cant open file ...error "uses a file type that is blocked fromopening in this version"

[Jackie]

I have Word 2008 for my mac and have never had this issue before. I
last opened and saved this file back in Jan 2012 and now 2 months
later when I try to open it I am getting the above error. I tried
doing the File>open that it suggests but I get the same error. I also
tried restarting my computer and nothing. It is a *.doc file.

Can anyone provide a solution on how to open the file ???

thanks,
jackie

 

[Michael Vilain]

I have Word 2008 for my mac and have never had this issue before. I
last opened and saved this file back in Jan 2012 and now 2 months
later when I try to open it I am getting the above error. I tried
doing the File>open that it suggests but I get the same error. I also
tried restarting my computer and nothing. It is a *.doc file.

Can anyone provide a solution on how to open the file ???

thanks,
jackie

Don't know where you looked to solve this problem but a 15second check
of Google found a bunch of artcles. It seems you saved the document in
a version that your current version of Word can't read, according to the
error.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953266

or the file got corrupted, in which case you'll have to restore it from
your Timemachine backups. My guess is this is the problem.

Or it might be even weirder. You may have installed Word updates since
then and they corrupted your copy of Word. I just guessing on this one.

In any case, I'd go with restoring the file from backups. If you don't
have any, try using the 'strings' command-line tool to extract the text
from the file so at least you have the content. Or reading it with
Pages or TextSoap or TextEdit. The formatting may be gone but you'll
still be able to read it.