Word viewer 2003 caused file changes - irreversible?

[steve]

Running Windows XP 2001. Prompted to install Word Viewer 2003 with 2007
update when .docx document wouldn't open - but, unhappy with read-only
format, I saved the file in different format and then uninstalled the
programs.

However, all of my word files have now been converted to
"Wordview.Document.8" files which automatically open (or rather fail to) in
Wordpad. Do I have to install Wordviewer again and have no choice over this?
Is there any way to convert all my files back again? Would prefer just to use
Open Office 3.0 but have to select it manually to open files and can't find
any way to make that the default program to open them. System Restore failed
to make any difference.

Any advice much appreciated,

Thanks,

Steve

 

[VanguardLH]

Running Windows XP 2001. Prompted to install Word Viewer 2003 with 2007
update when .docx document wouldn't open - but, unhappy with read-only
format, I saved the file in different format and then uninstalled the
programs.

However, all of my word files have now been converted to
"Wordview.Document.8" files which automatically open (or rather fail to) in
Wordpad. Do I have to install Wordviewer again and have no choice over this?
Is there any way to convert all my files back again? Would prefer just to use
Open Office 3.0 but have to select it manually to open files and can't find
any way to make that the default program to open them. System Restore failed
to make any difference.

..docx is the .doc format supported by MS Word but with the addition of
the .doc file getting zipped into a smaller sized file hence the "x" in
the extension name.

I trialed OpenOffice but don't use it and don't remember if it had .docx
support, but it does have .doc support (except for the Word macro
language). Did you try using WinZip, 7-Zip (free), or another zip
archive utility to decompress the .docx file into a .doc file? I
believe the standard .zip format is used when compressing from .doc to
..docx so you should be able to unzip the .docx file back to a .doc file.
If unzipping doesn't work, there are plenty of converters found just by
doing a Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=+convert +docx +doc

Users of Word 2007 should save to .doc format if they intend to let
users of earlier versions of Word to read their files. Microsoft has a
Compatibility Pack that you can download from them that adds .docx
support to the older versions of Word. I doubt this would help add
..docx support to OpenOffice.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338205.aspx
See section titled "Structure of the Office XML Formats".

 

[Snidley W.]

I trialed OpenOffice but don't use it and don't remember if it had .docx
support

Doesn't.

 

[steve]

Thanks for the reply. I added the compatibility pack at the time and it
allowed me to open and read the file - the problem is it has also
reconfigured every single Word document on my computer into a
"Wordview.Document.8" file.

If I keep the compatibility pack all these are readable as they open
automatically in Wordviewer but then need to be re-opened manually using a
different program like Open Office if I want to edit them. I could do without
this. What I want to know is:

- is the change to all my Word documents reversible?
OR
- can I make Open Office my default program for opening these files again?

I was happy using Open Office, as it avoided precisely this kind of
non-compatibility situation. Now I seem to be stuck with a system in which I
can no longer open or save any Word document so that it opens automatically
with O.O. rather than Wordpad (doesn't support graphics) or Wordviewer (read
only).

Users of Word 2007 should save to .doc format if they intend to let
users of earlier versions of Word to read their files.

Yes, they should!












Microsoft has a

 

[VanguardLH]

What I want to know is:
- is the change to all my Word documents reversible?
OR
- can I make Open Office my default program for opening the

So did you actually try the unzipping or conversion programs?

 

[steve]

'S alright, I think I've found a way...

Thanks for the reply. I added the compatibility pack at the time and it
allowed me to open and read the file - the problem is it has also
reconfigured every single Word document on my computer into a
"Wordview.Document.8" file.

If I keep the compatibility pack all these are readable as they open
automatically in Wordviewer but then need to be re-opened manually using a
different program like Open Office if I want to edit them. I could do without
this. What I want to know is:

- is the change to all my Word documents reversible?
OR
- can I make Open Office my default program for opening these files again?

I was happy using Open Office, as it avoided precisely this kind of
non-compatibility situation. Now I seem to be stuck with a system in which I
can no longer open or save any Word document so that it opens automatically
with O.O. rather than Wordpad (doesn't support graphics) or Wordviewer (read
only).


Yes, they should!












Microsoft has a