You will need to find out what version of Word was used to create
the old Word files, because you will need to install the
appropriate text converter. Text converters for older versions
of Word are no longer available on the Microsoft website, but
they can be downloaded from Word MVP Graham Mayor's website
http://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm (scroll down to the "File
converter downloads" section). You could also try the "Recover
text from any file" file type in the File-Open dialog.

Kwaku wrote:

How can I convert or open old (1980s) Word files?