When you open a document in WordPad in Windows 10 and you see a set of strange symbols, that is, inconsistent text, this is probably due to corrupted WordPad settings. In this article, we will show you that you can repair WordPad when it does not display the appropriate text or opens with strange symbols.
WordPad does not display text or opens with strange symbols
When WordPad does not open correctly or displays unreadable text, follow these tips to fix it:
- Reset the Wordpad settings to the default.
- Use SFC to repair corrupt system files
- Do you open an unsupported file format?
- Does the document use a different font?
You can use these tips without following the order, but be sure to check the file format and the font to make sure.
1) Reset the WordPad settings
The best way is to reset the WordPad settings to the default values in Windows 10. But before you begin, you may want to create a system restore point or back up your registry.
To restore the default settings of Wordpad, close WordPad, and then follow the steps below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Applets Wordpad
- In the left pane you will see The options.
- Right-click and delete this Options key.
When you delete this key, the options saved in the Wordpad configuration will be deleted and the default configuration will be loaded. Now, when you open a file in WordPad, it will work fine.
2) Run SFC
SFC or the System File Checker can solve most system file corruption problems.
- Open the command prompt with administrator privileges.
- Type sfc / scannow and press Enter.
- The SFC utility will run for a period of time and if corruptions are detected, replace them upon reboot.
3) Do you open an unsupported file format in WordPad?
I've seen people open a PDF file in WordPad and complain about it. WordPad supports many formats, but not all. So make sure that you open the supported files, otherwise you will see the text that you can not read. Does your file open in Notepad?
If this is the case, you must identify the file format, and then choose the correct application to open this document. You can still use Universal File Viewer in case of confusion.
Similarly, if you have accidentally changed the default application for this type of file in WordPad, you must change the file association using Windows default applications.
4) Does the document use a different font?
The document may contain a font that is not installed on your computer. When WordPad does not find this font, it substitutes for an available font that does not include the same symbols and characters as those available in the original font.
You may need to find out by asking the person or website about the font used. Install this font on the computer, and then open the document.
We hope that these tips were easy to follow and that you could open text documents in WordPad without any problem.