free word processing program that will open a windows 2007 document?

I am looking for a free word processing program similar to the Windows Office program that will open a Windows office 2007 document. Are there any out there? I found and downloaded AbiWord, but I can't figure out how to open the document I need.

 

You should be able to click File, click Open, browse to and select the file you want to open, and that's about it. Or right click the file, select Open with.... then browse to AbiWord's EXE file (probably in Program Files\AbiWord), and click OK. You can also try OpenOffice but it's a pretty large download at 120mb for the standard version, the 'Pro' version is about twice that size.
Open Office Standard http://www.majorgeeks.com/OpenOffice.org_For_Windows_d3461.html
Open Office Pro (aka Oxygen) http://www.majorgeeks.com/OxygenOffice_Professional_d5340.html
You can also use Universal Viewer to view the document, but you won't be able to make any changes to it or edit it in any way. UV is for viewing/printing only. If that's all you need, here's the link: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Universal_Viewer_Lite_d5422.html It integrates into the Windows right-click menu, so you'd just right click on the file in question and select Universal Viewer in the menu.
And all the programs mentioned above are 100% free to download and use!

 

>> I am looking for a free word processing program similar to the Windows Office program that will open a Windows office 2007 document. Are there any out there? I found and downloaded AbiWord, but I can't figure out how to open the document I need. jennmomof3 <<

In Office 2007 Microsoft introduced a new file format called the Microsoft Open Office XML Format.

The Word 2007 format (.docx) is not directly compatible with older versions of Microsoft Word or with alternative operating systems like Linux or Mac OS X. Nor is it directly compatible with other word processing applications like OpenOffice, Lotus 123, or NeoOffice.

AbiWord currently fully supports the "classic" Microsoft Word file format (.doc), in addition to HTML, RTF, WordPerfect, OpenDocument, and many others. However, Word 2007's .docx format is not supported.

Alternatively, you can convert .docx to .doc or extract text from .docx files online using the free Zamzar.com online file conversion service. Unlike the Microsoft compatibility pack, this .docx to .doc online conversion service does not require copy of Microsoft Office.

It is also possible to open and even edit a .docx file using the freeware software OpenOffice.org for Windows (available here at Major Geeks) by using the free Open XML Translator from SourceForge which converts .docx Word documents to .odf and vice versa.

Side Note:
For those who want to open a Word 2007 document (but are currently using an earlier version of Word)
Click here: Open a Word 2007 document in an earlier version of Word.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you guys so much for your responses! I'm downloading OpenOffice right now as I type this. I tried the Office 2007 trial and its now over. I don't have any other Windows Office program on here and I really need that document for the morning. I tried to copy the document and it won't even let me do that right now! Hopefully this works! My mom is sending me Office 2003, but it will take about a week to get here, just need something in the mean time, until I can afford to go buy the program myself. Hopefully tax time if we get anything back! Thanks again!