transfering from Mac to PC Word--extension problems

[Guest]

I'm trying to update some word documents I copied from the old mac to new pc
in my office. I can open them & they open in the correct program (despite
having no extensions); I can edit and save changes (despite having no
extensions). I can't Save-As or copy-n-paste into a new file so that I have
extensions (& then successfully reopen it)! I can't rename to add the
extension & then successfully open it. What's going on???! Any help MUCH
appreciated. I've stumped one IAT consultant already.

Catherine

PS the mac is running Word 11 for Mac; the pc is running Word 2003

 

[CyberTaz]

Is it possible that the files you copied from the Mac are actually template
files (.dot) rather than document files (.doc)? Use Windows Explorer to
navigate to one of them, right-click it & choose Properties, see what it is
described as. If "Type of File:" is indicated as Microsoft Word Template
that's your answer. Templates are to be used for generating new files &
*cannot* be saved as .doc if you open the template file, itself. New
documents based on a template are 'automatically' .doc unless you Save As
some other file type.

If you aren't really interested in the whys & wherefors and haven't deleted
the files from the Mac you can probably work around the issue if you open
the files there and Save As adding the .doc extension. Copy those over to
the PC & see if there is still a problem.

If that isn't the issue post back with any additional info you can supply,
such as what *does* happen if you try to do what you claim you can't do -
specific error messages, Windows version, Mac Word/OS version, etc.

 

[Guest]

No, they weren't templates, but actual docs, which I could open & modify just
fine. Turns out the whole program had a mental breakdown--even if I create a
brand new doc, it won't open w/ the extension & will w/o. The IT guy is
going to reinstall. Thanks anyway.

Catherine

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you open Word documents without an extension from within Word, they will
open normally (though they will not be displayed in Word's Open dialog
unless you have it set to "All Files"), but you can't double-click on them
in Windows to open them in Word because Windows depends on the file
extension to indicate what type of file it is. Are you saying that, even
after you rename a file to add the .doc extension, you can't open them by
double-clicking? If so, you may need to reregister Word; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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