"Cannot find central directory"

Question

I am trying to translate a single word document from Japanese to English using SDL Trados Studio 2017 Freelance. After the stage of selecting the TM I wish to use, I get the error message "Cannot find central directory". Copying the content of the original file into a new Word document does not help. 
 For reference, the document contains footnotes, which almost always causes me problems, although I have never seen this error message before. 
 I suspect I could solve this issue by deleting the footnotes, translating the document, then adding them again manually, but I would really rather solve this issue more elegantly and efficiently.

Oana Nagy · Accepted Answer

Hello Rowan White , 
 What happens if you import a different word file? Can you do this without problem? 
 If s, then it might be a case that the word file has been incorrectly saved and is a .doc rather than a .docx file. 
 Try re-saving the file on your system and at the same time rename the file to something maybe shorter and simpler. 
 Should you still have issues, could you maybe share the file with me? swhale@sdl.com or maybe ask the client for a new version as if you are unable to load the file at this stage, it could suggest that it is corrupted.

Oana Nagy · Answer

Hello Rowan White , 
 
The first thing I would suggest doing, is to open the file in single file translation mode and then immediately 'save target as'- 
This simple test will normally identify any issues in the original source file. 
If can 'save target as' then copy the original file and rename and save it on your machine and then attempt to create a new project. 
 
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"Cannot find central directory"