Word 2003 won't open document created in a previous version

[Guest]

My husband's laptop has Office 2003 on it. Since the newest update he has
been unable to open a document that was attached to an email. He can open it
on his desktop that has Office XP on it but not on his laptop. I have tried
saving the document before opening it, but that doesn't seem to solve the
problem either.

The error message says the following:
You are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of
Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by
your registry policy setting.

I have no idea how to solve this one as we have not had this problem until
recently.

Thanks

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=922849 "You receive an error
message when you try to open or to save a file type that was blocked by
your registry policy settings in Word 2007 or in Word 2003".

 

[Guest]

Well, I read the article and there is no way I will mess with my registry.

If I understand what this article is telling me, it sounds like someone
would have had to block the opening of this file type in Word 2003. Or did
something change when they did the 2003 Service Pack 3 recently? I'm not at
all happy with what has happened, if that is the case.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

SP3 for Office 2003 blocked certain older file types.

 

[Guest]

Thank you so much for answering this.

I figured that was probably the problem and I am not a bit pleased with the
fact that this Service Pack broke something that was working very well
before. I hope there are enough complaints that the ability to open older
files will be restored without the customer having to resort to modifying
their registry file.

Thanks

 

[Graham Mayor]

Why the irrational fear of editing the registry? All you would be doing is
following a set of clear instructions to add an extra line of command to
what is essentially a large ini file - how hard can that be?

The chances of Microsoft changing their policy related to potential security
issues are slim to nil. They have suffered far too much flak from those who
complained that they paid scant attention to security in the past. So,
either you edit the registry or you don't open the file.

The alternative is to roll back Windows to before the time you added the
service pack - but that has other security implications. So take your pick
which you prefer.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Guest]

Doesn't seem so "irrational" to me when there are multiple dire warnings in
the article not to mess with the registry unless you know how to fix it once
it is broke. I don't, so I won't mess with it. Seems like that is a fairly
wise decision on my part.

Didn't ask you for your opinion and don't appreciate your nasty response.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Shooting the messenger is not going to solve your problem, so get over
yourself! There was nothing nasty about my response. If you don't want
opinions, don't ask for help in a public forum!

The answer to your question as provided by Microsoft is to make a minor edit
to the registry for which explicit instructions are provided. Every time you
use software or install a new application entries will made made or changed
in the registry. All you are doing here is making a similar edit manually.
If you don't want to do that I have provided an alternative that should work
without any requirement to manually edit the registry - though the registry
edit is safer.

As with any advice, you can choose to use it or ignore it as you wish.

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

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Maximilian Upredux]

Doesn't seem so "irrational" to me when there are multiple dire warnings in
the article not to mess with the registry unless you know how to fix it once
it is broke. I don't, so I won't mess with it. Seems like that is a fairly
wise decision on my part.

Didn't ask you for your opinion and don't appreciate your nasty response.









- Show quoted text -

I agree with you. In my case I have an office of 25 people who have
created tens of thousands of documents that have to be referred to
years after creation. While editing the registry as outlined in the
KB article works, it is not practical to move a document to an
unrestricted folder each time it is needed. Also, many of our files
have been zipped for archiving and maintaining some order that we can
not now just double-click on the zip file, locate the doc and double-
click on it to open. No, have to unzip it and save it to an
unrestricted folder each time. The other knowledge base articles
about this problem do not work because the registry entries do not
exist as claimed or the administrators template something makes no
sense to me and I am afraid to screw everything up. I am very ticked
which I am sure a lot of other people will be when they run across
this. One work around I found today was a use for Open Office writer
I have installed to test out. It has no problem opening up the older
files Word will not open allowing me to save it so Word will open it.
This is OOO version 2.3.