Workaround for Word 2008 opening older docs?

[LR827]

I didn't see anything about this previously written, but if it's been answered, please send me a link.

I have Word 2008 for Mac and cannot open half of my older Word documents. I get an error message saying "This document might be a security risk" (Well, I wrote it myself...Should be pretty secure)

The "workaround" they say is to "open it in Word and save it as a .docx." Well, problem is, it won't open!

I know, I shouldn't even bother with Word, but that's what I have at work, so it's most convenient. Any suggestions for opening my older docs?

Thanks,
Lorraine

[daryl66]

QUOTE(LR827 @ Jul 13 2009, 12:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I didn't see anything about this previously written, but if it's been answered, please send me a link.

I have Word 2008 for Mac and cannot open half of my older Word documents. I get an error message saying "This document might be a security risk" (Well, I wrote it myself...Should be pretty secure)

The "workaround" they say is to "open it in Word and save it as a .docx." Well, problem is, it won't open!

I know, I shouldn't even bother with Word, but that's what I have at work, so it's most convenient. Any suggestions for opening my older docs?

Thanks,
Lorraine

Lorraine: I have used  word 2000-2004-2008 but do not recall having that issue.  If I were guessing I would suspect the "tag".  Try changing a files tag to something that ends in .doc" and see if it will then open.

Daryl

[Paddy]

Lorraine, apparently not an unknown issue, though I haven't seen it myself. The trick is to open the "suspect" documents using the "Open" command in Word 2008, rather than any of the other methods we are so used to, including double clicking etc.

http://www.macworld.com/article/134157/200...ingoldword.html

Let us know if that works.

(I suspect that Lorraine's documents already have the .doc appendage, Daryl)

[LR827]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Jul 13 2009, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lorraine, apparently not an unknown issue, though I haven't seen it myself. The trick is to open the "suspect" documents using the "Open" command in Word 2008, rather than any of the other methods we are so used to, including double clicking etc.

(I suspect that Lorraine's documents already have the .doc appendage, Daryl)

Thanks, Paddy & Daryl. Using the "Open" command was suggested in their "workaround" (which should be called "runaround") and that did not work, either.  And yes, they do have the .doc appended.

Honestly, if there's one thing a word processing program should be able to do, it's open one of its own documents. How frustrating! But also frustrating is the fact that half of the documents automatically changed, in some way, and opened with no problem!

[Paddy]

Lorraine, several things to try that might or might not work:

Just in case - try dumping the preference file: UserName/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Word.plist

You have installed the update that they mention in the article, I presume? That solved the problem for a lot of people.

Open document in Appleworks if you have it. Save as .rtf and then open in Word 2008. Or open in NeoOffice (free download) and try same. If you do get them to open, save as .docx - smaller file size and apparently more "durable."

If you want to send one of the problematic files (presuming that you have one that is suitable for sharing) to me, I can see what works.