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I can't seem to "preview" document files in Explorer, most types anyway.
Image viewers still seem to work.
If I open the Preview pane, then select any .TXT, .DOC, or .XLS files, the Preview pane says:
"This file can't be previewed because of an error in the Windows TXT previewer."
"This file can't be previewed because of an error in the Microsoft Office Word previewer."
"This file can't be previewed because of an error in the Microsoft Office Excel previewer."
Any ideas as to what might be causing this?
(Running Windows 7 Professional)
J_Mack
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I found a solution that seems to have worked for me. In Microsoft Word I went to:
Office Button -> Word Options -> Resources, and clicked on "Run Microsoft Office Diagnostics." It took a while. It found one installation issue as the very last test of 40 tests. I closed Word and re-opened, and the previews are now working again.
Your fix was exactly what I needed! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I too found that an Avery template was the ultimate culprit to blame for my vanished previews. I had spent hours looking for an answer, but only came up with the same useless advice to make sure that all the proper options were selected to enable previews. Once I uninstalled Avery Wizard 3.1, the previews immediately reappeared.
result of test was it found some corrupt files, but could not fix them. The were listed in the windows logs\CBS\CBS.log, but when I tried to access them I ran into a dead end which told me that I could not access them. I am no better off. I need to fix my windows previewer. Any other help? Please advise.
I don't have a solution, but here's my experience. I have had this problem periodically. Today, in Explorer (Win7 with all updates, release version of Office 2010 Home & Student with all updates), when I selected any .docx file I got the message “This file can’t be previewed because of an error in the Microsoft Word previewer.” (Word 2010 was open at the time. I don't know whether this has any impact on the problem.) Other files displayed as expected. I found this forum and other related links over a year old reporting the same problem with earlier versions of Windows and Office. The above kb article stating there is no workaround is dated 8/26/10. I had closed Explorer. When I reopened it, .doc, .docx and other files previewed correctly. However, when I changed directories in Explorer, none of the files displayed a preview - not even a preview error message. The preview pane was blank, even after I togged it on and off a few times. I happened to select an .flv file which displayed “preview not available.” and then, when no files were selected, the preview said “Select a file to preview.” I closed and reopened Explorer again, got the “Select a file to preview” message, and all other files previewed correctly, even after I changed directories. Meanwhile, I'll hold off on using sfc /scannow or uninstalling any add-ons, even though those solutions might help.
I know this is a bit late, but surely the answer is here:-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983097
which says it's a known issue with NO workaround........... Mind you if that's the case, the canned answer my Microsoft seems rather silly.............
