Open Old Word Docs

[Randy B. Singer]

What can I do?

If the suggestions already posted here don't help, I recommend that you ask in the Microsoft Community:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-msoffice_OfH-mso_OPMac?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=all&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1

 

[chscag]

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.

Those file names are typical for files that have been scrambled by a defective or corrupt File Allocation Table.

Sounds like your backup SSD drive has problems. I would discontinue using that drive.

 

[RalphClats]

If the suggestions already posted here don't help, I recommend that you ask in the Microsoft Community:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-msoffice_OfH-mso_OPMac?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=all&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1

Just posted there with all the gory details. Thanks for the URL.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Just posted there with all the gory details. Thanks for the URL.

Please let us know what solution they come up with.

 

[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

Have you tried phoning Apple, they are usually pretty good at suggesting solutions

 

[RalphClats]

Please let us know what solution they come up with.

This is the suggestion from the Microsoft forum site:

"I am not sure where it will be on a Mac, but on a Windows computer, you would need to change the settings under File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>File Block Settings."

Then the commenter provided screenshots of what the settings are on a Windows computer.

I looked but didn't find anything like that on my Mac. Is it there but I missed it?

 

[chscag]

One of the problems with using the Microsoft Forums is that there are fewer MVPs for the Mac than there are for Windows. That stands to reason as there are more Windows users.

Try this page and click on "Community". Ask your same question there. This page is for Mac Office only.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=All&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1

 

[RalphClats]

One of the problems with using the Microsoft Forums is that there are fewer MVPs for the Mac than there are for Windows. That stands to reason as there are more Windows users.

Try this page and click on "Community". Ask your same question there. This page is for Mac Office only.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum?sort=LastReplyDate&dir=Desc&tab=All&status=all&mod=&modAge=&advFil=&postedAfter=&postedBefore=&threadType=All&isFilterExpanded=false&page=1

That's where the post shows. When you sign in, you narrow down to Word, Home, Mac before you post.

Is there anything like "File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>File Block Settings" on a Mac?

 

[chscag]

Is there anything like "File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>File Block Settings" on a Mac?

No, that's Windows only.

 

[RalphClats]

At the Microsoft forum, one poster suggested Zamzar.com or other converters.

Zamzar wants the current extension to convert to .docx

Mine have no extensions, nor can I add extensions.

Convertio works, offers two or three free, then wants $26 per month for unlimited conversions, cancel anytime.

I have hundreds to convert.

I can't pay, so I'll suffer through using TextEdit to access those I need.

 

[chscag]

Well, sorry to hear that. The no extension for those files has me puzzled. As I stated before, I have an archive of over a thousand Word files dating back to 1997 and every one of them has an extension. It's either doc or docx.

I guess you can struggle along with TextEdit or Notepad from Windows, but generally that will result in many funny characters and missing data.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Try this page and click on "Community". Ask your same question there. This page is for Mac Office only.

The link that I gave him was for Macintosh Office only.

There is no "Trust Center" in the Macintosh version of Office. The link that I gave in post #24 in this very thread directs you to what to do for the Macintosh version of Word. You need to ask in the Microsoft forum what to do when those instructions don't work for you.

Alternately, you can send me one or more of your old files that you can't get to open, and I can have a look and see what seems to be fubarred about them and see if I can fix them. Here is my direct e-mail address:

[email protected]

 

[RalphClats]

Well, sorry to hear that. The no extension for those files has me puzzled. As I stated before, I have an archive of over a thousand Word files dating back to 1997 and every one of them has an extension. It's either doc or docx.

I guess you can struggle along with TextEdit or Notepad from Windows, but generally that will result in many funny characters and missing data.

Exactly right about TextEdit. Some are readable but have what appears to be code above and below my text. Others have code — if that's what it is — mixed in with my text.

I can't explain why the docs have no extensions. I remember .doc before OSX and .docx after it, but not earlier. Any doc I create now has the .docx extension. Is there a toggle to turn showing extensions on and off? If so, maybe I created hundreds of docs not knowing I had toggled extensions off?

 

[chscag]

You can turn off File Extensions from the Finder Preferences.

 

[RalphClats]

You can turn off File Extensions from the Finder Preferences.

View attachment 34855

"Show all filename extensions" is checked on my current Mac. I don't know if it was checked on the several other Macs I've had since the '80s.

 

[chscag]

That's certainly possible. Also, I can't off hand remember where that option (file extensions) was located in some of the older versions of macOS. It may have been less obvious and easily overlooked.

Anyway, don't worry about it. Just do the best you can with opening and reading those older documents. You may be able to figure some of them out while others, maybe not.

 

[Slydude]

I would have to do some testing to be sure but I don't think the "show all filename extensions" option makes a difference in this case. It seems to me that all this does is controls whether the extension is shown to the user. If I am right the extension gets saved no matter what that setting says.

 

[chscag]

Hey Sly:

You may well be right, but it was the only thing I could think of that possibly excluded the file extensions from his older docs.

I know for a fact that if you exclude file extensions in Windows (that's an option) that it will get carried over to newer versions. I'm wondering now if macOS behaves the same way?

 

[jpdemers]

I just solved the problem by opening the affected files with OpenOffice (a free download), and saving as either .rtf or .odt files. The latter would seem to be preferred if you have elaborate formatting (styles, paragraph numbers, columns, etc.); the former is more universally readable, but that may not matter if you aren't sharing the files with other people.

Once it's saved in either of these formats, Word can open it without trouble.

 

[chscag]

Here's suggestion from one of our members that you can try:

Open Finder in List view, and right click on column headers and add the column for "Kind" to see what the system thinks those mysterious files are. That may give a clue where they were created. If they are Word files, the "kind" would show that.

Let us know.