[Joe McGuire]

Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago. It worked
fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor (Doctor #2) yesterday
(without trying to open it) I see that something went wrong in the interim.
Neither of us can open it! When I click to open it I get a Word "File
Conversion" window filled with garbage characters. This is the same screen
I get when I accidentally try to open a non-Word file, e.g., a pdf file, in
Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or Other I get the same
result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using Word 2003 (and Outlook
2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to Doctor #2. I can probably get
the original sender to re-send it again, but not until Monday, which will be
too late! This thing started as a Word file (I have no idea of the version)
but it obviously got corrupted somehow in my computer!

[Joe McGuire]

Wait--I think I found the problem. I now realize that the document I got
was a *.docx file, which I had opened from Outlook and read but probably did
not save using Word 2003. Instead I probably saved it directly from OL
which means it was saved as a Word 2007 file. I thought I had downloaded
some sort of Micrososft Word thing that allowed me to open and work with
Word 2007 docs but obvoiusly it either went missing or doesn't work. In any
event I found the original e-mail, opened the *.docx attachment and then
saved it as a *.doc file. I can open THAT file with no problem.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago. It
worked fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor (Doctor #2)
yesterday (without trying to open it) I see that something went wrong in
the interim. Neither of us can open it! When I click to open it I get a
Word "File Conversion" window filled with garbage characters. This is the
same screen I get when I accidentally try to open a non-Word file, e.g., a
pdf file, in Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or Other I
get the same result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using Word 2003
(and Outlook 2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to Doctor #2. I
can probably get the original sender to re-send it again, but not until
Monday, which will be too late! This thing started as a Word file (I have
no idea of the version) but it obviously got corrupted somehow in my
computer!

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Odd, though, that the converter would kick in when you open the file as an
attachment but not when you open it in Word directly. Still, converting it
to .doc is probably the best solution, since there's no guarantee that MD#2
would be able to open a .docx file.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Wait--I think I found the problem. I now realize that the document I got
was a *.docx file, which I had opened from Outlook and read but probably
did not save using Word 2003. Instead I probably saved it directly from
OL which means it was saved as a Word 2007 file. I thought I had
downloaded some sort of Micrososft Word thing that allowed me to open and
work with Word 2007 docs but obvoiusly it either went missing or doesn't
work. In any event I found the original e-mail, opened the *.docx
attachment and then saved it as a *.doc file. I can open THAT file with
no problem.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago. It
worked fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor (Doctor #2)
yesterday (without trying to open it) I see that something went wrong in
the interim. Neither of us can open it! When I click to open it I get a
Word "File Conversion" window filled with garbage characters. This is
the same screen I get when I accidentally try to open a non-Word file,
e.g., a pdf file, in Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or
Other I get the same result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using
Word 2003 (and Outlook 2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to
Doctor #2. I can probably get the original sender to re-send it again,
but not until Monday, which will be too late! This thing started as a
Word file (I have no idea of the version) but it obviously got corrupted
somehow in my computer!

[Graham Mayor]

The converter will kick in if the *template* on which the document is based
was a Word template, but the document should still open
http://www.gmayor.com/Problems_opening_2007_docs.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
Odd, though, that the converter would kick in when you open the file
as an attachment but not when you open it in Word directly. Still,
converting it to .doc is probably the best solution, since there's no
guarantee that MD#2 would be able to open a .docx file.


"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Wait--I think I found the problem. I now realize that the document
I got was a *.docx file, which I had opened from Outlook and read
but probably did not save using Word 2003. Instead I probably saved
it directly from OL which means it was saved as a Word 2007 file. I
thought I had downloaded some sort of Micrososft Word thing that
allowed me to open and work with Word 2007 docs but obvoiusly it
either went missing or doesn't work. In any event I found the
original e-mail, opened the *.docx attachment and then saved it as a
*.doc file. I can open THAT file with no problem.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago. It
worked fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor
(Doctor #2) yesterday (without trying to open it) I see that
something went wrong in the interim. Neither of us can open it! When I
click to open it I get a Word "File Conversion" window
filled with garbage characters. This is the same screen I get when
I accidentally try to open a non-Word file, e.g., a pdf file, in
Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or Other I get the
same result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using Word 2003
(and Outlook 2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to Doctor
#2. I can probably get the original sender to re-send it again,
but not until Monday, which will be too late! This thing started
as a Word file (I have no idea of the version) but it obviously got
corrupted somehow in my computer!

[Graham Mayor]

That should have read "if the *template* on which the document is based was
a Word *2007* template" (

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Graham Mayor wrote:
The converter will kick in , but the document should still open
http://www.gmayor.com/Problems_opening_2007_docs.htm


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
Odd, though, that the converter would kick in when you open the file
as an attachment but not when you open it in Word directly. Still,
converting it to .doc is probably the best solution, since there's no
guarantee that MD#2 would be able to open a .docx file.


"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Wait--I think I found the problem. I now realize that the document
I got was a *.docx file, which I had opened from Outlook and read
but probably did not save using Word 2003. Instead I probably saved
it directly from OL which means it was saved as a Word 2007 file. I
thought I had downloaded some sort of Micrososft Word thing that
allowed me to open and work with Word 2007 docs but obvoiusly it
either went missing or doesn't work. In any event I found the
original e-mail, opened the *.docx attachment and then saved it as a
*.doc file. I can open THAT file with no problem.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago.
It worked fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor
(Doctor #2) yesterday (without trying to open it) I see that
something went wrong in the interim. Neither of us can open it!
When I click to open it I get a Word "File Conversion" window
filled with garbage characters. This is the same screen I get when
I accidentally try to open a non-Word file, e.g., a pdf file, in
Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or Other I get the
same result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using Word 2003
(and Outlook 2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to Doctor
#2. I can probably get the original sender to re-send it again,
but not until Monday, which will be too late! This thing started
as a Word file (I have no idea of the version) but it obviously got
corrupted somehow in my computer!

[Joe McGuire]

Hmmm. I expect I would have no way to know what template the author used
unless I asked him. Unless Word is somehow using one of my *templates*
which, of course, are all Word 2003, mainly normal.dot I would think.
Anyway, this is the first time I have run into this. Next time I will know
the work-around. Unless the next time is so far off I'll have forgotten!

Thanks to you and Ms. Barnhill for your help to me here and to countless
others!

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
That should have read "if the *template* on which the document is based
was a Word *2007* template" (

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Graham Mayor wrote:
The converter will kick in , but the document should still open
http://www.gmayor.com/Problems_opening_2007_docs.htm


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
Odd, though, that the converter would kick in when you open the file
as an attachment but not when you open it in Word directly. Still,
converting it to .doc is probably the best solution, since there's no
guarantee that MD#2 would be able to open a .docx file.


"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Wait--I think I found the problem. I now realize that the document
I got was a *.docx file, which I had opened from Outlook and read
but probably did not save using Word 2003. Instead I probably saved
it directly from OL which means it was saved as a Word 2007 file. I
thought I had downloaded some sort of Micrososft Word thing that
allowed me to open and work with Word 2007 docs but obvoiusly it
either went missing or doesn't work. In any event I found the
original e-mail, opened the *.docx attachment and then saved it as a
*.doc file. I can open THAT file with no problem.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Help! I received a doctor's report as a Word file 2-3 weeks ago.
It worked fine then. Now that I e-mailed it to another doctor
(Doctor #2) yesterday (without trying to open it) I see that
something went wrong in the interim. Neither of us can open it!
When I click to open it I get a Word "File Conversion" window
filled with garbage characters. This is the same screen I get when
I accidentally try to open a non-Word file, e.g., a pdf file, in
Word . Whether I click Windows default, MS-DOS or Other I get the
same result--a screen of garbage characters. I am using Word 2003
(and Outlook 2003). I need to get a readable copy ASAP to Doctor
#2. I can probably get the original sender to re-send it again,
but not until Monday, which will be too late! This thing started
as a Word file (I have no idea of the version) but it obviously got
corrupted somehow in my computer!