Office XP won't open Word 2007 files

Mom's system just got hosed so I had to reinstall. I installed Win2K with SP4, Office XP, and all updates. I tried to open a .docx file with Word, and it said I needed to install a converter from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&DisplayLang=en

I did so, and now when I try to open a .docx it says,
"This is a pre-release version of the Compatibility Pack and can open pre-release Office 2007 files only. Do you want to check for a newer version of the Compatibility Pack? (OK) (Cancel)"

So I click OK and it takes me back to the above microsoft.com page to download the same thing again..

I found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926054
but:
In method 1, there is no Office2007Converters.adm file,
In method 2, there is no HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office directory in regedit,

I wonder if the release date of 1/6/2010 for version 4 of the compatibility pack might have anything to do with the problem. Could Microsoft have possibly re-released the pre-release version as an "update"?

Word was working fine before the re-install. And I've tried opening several files which were working fine before, with no problems, so it's not the file that is broken.

Any ideas?
Thanks.

 

I don't know about the Office problem, but free Open Office from Here should at least allow her to open and use those files. :wave

 

What about re-installing Word???:confused

 

Thanks for the replies.

Do you think that re-installing Office would help? I just installed it yesterday onto a clean system, so it's not like it could have gotten messed up since I installed it. I'm reluctant to spend the time on something that seems so unlikely to fix the problem, unless someone has an idea why it might work.

While I would dearly love to switch Mom over to Openoffice (and Linux!), she needs to exchange complex documents frequently with people who use Microsoft exclusively. Last time I checked, Openoffice wasn't quite there yet. (Which is not to say that Word *is* there yet; but when Word screws up a document, I don't get blamed.)

 

.docx files can only be opened with Word2007 or Word2010. OpenOffice won't open 'em, and from my experience, the Microsoft converters don't work either. Your best bet is to open the .docx file in Word2007, then re-save it as a .doc file (click "File > Save As..." and use the Word2003 compatibility option). You can then open it with just about anything, including Word 2003/XP and OpenOffice.

You can download the free Office2010 Beta from here or here. It's good thru October 2010 and should open all .***x files (Wordx files, Excelx files, PowerPointx files, etc).

 

dlb,

I don't use OO, but see this link;

http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.0/ :wave:wave

 

OO will open docx files, provided it is v3. (version 2 was not able to do this).

Could it be a registry error? This was just released the beginning of May 2010.
http://www.windowssupport.org/landing/fileext/file_ext_reuys.php?key=.DOCX&docx&"docx"&48813014522

My advice, before you install the above registry fix, create a restore point and/or back up your registry. Then if is doesn't work, restore to before this was done or simply click on the .reg file you have backed up and use that.

 

I stand corrected! I hadn't used OO since the last releases of V2, and was unaware that V3 had .***x capabilities. Good to know!!

(I'm off to download OpenOffice 3.2.0 right now!!! Thanks for setting me straight!!)

 

Thanks Plodr. I came in specifically to ask if OO would open .docx files.

Just in case anyone asks, OO also opens old WordPerfect documents.

 

Thanks for the help, everybody. While reinstalling Office XP didn't help, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Office 2003 which, combined with a converter that I downloaded from Microsoft, will handle the files.