When Word crashes, it often trashes your document. But when Word restarts, the Microsoft Office Application Recovery feature may offer you a replacement document. If it does, check the file carefully and save it under a different name. If it doesn’t, use Windows Explorer to make a backup copy of the damaged file; then switch to Word and open the original damaged document, but click the Open button’s drop-down arrow and select Open and Repair. Word will try to fi x the file. No good? If you’ve set up Word to make backup copies, look for your fi le with a .wbk extension tacked on; most of your data may still be there. If not, open the damaged document with WordPad and collect as much usable material as you can.