Microsoft Word file and the "select the encoding that makes your document readable" proble

What should I do when the "select the encoding that makes your document readable" box appears when I attempt to open a Microsoft Word file saved on my PC?

I need to be able to retrieve the information saved in the file!

Microsoft Word file and the "select the encoding that makes your document readable" problem!?windows

This usually happens when you are opening a file that is not a Word file, or one of the files that Word has a converter for.

You simply choose the best looking output sample on screen and then let Word do the conversion. It usually does not do a good job since the file type is so much different than what Word can handle.

But as a last resort it is often the only way to retrieve a really old or odd file.