Word 2004 doc won't open in Word 2003 ('Word experienced an error trying to open the file') - help

[James]

Hi everyone,

I have taken a 2.9mb file created in Word 2003, done some editing
(mainly just inserting comments), saved it and am trying to send it
back to a Windows machine.

However, whenever I try to open it on the Windows machine, which is
running Word 2003, I get an error saying "Word experienced an error
trying to open the file". Open and repair doesn't work.

One thing I have noticed is that once I save the file on my Mac, the
file size goes from 2.9mb down to 2.4mb. I have replicated this by
taking a copy of the original from the Windows machine and simply
typing a single character in Word 2004. As soon as I save it, even with
this tiny change, the file size reduces to 2.4mb.

Is it possible that somehow the .doc is missing some information that
Word 2003 needs when I send it back to the Windows machine?

TIA for any help.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi James -

What you don't give any detail on is *how* you're transferring these file
back & forth, and *that* is most likely the cause

On the Mac, make sure the Save As dialog is ticked to Append File Extension,
and if you're emailing attachments _to_ the PC be certain that your email
client is set to send "PC Friendly" attachments *and* zip before sending.
Zipping before attaching is a good habit to get into anymore, regardless of
origin or destination, but the way Windows/Exchange deal with received
attachments in the name of "security" is downright mayhem

The differentiation in file size is most likely inconsequential.

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

 

[James]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply. I am transferring the files via FTP, which I
have done in the past with no difficulty. I have also tried e-mailing
it as a zip file with AppleDouble encoding with no success.

The file has the proper .doc extension.

Any other ideas?

 

[James]

One thing I tried that semi-works is selecting the document's entire
contents and pasting them into a new blank document in Word 2004. If I
save that and FTP it across, it opens fine. However, the problem with
this is that some of the formatting disappears (for whatever reason,
some paragraphs lose their styles, even though the style exists on both
installations).

This sort of does the trick but it's still rather annoying as I lose
the ability to track changes and I have to reformat some of the
document.

Perhaps this sheds some light on the matter?

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, what you describe _shouldn't_ present these errors... both versions of
Word use exactly the same file format. Soooo...

The next thing I would suspect is that you may be opening the files directly
from the FTP site or opening the attachments, themselves. If that is the
case, try saving the file/attachment to your local hard drive then opening
the saved file. If I read your posts correctly the problem is happening with
files sent *to* the Dark Side, not the ones received by the Mac, so I'm
suspecting security issues are involved.

Beyond that I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps someone else will have
other ideas to offer.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi James:

Yes. The document almost certainly has corrupt numbering. Mac Word is more
robust than Word 2003 and can often open documents that crash Word 2003.

You need to fix the document, using one of the methods described here:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/documentcorruption.html

You may be able to open the document in Word 2007. If you can, it will fix
it for you.

Cheers

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply. I am transferring the files via FTP, which I
have done in the past with no difficulty. I have also tried e-mailing
it as a zip file with AppleDouble encoding with no success.

The file has the proper .doc extension.

Any other ideas?

--
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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]