Microsoft Office 2007/2010 corrupt file error :( Need Help asap!

I recently installed Office 2010 on my system running windows 7, all files open without a problem, but recently when i tried opening an file with an extension of office 97-2003 , i got an error message saying it couldn't identify the extension as it was different than what was specified. I went ahead and opened the file , disappointingly all that appeared were random special characters and gibberish, not one bit of what the file contained.
I've tried searching for possible solutions everywhere, but no avail. Hence i unistalled office 2010 and downgraded to office 2007 expecting it to work.Same result. Now i have lost hope, someone please help ? :confused
Thank you!
Shreyas

 

What 97-2003 files specifically are you trying to open - .doc, .xls, ...?

You don't get any dialog regarding conversion; just an error message? What is the exact error message?

 

Yes , i'm trying to open .doc and .xls files ! The error message is "The file you are trying to open, 'Myfile.xls', is in a different format than specified by the file extension. Verify that the file is not corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now? "
The options given below this message are : Yes,No and Help.
I don't get any dialog regarding conversion.

 

How did you get/create these .doc & .xls files? Did you have an earlier Office version that was able to open these files?

Regular .doc & .xls files should be no problem to open with Office 2007/2010.

 

These files were created by me on my old computer and i was using an older version of Microsoft office which opened these files perfectly.
Before changing over to the new laptop and scrapping the old pc i backed up all these files onto a new portable hard disk for further use.

The files created or received originating from new version of office open without a problem .

 

The only thing I can imagine is that these files were corrupted during the transfer from the old computer.

Search Google for possible Office repair programs or methods, e.g. check this http://www.online-tech-tips.com/ms-office-tips/repair-corrupt-damaged-word-document/

 

Okay , then. I'll give it a shot Thanks a ton!

 

I used the software you mentioned and in the process of recovery it said the OLE Header and OLE Header Structure are corrupt :| Any solution ?

 

Word Viewer will let you open the doc files created with older versions of word.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/w...read-and-print-documents-HA010186993.aspx#BM2
I'm not sure what would be the best thing to do after they are opened.

Maybe someone else can jump in and give a better suggestion.

Here's a creative solution that worked for someone. The person emailed the docs to himself and then could open them from the email attachment!