FlowiseAI/Flowise · error · Error

Failed to parse Word file: ${error instanceof Error ? error.

Error message

Failed to parse Word file: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'}

What it means

Thrown by WordLoader.parse when officeparser's parseOfficeAsync rejects while extracting text from a Word Buffer. Same shape as the PowerPoint loader: message surfaces officeparser's error text. Original stack is not chained.

Source

Thrown at packages/components/nodes/documentloaders/MicrosoftWord/WordLoader.ts:57

                // Split content by common page/section separators
                const sections = this.splitIntoSections(data)

                sections.forEach((sectionContent, index) => {
                    if (sectionContent.trim()) {
                        result.push({
                            pageContent: sectionContent.trim(),
                            metadata: {
                                documentType: 'word',
                                pageNumber: index + 1,
                                ...metadata
                            }
                        })
                    }
                })
            }
        } catch (error) {
            console.error('Error parsing Word file:', error)
            throw new Error(`Failed to parse Word file: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'}`)
        }

        return result
    }

    /**
     * Split content into sections based on common patterns
     * This is a heuristic approach since officeparser returns plain text
     */
    private splitIntoSections(content: string): string[] {
        // Try to split by common section patterns
        const sectionPatterns = [
            /\n\s*Page\s+\d+/gi,
            /\n\s*Section\s+\d+/gi,
            /\n\s*Chapter\s+\d+/gi,
            /\n\s*\d+\.\s+/gi, // Numbered sections like "1. ", "2. "
            /\n\s*[A-Z][A-Z\s]{2,}\n/g, // ALL CAPS headings
            /\n\s*_{5,}/g, // Long underscores as separators

View on GitHub (pinned to abe4a8601a)

Solutions

1. Confirm the file opens in Word/LibreOffice and is a supported format.
2. Re-upload to rule out truncation.
3. Remove document password protection.
4. Update officeparser.
5. Preserve cause on re-throw.

Example fix

// before
throw new Error(`Failed to parse Word file: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'}`)
// after
if (!raw || raw.length === 0) throw new Error('Word file is empty')
throw new Error('Failed to parse Word file', { cause: error })

function looksLikeOffice(buf) {
  if (!buf || buf.length < 4) return false
  return buf[0] === 0x50 && buf[1] === 0x4b && (buf[2] === 0x03 || buf[2] === 0x05 || buf[2] === 0x07)
}
if (!looksLikeOffice(raw)) throw new Error('File is not a valid Office (ZIP-based) document')

function isNonEmptyBuffer(b) { return Buffer.isBuffer(b) && b.length > 0 }

try {
  return await wordLoader.parse(raw, metadata)
} catch (e) {
  if (/Failed to parse Word file/.test(e.message)) {
    throw new Error('Word file could not be parsed — verify it is a valid, unencrypted .docx', { cause: e })
  }
  throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: File is not a valid .doc/.docx (renamed extension); file is corrupt or truncated; password-protected/encrypted document; officeparser cannot handle legacy binary .doc in the installed version; empty Buffer.

Common situations: Renamed-file uploads; interrupted uploads producing partial files; encrypted documents; old binary .doc format; very large documents timing out.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• Failed to parse PowerPoint file: ${error instanceof Error ?

AI-assisted analysis of FlowiseAI/Flowise@abe4a8601a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d3c6650ca0ce1591. Report an issue: GitHub.