error message: Word is blocked from opening files of this type

[ultegratim]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I'm getting the above error message when I attempt to open files created using Word 2003 or Microsoft Works (file save as Word document). These files opened fine in Word 2004: Mac and still open fine in Pages '09. One Microsoft Word 2008:Mac fails to open the document it can no longer be opened by any other program, either. But if I open it originally in the other apps it's totally fine.
Why would Word block itself from open another Word format? This recent upgrade is feeling like a downgrade for my daily workflow. Anyone who can help, I'd appreciate it.

 

[CyberTaz]

First, make sure you have Office (12.2.3) & OS X (10.6.2) fully updated, run
Disk Utility - Repair Disk Permissions, then see if the problem continues.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[ultegratim]

Everything is fully updated and repair permissions didn't change it. I was hoping this was a security "feature" I could turn off. My main reason for purchasing was increased compatibility. This is so frustrating.

 

[John McGhie]

Word 2004 and Word 2008 have strengths and weaknesses when dealing with
badly-formed files.

Much of the trouble is caused by customers failing to apply updates to Word.
Word 2007 in particular was writing mal-formed XML for about a year before
the error was detected and fixed in an update.

Many PC users have not applied the update. If they do, the next time Word
2007 saves the file it will correct the code.

Mac Word 2008 can't read the malformed files caused by this bug: Word 2004
can't either, but it doesn't care

Each version of Word will open "some" files that others won't, depending on
what is wrong with them, and what each version of Word is fussy about. On
this Mac I have Word 2000, Word 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010. I haven't
had to use Pages yet

And yes, if you can get the file open in a fixed version of Word, make a
change and save the file: that will usually correct the document code.

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
I'm getting the above error message when I attempt to open files created using
Word 2003 or Microsoft Works (file save as Word document). These files opened
fine in Word 2004: Mac and still open fine in Pages '09. One Microsoft Word
2008:Mac fails to open the document it can no longer be opened by any other
program, either. But if I open it originally in the other apps it's totally
fine.
Why would Word block itself from open another Word format? This recent
upgrade is feeling like a downgrade for my daily workflow. Anyone who can
help, I'd appreciate it.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[ultegratim]

Ok, perhaps this is the issue, but I'm receiving the file from a person with a Windows machine running Office 2003. Would there still be a recent update with a fix for bad code in it?
The other problem seems to be with receiving the file in Entourage. I noticed today, once Entourage saves the file, even Pages can't open it. But if i go out to the gmail server to get it in safari, Pages opens it fine.
Something is wrong within Office 2008 since Entourage could be mishandling the code.
Microsoft has too many weird security issues among versions. I think they have too small a team developing for the Mac, who are only privy to things 2nd hand. They're always at least a year behind with everything.
I wish I hadn't upgraded to 2008. They should remove the marketing claims to increased compatibility and instead post a warning that security features may identify bad code in files which worked with previous versions.
If Entourage isn't screwing up the files, you may be right.
Your extensive work within this realm has evidently helped you to accept this as normal or necessary for your work. To me, it's unacceptable.
However, I appreciate the tip as this is most likely the source of the problem. It just means once again 2008 isn't going to help me unless I go to everyone's computer who sends me stuff and help them get their program updated, which may, in turn cause them more security and compatibility issues with their own files which have the "bad code" but have worked fine until now.
That's just not really a solution. Why can't the newer software look beyond small code glitches and correct them in the background?
Any thoughts on Entourage causing the code problems?

 

[ultegratim]

Actually, I just downloaded the file directly from Gmail and Word 2008 opened it just fine. So Entourage is the whole problem. It's introducing bad code when getting the file from the internet.
I'll jump to the Entourage page I guess