Word XP crashes opening Word 2003 documents - HELP!

[NewMan]

Our office uses Office XP almost exclusively. Fully activated and
patched, all up to date.

A couple of days ago one of our customers sent us a file that was
created with Word 2003.

When we try to open this file, Word XP crashes and give the recovery
dialog box. If I allow a recovery, it just crashes again

I tried using the "Open and Repair" option - still crashes.

I tried getting ridd of add-ins - still crashes,

I tried turning off the Norton Office Plug-in - STILL CRASHES!

We received another file which, while it crashes, allows us just
enough time to "Print" before the crash!

I am at my wits end here. We MUST be able to interact with our
customers!

HELP! What is going on??? I thought Word 2003 and Word XP were
supposed to be compatible???

What now??

PS: Ironically, we are a WordPerfect shop! And Wordperfect X3 opens
the file JUST FINE! We still need to be able to send back Word
documents to our customer though. Too bad they wont upgrade to the
much superior WordPerfect.

 

[Chuck]

They are compatable, one way to word 2003 from an earlier version,
Actually you need to save the word 2003 files in a word version that you can
read with Word XP.
In word XP tools >options >save gets you to the place to change the file to
be compatable with earlier versions. I suspect word 2003 has a similar
scheme to get to the save options.

Since you don't have word 2003, your customer will need to make the changes,
and re-send the files.


Unfortunately the save must be done using word 2003.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word 2003 documents use the same file format as Word 2002, and Word 2003 has
essentially no features incompatible with Word 2002. Word 2002 should be
able to open a Word 2003 document with no issues at all.

 

[NewMan]

I appreciate the "shoulds" and the promise of "seemless integration".

Bottom line is.... it does not work, despite any assertion to the
contrary. The problem persists, and is absolutely 100% repeatable.

So despite how it is SUPPOSED to operate, can I receive a more useful
commentary on how to either work around, troubleshoot, or correct this
HARD ERROR which DOES happen for ALL my users???

Suzanne, perhaps being an MVP, you could try to open the files if I
e-mail them to you? Presumably you are an expert, and have intimate
knowledge of how MS Word works, and possible access to diagnostic
tools which I do not. Perhaps then we can get to the bottom of this.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I do not have "intimate knowledge of how Word works" (except the same
empirical knowledge anyone can acquire) nor access to diagnostic tools you
don't have; more to the point, I don't have Word 2002 installed. I'd be
happy to look at the doc, but since I'd be opening it in Word 2003, it
wouldn't prove anything.

 

[Terry Farrell]

The point you are missing is that Word XP and Word 2003 use identical file
formats and there isn't any compatibility issue. So the problem lies
somewhere else.

First, are these document all coming from the same source? Have you
considered that maybe these documents are corrupt? Try opening one and use
SaveAs into RTF or HTM format, closing the document and Word. Then open
again and save back to document format.

But meantime, see this FAQ, What to do when Word crashes.

http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

 

[NewMan]

The point you are missing is that Word XP and Word 2003 use identical file
formats and there isn't any compatibility issue. So the problem lies
somewhere else.

I was thinking that, yes.

First, are these document all coming from the same source?

AFAIK, yes.

Have you
considered that maybe these documents are corrupt?

Yes, I believe this may be the case.

Try opening one and use
SaveAs into RTF or HTM format, closing the document and Word. Then open
again and save back to document format.

Um, refering to my first post, Word usually crashes before the
documents come up on the screen. Only once, the a user managed to push
the print ikon before word crashed.

On the rare occassions that the document appears, by the time tyou
click "File" the crash screen comes up, and word is frozen.

This is consistant behaviour on multiple copies of Word XP.

I will check the FAQ, thanks.