Error importing Word document
Asked by Rodrigo Aver:

I'm trying import a MS Word document in a space using "Import Word Document" tools of confluence. I've used this feature several times successfully. But now I'm getting the error message below:

"Import failed!

Error importing Word document"

The message does not display any other detail.

Is there any way to verify what the problem really is?


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: What do the log files say is going wrong?

comments: author: Pratik Bhanushali
body: The file I am uploading is a word file. Tried with both **.doc** and **.docx**


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: I don't really know how else to say this.

We need to see the log files. When you get errors like this, they are also writing errors into the log files. We need to see the erros in the logs. Not the errors on screen. Not a repeat of what you've already done. The log. Show us what the log file says.


author: Mary Connor
body: Many of us are using hosting services and have no direct access to our logs. Very frustrating.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: If you're using hosting services, then you'll need to ask the hosts for the logs.

If they're hiding them from you (I know many, including Atlassian Cloud, do, for the sake of simplicity), then they're implicitly taking responsibility if something goes wrong and needs debugging via logs.


author: Rodrigo Aver
body: I use Confluence through Atlassian/Confluence cloud servers. Is there any way to open a Online Support Ticket to report this problem and maybe get this log that you mentioned?


author: Thomas Schlegel
body: Look here:

<https://support.atlassian.com/>


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Ach, Thomas beat me again ;-)

When you raise the request, I would give them the date and time you last had a failed document import - that narrows down where they need to look in the logs.


author: Rodrigo Aver
body: I sent to Atlassioan support a ms word documento that a I'm having problem. I recived a return from support that there a bug about importing word document with many images.

No workaround at this moment.

Here is the bug information:

### <https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-55244> {#toc-hId-1542386048}


author: Sagar Dubewar
body: Thanks Rodrigo for an update.

Have a nice day.


author: Enrique Trigo
body: Facing the same problem, when this will solved ?


author: AnnWorley
body: It will be solved very soon based on the status of the[bug](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-55244)being "awaiting release".


author: Jaime Drysdale
body: And here it is January 2020 and the problem still is not resolved!


author: Shailendra Kulkarni
body: The bug is still as it is! Getting the same error. Has anybody got any resolution?


author: Jaime Drysdale
body: I give up trying to resolve issues in Atlassian products!

Here's a workaround that will save time and frustration:

* Open the word document in word
* Select all
* Copy
* Open up a blank confluence document
* Paste
* You then may need to individually copy and paste the images... but it doesn't take too long

There are literally hundreds of people experiencing issues with importing word documents..

**Clearly Atlassian support has no idea what the problem is**... it's been an issue for three years or more.

"We need the log files" they say... "different things cause the problem"...

So you're telling me that there are hundreds of different issues causing the import of word docs to fail!

Well that in itself clearly indicates that the function is totally screwed.

comments: author: CAEN devops
body: Hi,

I am having the same problem with importing word documents.

I am using the free plan, but it seems there shouldn't be this limitation AFAYK.

It's really impressive how nobody cares to address this issue.

Is there any Jira issue set in Atlassian to fix this?

Sorry for being so direct.

Luca


author: Garry Burns
body: Wow Atlassian, fantastic support of a 'built-in' feature. Not even a plug-in.

comments: author: Patrick Leal
body: I am getting the same error when I try to import a Word .docx file using the built-in Confluence Cloud Import feature when creating a new page:
>
> #### We ran into issues because the file may the wrong type, password protected, or read-only. {#toc-hId--543475922}
>
The .docx file I am uploading is:

* the correct type (.docx);
* not password-protected;
* not read-only.

From my experience, these inquiries will lead to a dead-end, which will eventually lead them to nudge you towards a plug-in, which more often than not require payment, which Atlassian gets a cut of in the end.

You have to, of course, give the business side of this arrangement a lot of respect. It's pure (evil) genius.


author: Mallory Gore
body: Was this ever resolved? A week ago I had no problems importing a word document to create my confluence doc. Today I can't get any word documents uploaded.

![Annotation 2019-12-09 144627.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/75672i476961AC986A0CBA/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Annotation 2019-12-09 144627.png")

comments: author: Daryl Revell
body: Just be aware that if you use the split options that all the headings you are splitting on are unique names for your space.

I had a similar issue recently and when trying to split based on the headings it gave me this error and I needed to go through the word document and give each Heading a unique name before it would load successfully.


author: AnnWorley
body: I think Nic is suggesting that those who experience this issue should check the \<Confluence_Home\>/logs/atlassian-confluence.log to see what the error messages are. There may be different issues "under the hood" for the same result in the browser.

comments: author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Yes, sorry, I should have been more clear. We need the full error messages.


author: Pratik Bhanushali
body: Ann / Nic,

Thanks for an immediate response. We use confluence through URL. The solution you gave is something when you have confluence server downloaded on your system.

Similar issues have been reported by other users. I tried uploading the file on Mac, Windows and on all the browsers.  

Attaching the screenshot again. I hope this helps![Screen Shot 2017-05-30 at 3.50.23 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1701i0A1EBB569D5B5B18/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2017-05-30 at 3.50.23 PM.png")


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Everyone uses it on a url. You need to go on to the server, find the log file and tell us what it says when the upload fails.


author: Riina Sepp?nen
body: I had the same problem but managed to solve it by saving the Word document in format Strict open XML file (\*.docx) and then it worked.


author: Pratik Bhanushali
body: I am getting the same error

comments: author: Anita Tham
body: Try saving the Word document (docx) to older version (doc) and it will work.


author: Shailendra Kulkarni
body: No, it doesn't work.


author: Sagar Dubewar
body: Getting the same error.![Confluence.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1660i6B37E8CE62FC3897/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Confluence.png")


author: Patricia Ramos
body: I have the same problem.