Open Old Word Docs

[RalphClats]

Forgive me but it doesn't make sense that Word would be selectively corrupt. The app opens and lets me work on hundreds of newer docs. It's only the old docs from different versions of Word that don't open. Those docs used to open in earlier versions of Word but now in 16.53 they don't. So reason tells me there's an incompatibility when 16.53 tries to open docs created in much older versions. Semi-old docs open in "compatibility mode." Very old docs don't open at all. And that seems to be what the error message says: ". . . uses a file type that is blocked from opening this version."

 

[chscag]

Okay... then why is it when several of us who have older Word documents created with much older versions of Word than you have, can open those docs with the current version of Word?

 

[Rod]

I'm puzzled, I have .doc files dating back to 2005 which open perfectly well with MS Word (2018 MS Office for MacOS). I understand 365 is different but I cant believe MS would abandon early .doc files. Perhapes they have become corrupted by some other process?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I have the same problem - "file type is blocked" seems to indicate some sort of security thing imposed by Microsoft.

I've had this come up before. My understanding is that older Word file types present a security risk, so new versions of Word block them from opening by default. You have to use a work-around, below, to get them to open.

The solution is to use the File menu in Word to open the document.

1. In Word, on the File menu, click Open.
2. Click the document once to select it.
3. In the Open dropdown menu, select Recover Text, and then click Open.
   If you get a warning, click OK.
4. On the File menu, click Save As.
5. In the File Format dropdown, select Word Document (.docx), then click Save.

Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version - Microsoft Support

Make sure the latest Office updates have been installed if you can’t open a Word document that was created in an earlier version. You can also try using the File menu to open the document.

support.microsoft.com

 

[solowyer]

How can I open old Word docs that the current version of Word won't open?

One of the oldies is from 2002.

Using MacOS 11.3.1 and Word 16.53

Hi Ralph
I am still researching the challenge you have opening old word files. I think it would be easier if we communicated directl.

if you could do this one thing before replying..
1. take a screen shot of the list of files you can’t open
2. Control +click on one of the files then select get info, then take another screen shot of the info window.
3 attach these screen shots to a new mail file. Send it to me at


thanks
ernie.

 

[chscag]

@solowyer:

Do not include your private email address in a reply as that will draw spam. If you wish to communicate with someone, use the forum private mail where you can then include your email address.

Thanks.

 

[RalphClats]

I've had this come up before. My understanding is that older Word file types present a security risk, so new versions of Word block them from opening by default. You have to use a work-around, below, to get them to open.

The solution is to use the File menu in Word to open the document.

1. In Word, on the File menu, click Open.
2. Click the document once to select it.
3. In the Open dropdown menu, select Recover Text, and then click Open.
   If you get a warning, click OK.
4. On the File menu, click Save As.
5. In the File Format dropdown, select Word Document (.docx), then click Save.

Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version - Microsoft Support

Make sure the latest Office updates have been installed if you can’t open a Word document that was created in an earlier version. You can also try using the File menu to open the document.

support.microsoft.com

Randy and at least one other poster said they've come across the same problem. That workaround sounded very promising. I was surprised to find that as I followed the steps, when I brought up the list of files within the Word app, scores of docs that I had previously tried to open outside the Word app and couldn't were now grayed out and wouldn't let me select them by clicking to highlight.

If I go to the same list from the hard drive but not within the Word app, the same docs are not grayed out. If I click to open any, I get the same error message I've quoted above. I can open them in TextEdit but the text in many is scattered and mixed with extraneous characters that aren't part of the original text. Some are worse than others. Some I can read pretty easily, some I have to jump through the text and interpret.

 

[MacInWin]

I didn't read the entire thread to see if you had already provided this, but what is the extent on the files? (Extent is the part after the ".", so .doc, .docx, etc.) I ask because being greyed out in Word indicates that the files are not associated with Word for some reason. Word will grey out files with extents that don't match what it knows it can open. Given your problem, I'm beginning to think they are not .doc files, but something else.

 

[RalphClats]

I didn't read the entire thread to see if you had already provided this, but what is the extent on the files? (Extent is the part after the ".", so .doc, .docx, etc.) I ask because being greyed out in Word indicates that the files are not associated with Word for some reason. Word will grey out files with extents that don't match what it knows it can open. Given your problem, I'm beginning to think they are not .doc files, but something else.

None of those I can't open have an extension. The newer ones I can open don't have an extension either.

I've never used any app but Word to write documents, so I don't think the docs could have been created in any app but Word.

 

[RalphClats]

Hi Ralph
I am still researching the challenge you have opening old word files. I think it would be easier if we communicated directl.

if you could do this one thing before replying..
1. take a screen shot of the list of files you can’t open
2. Control +click on one of the files then select get info, then take another screen shot of the info window.
3 attach these screen shots to a new mail file. Send it to me at


thanks
ernie.

Hi Ernie,

I just tried to email you privately, but the window won't hold your screen name in the To slot. Every time I entered it and tried to send, your name disappeared and my post went nowhere.

Ralph

 

[RalphClats]

Okay... then why is it when several of us who have older Word documents created with much older versions of Word than you have, can open those docs with the current version of Word?

Three people said they've had the same problem or alluded to it.

 

[IWT]

Is it possible to have created a file of any sort on any computer that doesn’t have an extension? I ask out of genuine interest.

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...I can open them in TextEdit but the text in many is scattered and mixed with extraneous characters that aren't part of the original text. Some are worse than others. Some I can read pretty easily, some I have to jump through the text and interpret.

That is due to a feature that recent versions of Word don't have anymore. It is called "Fast Save." In older versions of Word there was a feature, enabled by default, that made saves take less time. It did this by appending changes to the end of the document rather than saving the entire document. When viewed in a text editor, a good part of an old Word document will show up as a mix of code and text. That part of the document is all of the fast saves stored at the end of the document. It isn't corruption, it's how Word used to save documents.

It may be that others here aren't having problems with their old Word documents because they disabled the Fast Save feature in Word back then. I know that I did, because disabling that feature made Word more stable.

I gave you a link to what Microsoft says that you need to do to open those older documents. If you can't use that article to open your older Word documents, I strongly suspect that no one here is going to be able to help you. I recommend that you go on a Microsoft MVP Web site and have a Microsoft MVP assist you.

 

[MacInWin]

In Finder, open Preferences and then go to the Advanced tab. It should look like this:


Put a tick in "Show all Filename Extensions" and if there are extents, they will show in Finder. Then look at these files again. Once you know what the extents are, you can return to Preferences and un-tick the box if you don't like seeing the extents.

 

[IWT]

Great idea, Jake. I had completely forgotten that feature.

Ian

 

[RalphClats]

That is due to a feature that recent versions of Word don't have anymore. It is called "Fast Save." In older versions of Word there was a feature, enabled by default, that made saves take less time. It did this by appending changes to the end of the document rather than saving the entire document. When viewed in a text editor, a good part of an old Word document will show up as a mix of code and text. That part of the document is all of the fast saves stored at the end of the document. It isn't corruption, it's how Word used to save documents.

It may be that others here aren't having problems with their old Word documents because they disabled the Fast Save feature in Word back then. I know that I did, because disabling that feature made Word more stable.

I gave you a link to what Microsoft says that you need to do to open those older documents. If you can't use that article to open your older Word documents, I strongly suspect that no one here is going to be able to help you. I recommend that you go on a Microsoft MVP Web site and have a Microsoft MVP assist you.

Please give me that link again. I saw it earlier, copied it and intended to paste and access it, but forgot to do that and now can't find it again.

Thank you.

 

[RalphClats]

In Finder, open Preferences and then go to the Advanced tab. It should look like this:
View attachment 34818

Put a tick in "Show all Filename Extensions" and if there are extents, they will show in Finder. Then look at these files again. Once you know what the extents are, you can return to Preferences and un-tick the box if you don't like seeing the extents.

Checked Finder Advanced and found Show all filename extensions already checked.

 

[MacInWin]

But these files don't have an extent, right? And that could be part of the problem. Word grays out files that don't have the "correct" extent. So a file with NO extent gets greyed out. Try changing the name of one of these files to add the .doc extent, then try again to open it from within Word. With the .doc, it should not be greyed out, although that is still no guarantee that Word can actually read it.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Please give me that link again. I saw it earlier, copied it and intended to paste and access it, but forgot to do that and now can't find it again.

Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version - Microsoft Support

Make sure the latest Office updates have been installed if you can’t open a Word document that was created in an earlier version. You can also try using the File menu to open the document.

support.microsoft.com

 

[Chaver4u]

How can I open old Word docs that the current version of Word won't open?

One of the oldies is from 2002.

Using MacOS 11.3.1 and Word 16.53

I have this problem for YEARS already.
My older Word files won't open in Word 16.53 (nor in half a dozen older versions).
But not all: some (of the same date, same topic, etc.) do open, others don't.
Of the ones that won't open, about half open in TextEdit, all garbled. The other half won't.
None open in LibreOffice.

Another oddity: one of my SSD backup drives with 10-20 years old Word files had every single name changed into FIL1111.DOC....etc. with the same date 01 June 2005. 2476 of them.
Trying to open them is about the same as the other files with intact names, as above.

Interesting fact: when I do a search for e.g. a certain person, all files are listed, the ones I cannot open and the ones with the strange FILxxxx.DOC names.

What can I do?

Robert
MacOS 11.6