.docx failures

[Tom B]

I have both MS Word 2002 SP3 and MS Office Publisher 2003 on my system, which
runs under XP-Pro.

Neither will open .docx files sent by others.

MS Word sends me an error message that says "This is a pre-release version
of the Compatibility pack and can open pre-release Office 2007 files only. Do
you want to check for a newer version of the Compatibility Pack?"

Following that provides an endless loop of instructions that fail, starting
here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en

Attempting to open the .docx file with MS Office Publisher 2003 results in
an error message "There is not enough memory to convert the text formatting.
Windows is low on memory. Save your work and close other programs to free up
memory, and then try again." This is another endless loop of instructions
that fail. The machine reports 2.96 Gig of ram. That should be enough. MS
Office Publisher 2003 will not proceed further.

Others seem to be using these programs to open .docx files, but with endless
loops of the above I am unable to do it. What went wrong?

 

[Mary Sauer]

Did you download the Service Pack for the compatibility pack?
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...c5-49c6-47bd-8bec-0d68693ca564&DisplayLang=en

 

[Tom B]

No, since the instructions I was sent directed me elsewhere. Thank you.
I'll try this and report the results.