File Conversion Problem

[Nick]

Running Word 2003 ver. 11.8169.8172. SP3. When I try to open documents
sometimes a window opens and it says Windows default file conversion didn't
work.

What's this all about? I have been opening these files with Word for years.

What should do?

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

That doesn't sound like the exact wording of the error message. More often
than not, having the exact wording can help folks pinpoint the problem a lot
more quickly. From your wording, I can't tell if the error you're seeing is
from Word itself or from Windows.

When the error occurs:

a. What kind of file are you trying to open? .doc? .rtf? Something else?

b. What is the exact error message you're seeing?

c. Does Open and Repair work?

Off hand... when a file that used to open fine suddenly stops opening, my
first suspicions are disk corruption and viruses. When certain files stop
working, that's often the early sign that a hard disk is about to fail (as
are changes in the way the disk sounds).

Fearing the worst, I would try to copy as many un-backed up files as
possible to a backup drive before proceeding.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

SP 3 includes a new security feature that, by default, blocks you from
opening Word docs created in very old versions of Word (pre-Word 97). Could
that be the problem?

 

[Nick]

The problem has disappeared. I don't why it happened or why it went away.

 

[Nick]

Thank you for your reply. The files in question were old files and most if
not all had pictures embdded in them. For an nknown reason the problem has
gone away.
--
NC

SP 3 includes a new security feature that, by default, blocks you from
opening Word docs created in very old versions of Word (pre-Word 97). Could
that be the problem?