Word 97 DOCs take half hour to open in Word 2002

[Kevin]

DOCs opened and saved using Word 97 on an NT take between
5 and 30 minutes to open when opening on an XP using Word
2002, regardless of the version saved as from Word 97.
The same DOCs will open fast and fine on the NT using
Word 97.

Sometimes Word 2002 will detect a file error when opening
on the XPs. File size is not a factor.

I am able to cut and paste the contents from
the 'corrupt' DOC into a new Word 2002 DOC and save. The
new Word 2002 DOC will open just fine and fast.

I have transferred the DOCs off of the network and onto
the desktop, than isolated the PC from the network, in an
attempt to see if this was a networking issue. The
opening delay still remains.

The problem only seems present in DOCs constructed from a
Word 97 or older template.

This is very frustrating. Any thoughts on how to resolve
this? We have thousands of DOCs so "cutting & pasting"
all of them is cost prohibitive.

 

[TF]

Kevin

Several factors may be acting to cause this. First make sure that under
Tools, Options, File Locations tab that all network paths are set using UNC
paths and not mapped drivers. Make sure that any mapped drives set in
Windows Explorer are valid.

Are the templates that the documents were based on still available to Word
2002? Also, the Word 97 documents may have been created using a partially
corrupt template or normal.dot and really are partially corrupt. Try
starting Word in Safe Mode and see if that makes any difference in opening
times. Use Start, Run and type in

winword /a

and press enter. Word will start in Safe Mode: open one of the troublesome
documents.

Let us know how you get on.



: DOCs opened and saved using Word 97 on an NT take between
: 5 and 30 minutes to open when opening on an XP using Word
: 2002, regardless of the version saved as from Word 97.
: The same DOCs will open fast and fine on the NT using
: Word 97.
:
: Sometimes Word 2002 will detect a file error when opening
: on the XPs. File size is not a factor.
:
: I am able to cut and paste the contents from
: the 'corrupt' DOC into a new Word 2002 DOC and save. The
: new Word 2002 DOC will open just fine and fast.
:
: I have transferred the DOCs off of the network and onto
: the desktop, than isolated the PC from the network, in an
: attempt to see if this was a networking issue. The
: opening delay still remains.
:
: The problem only seems present in DOCs constructed from a
: Word 97 or older template.
:
: This is very frustrating. Any thoughts on how to resolve
: this? We have thousands of DOCs so "cutting & pasting"
: all of them is cost prohibitive.
: