Mac Won't Open Word Doc When Received as Email Attachment

[David Toerne]

Started a couple weeks ago that whwn i receive an Office file as an
attachment, the application won't open it. For example, I double-click on
the file, Word launches, but says "Word cannot open this document. The
document might be in use or might not be a valid Word document". When I open
a file from my computer, I have no problems. I have Office for Mac 2004.
Any experience with this, anyone?

 

[CyberTaz]

In order to be more certain we'd need to know what specific update level
your Office software currently stands & what specific version of OS X. It
also makes a difference where the attachments are coming from & how they're
being sent (mail system particulars) and whether there is a Windows-based
network involved.

Without those details the best guess is that the users are sending
attachments that have been created on the PC using Office 2007 & saved in
its native OXML format. Prior versions of Office - Mac nor PC - can't open
those files without special filters. You can get the Mac filters here:

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/down
load/Office2004/ConverterBeta_0_2.xml>

You may still have less than perfect success depending on the actual content
& features used in those files. The best bet is to have the senders save in
Word 97-2003 format & provide you with attachments from those - let the
creators of the files deal with the compatibility issues *before* they
distribute the file.

I'm a bit unclear what you mean by " When I open a file from my computer, I
have no problems." Does this mean you can open those same attachments if you
do so from within Word rather than dbl-clicking the attachment, or do you
mean that you have no problem opening *other* Word docs?

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





On 10/8/07 3:51 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "David Toerne"

Started a couple weeks ago that whwn i receive an Office file as an
attachment, the application won't open it. For example, I double-click on
the file, Word launches, but says "Word cannot open this document. The
document might be in use or might not be a valid Word document". When I
open
a file from my computer, I have no problems. I have Office for Mac 2004.
Any experience with this, anyone?

 

[David Toerne]

To answer your last question first, I meant that I can open different files,
but the attachments don't open even if I save them first and try to open with
the application.

By the way, I submitted my dilemna to Microsoft (for Mac) support and even
emailed the support person the attachment in question. Here is her reply:

"Hello David,

Thank you for your response.

Unable to open some attachments.

I do apologize for the inconvenience but it seems like you may have a virus
on your computer. When trying to open the attachment on my Mac I got a
message saying the attachment was quarantined. You will need to speak with
someone in tech support for Office for windows. I do apologize again that I
am unable to help you.

Please let me know if this addresses your issue.

Thank you for using Microsoft Technical Support,

Sharon
Microsoft Technical Support "

Virus??? YIKES!

Didn't know Mac's got viruses. Anyway, thanks for your time, I'm going to
download that fix and see if it works.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi David:

Ah hah! So now we know

Yes, Macs can get viruses. Not yet common (watch this space...) but it can
happen.

However, a proper commercial-grade Mac Antivirus solution SHOULD prevent you
from opening a file that contains a PC virus, and that's what has probably
happened to you.

Otherwise, your files on the Mac could be infected, and you could then sit
there like Typhoid Mary infecting any computer for you emailed

Cheers

To answer your last question first, I meant that I can open different files,
but the attachments don't open even if I save them first and try to open with
the application.

By the way, I submitted my dilemna to Microsoft (for Mac) support and even
emailed the support person the attachment in question. Here is her reply:

"Hello David,

Thank you for your response.

Unable to open some attachments.

I do apologize for the inconvenience but it seems like you may have a virus
on your computer. When trying to open the attachment on my Mac I got a
message saying the attachment was quarantined. You will need to speak with
someone in tech support for Office for windows. I do apologize again that I
am unable to help you.

Please let me know if this addresses your issue.

Thank you for using Microsoft Technical Support,

Sharon
Microsoft Technical Support "

Virus??? YIKES!

Didn't know Mac's got viruses. Anyway, thanks for your time, I'm going to
download that fix and see if it works.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Not at all contradicting John or Sharon, but extending on what they've said
- it's also quite possible for someone on a Mac [you] to receive an infected
file from another user... Usually a Windows user. That doesn't necessarily
mean that your *Mac* "has a virus" because _most_ viruses don't propagate in
OS X. However - as John points out - even a dormant bug becomes active again
if forwarded to another PC, so clearing it up is definitely the right thing
to do

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



On 10/10/07 1:08 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "David Toerne"

To answer your last question first, I meant that I can open different files,
but the attachments don't open even if I save them first and try to open
with
the application.

By the way, I submitted my dilemna to Microsoft (for Mac) support and even
emailed the support person the attachment in question. Here is her reply:

"Hello David,

Thank you for your response.

Unable to open some attachments.

I do apologize for the inconvenience but it seems like you may have a virus
on your computer. When trying to open the attachment on my Mac I got a
message saying the attachment was quarantined. You will need to speak with
someone in tech support for Office for windows. I do apologize again that I
am unable to help you.

Please let me know if this addresses your issue.

Thank you for using Microsoft Technical Support,

Sharon
Microsoft Technical Support "

Virus??? YIKES!

Didn't know Mac's got viruses. Anyway, thanks for your time, I'm going to
download that fix and see if it works.

 

[vncordova]

In order to be more certain we'd need to know what specific update level
your Office software currently stands & what specific version of OS X. It
also makes a difference where the attachments are coming from & how they're
being sent (mail system particulars) and whether there is a Windows-based
network involved.

Without those details the best guess is that the users are sending
attachments that have been created on the PC using Office 2007 & saved in
its native OXML format. Prior versions of Office - Mac nor PC - can't open
those files without special filters. You can get the Mac filters here:

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/ma...
load/Office2004/ConverterBeta_0_2.xml>

You may still have less than perfect success depending on the actual content
& features used in those files. The best bet is to have the senders save in
Word 97-2003 format & provide you with attachments from those - let the
creators of the files deal with the compatibility issues *before* they
distribute the file.

I'm a bit unclear what you mean by " When I open a file from my computer, I
have no problems." Does this mean you can open those same attachments if you
do so from within Word rather than dbl-clicking the attachment, or do you
mean that you have no problem opening *other* Word docs?

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

On 10/8/07 3:51 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "David Toerne"


Started a couple weeks ago that whwn i receive an Office file as an
attachment, the application won't open it. For example, I double-click on
the file, Word launches, but says "Word cannot open this document. The
document might be in use or might not be a valid Word document". When I
open
a file from my computer, I have no problems. I have Office for Mac 2004.
Any experience with this, anyone?

This started happening to me a few weeks ago. I'm on Mac OS X
10.4.10 and using Office for Mac 2004. I'm a freelance copywriter,
and this problem is killing me. This is happening with two difference
clients, so I feel like something is wrong on my end. Only once have
I been able to download the file, then access it through Word.

 

[John McGhie]

It's not a goo idea to piggy-back on someone else's question in here: yours
may be a different issue.

In this case, I think it IS a different issue.

I think you have set your email program to "Partially receive files larger
than..."

If you have, Word can't open the document because it's not all there yet

Choose "Retrieve entire message" then try again.

It is very bad practice, in any case, to double-click documents from your
email. Select them and choose "Save".

Save the file to disk, so your antivirus checker can delouse it, before
risking exposing the rest of your documents to whatever noxious disease it
may be carrying

Cheers


On 28/10/07 3:13 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed),

In order to be more certain we'd need to know what specific update level
your Office software currently stands & what specific version of OS X. It
also makes a difference where the attachments are coming from & how they're
being sent (mail system particulars) and whether there is a Windows-based
network involved.

Without those details the best guess is that the users are sending
attachments that have been created on the PC using Office 2007 & saved in
its native OXML format. Prior versions of Office - Mac nor PC - can't open
those files without special filters. You can get the Mac filters here:

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/ma...
load/Office2004/ConverterBeta_0_2.xml>

You may still have less than perfect success depending on the actual content
& features used in those files. The best bet is to have the senders save in
Word 97-2003 format & provide you with attachments from those - let the
creators of the files deal with the compatibility issues *before* they
distribute the file.

I'm a bit unclear what you mean by " When I open a file from my computer, I
have no problems." Does this mean you can open those same attachments if you
do so from within Word rather than dbl-clicking the attachment, or do you
mean that you have no problem opening *other* Word docs?

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

On 10/8/07 3:51 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "David Toerne"


Started a couple weeks ago that whwn i receive an Office file as an
attachment, the application won't open it. For example, I double-click on
the file, Word launches, but says "Word cannot open this document. The
document might be in use or might not be a valid Word document". When I
open
a file from my computer, I have no problems. I have Office for Mac 2004.
Any experience with this, anyone?

This started happening to me a few weeks ago. I'm on Mac OS X
10.4.10 and using Office for Mac 2004. I'm a freelance copywriter,
and this problem is killing me. This is happening with two difference
clients, so I feel like something is wrong on my end. Only once have
I been able to download the file, then access it through Word.


--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[2b4Charliethedog]

It's not a goo idea to piggy-back on someone else's question in here: yours
may be a different issue.

In this case, I think it IS a different issue.

I think you have set your email program to "Partially receive files larger
than..."

If you have, Word can't open the document because it's not all there yet

Choose "Retrieve entire message" then try again.

It is very bad practice, in any case, to double-click documents from your
email. Select them and choose "Save".

Save the file to disk, so your antivirus checker can delouse it, before
risking exposing the rest of your documents to whatever noxious disease it
may be carrying

Cheers

On 28/10/07 3:13 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed),










This started happening to me a few weeks ago. I'm on Mac OS X
10.4.10 and using Office for Mac 2004. I'm a freelance copywriter,
and this problem is killing me. This is happening with two difference
clients, so I feel like something is wrong on my end. Only once have
I been able to download the file, then access it through Word.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

If it is a dreaded VIRUS what needs to be done to distroy it, please?

 

[John McGhie]

On a Mac?

Any commercial-grade anti-virus program will nail it these days. My
preference is McAfee. Norton causes more problems than it solves...

Virus writers are not yet smart enough to do much damage to a Mac. The
biggest exposure is that you get weird things happening.

Of course, your Mac can then sit there like Typhoid Mary, infecting every PC
you send a document to. That's not nice.

And for anyone using BootCamp/Parallels, we need to be quite vigilant on the
Mac side, lest we blow our Windows installation off the air

Cheers


On 29/10/07 3:59 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed),

It's not a goo idea to piggy-back on someone else's question in here: yours
may be a different issue.

In this case, I think it IS a different issue.

I think you have set your email program to "Partially receive files larger
than..."

If you have, Word can't open the document because it's not all there yet

Choose "Retrieve entire message" then try again.

It is very bad practice, in any case, to double-click documents from your
email. Select them and choose "Save".

Save the file to disk, so your antivirus checker can delouse it, before
risking exposing the rest of your documents to whatever noxious disease it
may be carrying

Cheers

On 28/10/07 3:13 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed),










This started happening to me a few weeks ago. I'm on Mac OS X
10.4.10 and using Office for Mac 2004. I'm a freelance copywriter,
and this problem is killing me. This is happening with two difference
clients, so I feel like something is wrong on my end. Only once have
I been able to download the file, then access it through Word.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

If it is a dreaded VIRUS what needs to be done to distroy it, please?


--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[little_creature]

Hi,
further to what Jihn has said, It would just add. You can distinguish
2 classes of viruses OS level and VBAviruses.

Lately OSlevel viruses are distributed via email where you get email
with attachment and when you open it it Infect computer - BUT these
are codes that are mostly written for PC, so even if you open then
your MAc does not understand such code and it will not hurt it.

The second are VBA viruses - VBA is code that is part of Office
programs, it lives on bot PC and MAc(will not be included in next
Office version) and as you may sense as it lives on PC and MAc you can
transfer some VBA viruses from PC to Mac. These might not work on your
Mac but can. These viruses are stored in Office documents and/or in
normal template as well. If you are skilled user, you can find that
code in your document and remove it manually, or let the antivirus SW
do that job for you.

In any case it worths to run any antivirus SW.
(I confess, I do not use any neither on Mac nor on PC but I'm usually
aware what I'm doing, and had virus only once in last 5 years and that
was on Windows side as I did not patch my PC enough before connecting
to net.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi L.C...

That will be four rosaries and three hail marys, you evil sinner, you!!

The first Trojan coded especially to attack Mac OS X appeared in the wild
last week.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102379

While the one they have found so far is relatively harmless (we think...)
sadly, it means that *someone* now knows how to make modern Mac viruses. So
I am afraid we will be seeing a lot more of them, starting now...

{Sigh}

I'm off to update my AntiVirus. I have been relying on ClamX AV on the Mac.
Time for something a little more paranoid

Those users who wish to rely on L.C.s method of "usually being aware of what
I am doing..." should be warned that L.C. is a fairly advanced graduate in a
high-tech field. Personally, my "awareness" is not that high

Cheers


On 4/11/07 7:42 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "little_creature"

Hi,
further to what Jihn has said, It would just add. You can distinguish
2 classes of viruses OS level and VBAviruses.

Lately OSlevel viruses are distributed via email where you get email
with attachment and when you open it it Infect computer - BUT these
are codes that are mostly written for PC, so even if you open then
your MAc does not understand such code and it will not hurt it.

The second are VBA viruses - VBA is code that is part of Office
programs, it lives on bot PC and MAc(will not be included in next
Office version) and as you may sense as it lives on PC and MAc you can
transfer some VBA viruses from PC to Mac. These might not work on your
Mac but can. These viruses are stored in Office documents and/or in
normal template as well. If you are skilled user, you can find that
code in your document and remove it manually, or let the antivirus SW
do that job for you.

In any case it worths to run any antivirus SW.
(I confess, I do not use any neither on Mac nor on PC but I'm usually
aware what I'm doing, and had virus only once in last 5 years and that
was on Windows side as I did not patch my PC enough before connecting
to net.

On a Mac?

Any commercial-grade anti-virus program will nail it these days. My
preference is McAfee. Norton causes more problems than it solves...

Virus writers are not yet smart enough to do much damage to a Mac. The
biggest exposure is that you get weird things happening.

Of course, your Mac can then sit there like Typhoid Mary, infecting every PC
you send a document to. That's not nice.

And for anyone using BootCamp/Parallels, we need to be quite vigilant on the
Mac side, lest we blow our Windows installation off the air

Cheers

On 29/10/07 3:59 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed),















If it is a dreaded VIRUS what needs to be done to distroy it, please?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]