Opening docx files in word 2003

Bill Samuel wrote:
> I guess they won't make a Compatibility Pack that will actually work
> because they want to pressure people into buying the 2007 package.
> Bill Samuel

Nonsense! It is not clear what your particular issue is, but aside from the
proviso covered at http://www.gmayor.com/Problems_opening_2007_docs.htm ,
Word XP is quite capable of opening 2007 docx format documents, provided the
converter is installed.

However no version of Word is forward compatible, so any of the new features
introduced in 2007 cannot be accommodated in an older application that has
no ability to deal with them. How well such features are handled by the
converter rather depends on what you have used.

It is also possible that the document is corrupt. Try using open and repair
from the file open dialog.

Word 2007 is also quite capable of saving documents in Word 97-2003 format
and you can set the compatibility options in 2007 for the
document to ensure that new features do not screw up the exchange.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

Hi,

I have the same problem as John. Even if I create a simple docx from Word
2007 (2008 on Mac) with just a couple words in it, it won't open in 2003.
I've installed the converter pack a few times. With the "Confirm conversion
at Open" General option checked, when I open a docx file I get a dialog
letting me choose 2007 docx format, but still just get the simple dialog with
the error "There was an error opening the file." Disabling the "confirm"
option has not helped me like it did for John.

Anyone have any more suggestions?

Cheers,
Michael

"John AR" wrote:

> I also have installed the coverter (several times), but every .docx file I
> attempt to open with Word 2003 produces an error message "There was an error
> opening the file". This is after Word 2003 has displayed the "File Convert"
> dialogue box in which the Word 2007 option is highlighted.
> What else should I do?
> BTW - I get the same error message when I try to open .docx files with the
> Word Viewer utility.
>
> John R
>
> "John" wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > I have office 2003 on my pc. Is it possible to read docx files that people
> > are sending me more and more?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> >
> >

OK, found a recent post with a recent new solution. It works for me:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/2001377

"michael" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have the same problem as John. Even if I create a simple docx from Word
> 2007 (2008 on Mac) with just a couple words in it, it won't open in 2003.
> I've installed the converter pack a few times. With the "Confirm conversion
> at Open" General option checked, when I open a docx file I get a dialog
> letting me choose 2007 docx format, but still just get the simple dialog with
> the error "There was an error opening the file." Disabling the "confirm"
> option has not helped me like it did for John.
>
> Anyone have any more suggestions?
>
> Cheers,
> Michael
>
> "John AR" wrote:
>
> > I also have installed the coverter (several times), but every .docx file I
> > attempt to open with Word 2003 produces an error message "There was an error
> > opening the file". This is after Word 2003 has displayed the "File Convert"
> > dialogue box in which the Word 2007 option is highlighted.
> > What else should I do?
> > BTW - I get the same error message when I try to open .docx files with the
> > Word Viewer utility.
> >
> > John R
> >
> > "John" wrote:
> >
> > > Hi
> > >
> > > I have office 2003 on my pc. Is it possible to read docx files that people
> > > are sending me more and more?
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >

I also struggled with this problem also until I discovered this post on
Experts-Exchange.
(http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Q_22905745.html ).

Basically my McAfee Groupshield Gateway antivirus software was replacing the
thumbnail.wmf file with a warning htm file in the docProps container of the
file. In doiing so the Compatibility Pack software could not locate the wmf
file and failed with the error. Here is an article from Microsoft outlining
the issue I experienced and the reason behind the thumbnail.wmf
file.(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934284)

Here are a couple of McAfee articles
(https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB50572) and
(https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB50856) for
reference.

To open the docx file I:
- renamed it from .docx to .zip
- Extracted the files to a temp directory
- renamed the warning file in the docProps directory to thumbnail.wmf
- Zipped the file again
- Renamed back to .docx
- Now the Compatibility Viewer was able to open the file!!!!

Its worth noting that the trial version and I assume the full copy of Office
2007 was able to handle the missing file - just not the viewer.

In my research I came across these articles which may be of use to others,
but did not help me:
- Having all the patches installed (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924074)
to Office 2003, Compatibility Pack SP2, etc
- References to registering a DLL
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/2001377).


Anyway, I hope this was of use to you... Good luck...

Regards Peter
--
Peter L
Australia


"John AR" wrote:

> I also have installed the coverter (several times), but every .docx file I
> attempt to open with Word 2003 produces an error message "There was an error
> opening the file". This is after Word 2003 has displayed the "File Convert"
> dialogue box in which the Word 2007 option is highlighted.
> What else should I do?
> BTW - I get the same error message when I try to open .docx files with the
> Word Viewer utility.
>
> John R
>
> "John" wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > I have office 2003 on my pc. Is it possible to read docx files that people
> > are sending me more and more?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> >
> >