Damaged Document ? Microsoft word file suddenly lost formatting or has wierd characters?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;893672

Try the open and repair option. It’s not 100% , but 6/10 times, it’ll correct a problem that wasn’t “user error”.

To open a specific document by using the Open and Repair feature in Word, follow these steps:1. Start Word.
2. On the File menu, click Open.
3. In the Open dialog box, click to select the file that you want to open.
4. Click the down arrow on the Open button, and then click Open and Repair.