
Deleting ALL(!) comments should allow switching to Print Layout View
Michael (Micky) Avidan
Microsoft Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
Microsoft MVP Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL

I had the same problem. Three hours later I found a solution that works for me. I went into File - Options -Advanced -Under "Show Document Content" I unticked both "Show Picture Place Holders" and "Show Text Boundries" 

I don't know if this is a permanent solution but I allows me to edit my doc in print view the way I like to. 

Hope this helps

Jay 

I had the same problem. Three hours later I found a solution that works for me. I went into File - Options -Advanced -Under "Show Document Content" I unticked both "Show Picture Place Holders" and "Show Text Boundries" 

I don't know if this is a permanent solution but I allows me to edit my doc in print view the way I like to. 

For more on problems that involve missing images in Print Layout view, see http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/InvisibleGraphics.htm.