Unable to open word 2007 files

[Wes Wallace]

Get message "file.docx caused a serious error the last time it was opened"
whenever I try to open a docx document. Tried deleting and reinstaling
program and udating. Still happens. Using Vista

 

[Terry Farrell]

See the following FAQ for help diagnosing this problem.

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

 

[Wes Wallace]

Sorry, Theresults mentioned in the web page id not help .I went to
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm but this seemded to be
bout XP rather than vista. Even so I deleted all the files ~$*.do*. This did
not solve the problem.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

You're getting that error for just one .docx file, or for ALL .docx files?

Assuming you mean ALL .docx files, try starting Word in safe mode. Hold
down Ctrl as Word is starting, and click Yes to the prompt about safe mode.
Can you open .docx files now?

 

[Wes Wallace]

I was unable to open docx files when in Safe mode the files opened. What
would be the next step?? Openining again in regular mode again did not allow
oening of the docx files
Thank you

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

If opening in safe mode "fixes" the problem, the next step is to try to
narrow it down. It's usually one of the following:

1. Corrupted Normal.dotm. Try renaming it to Normal.dotm.old and see if the
problem is fixed. If so, this is a good solution -- Word will create a brand
new Normal.dotm.

2. Corrupted registry entry. Solution usually is to rename or delete the
Data key in the registry. It's here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word

3. Misbehaving add-ins. This one is harder to track down because you need to
disable add-ins, then add them back to see if the problem returns.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Terry Farrell]

Which is all covered in the original link.

Terry

 

[Wes Wallace]

Thank you for your help.
I found one instance of Normal.dotm in
C:\Users\Wesley\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Tamplates
I was unable to change the name to Normal.dotm.old as Vista does not show
the extension. I moved the file to desk top to try to get Word to create a
new Normal. Word opened and then did not respond. I tried to make a new
template from the old Normal and then Word stopped reponding. Any
suggestions???
It may be of some note that the Icon for the Normal template has an "!" on it.
With regard to the registry
The Data folder in the registry has three entries (Default) REG_SZ (value
not set)
Settings REG_Binary a long string
Toolbars Reg_Binary a long string

Any more suggestions at this point??
Thanks

 

[Terry Farrell]

Rename it normal.old not normal.dotm.old.

Terry

Thank you for your help.
I found one instance of Normal.dotm in
C:\Users\Wesley\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Tamplates
I was unable to change the name to Normal.dotm.old as Vista does not show
the extension. I moved the file to desk top to try to get Word to create a
new Normal. Word opened and then did not respond. I tried to make a new
template from the old Normal and then Word stopped reponding. Any
suggestions???
It may be of some note that the Icon for the Normal template has an "!" on
it.
With regard to the registry
The Data folder in the registry has three entries (Default) REG_SZ
(value
not set)
Settings REG_Binary a long string
Toolbars Reg_Binary a long string

Any more suggestions at this point??
Thanks

 

[Wes Wallace]

Unfortunately that too did not work. As an additional thing thatt may throw
some light on this when I try to open a file through the "open" command in
Word the program also stops responding. This does not happen if I try to use
the same command in Excel 2007
Thank you
Wes

 

[Terry Farrell]

OK. delete the Word DataKey.

Run Regedit and navigate to the Word DataKey

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\version number\Word\Data

Delete it (the whole Word DataKey).

Terry Farrell

 

[Wes Wallace]

Thank you that seemed to have worked.
Your help was appreciated
Wes Wallace