Can't open .docx files in Word 2007

[Linda Amar]

Microsoft Word doesn't appear in the list of (possible default) programs to
open Word 2007 .docx files.

1. Reinstalled Vista Home Premium.
2. Before I reinstalled Office I tried to open a .docx file with Wordpad.
3. Now that Office is installed, Word opens all possible Word files except
.docx files.
4. Tried to change program default.
a. Word doesn't appear as an option.
b. Searching other programs and clicking on Word doesn't add Word to
possible default programs for .docx.
5. I have a feeling there's a Registry edit I need to do but I don't know
what or where.

I don't know whether this is a Vista issue or an Office issue.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Can you open .docx files if you open Word and then select using File, Open
or can you not open them at all? (So, is this just a Windows registration
problem as you don't make that at all clear?)

 

[Linda Amar]

I can't open .docs files at all--or rather, I can open them, but they open
in Wordpad. If I open them from within Word itself, I get the same thing I
did in Wordpad--control characters? "Before I reinstalled Office I tried to
open a .docx file with Wordpad. Now that Office is installed, Word opens all
possible Word files except .docx files." Not just when double clicking on
the file, but when opening within Word itself.

 

[Terry Farrell]

If these docx files are opening in WordPad even though you have installed
Office 2007, it may be a simple case that the Windows association between
docx and Word has been broken - but this seems highly unlikely as it is a
new installation of Office and because opening the docx from within Word
still produces garbage.

Word 2007 uses a new file format that is incompatible with the previous doc
format: so although old doc formats would open in WordPad, docx files will
not open.

It sounds to me as though these files have been opened and SAVED in WordPad
so that Windows sees a WordPad indicator in the file header - which is why
you cannot seem to change the association to Word because it isn't a Word
format any longer.

To test for this, in Windows Explorer, rename the extension of one of the
..docx files to .zip and then open the zip file in a Zip editor (usually just
double-clicking will do it for you). What you should find is that the docx
file comprises several .xml files that are zipped together and given the
docx extension. If it does not show xml files, then it has definitely been
corrupted beyond rescue.

Terry