"Word experienced an error trying to open the file"

Anonymous
2011-02-26T16:39:36+00:00

Since installing Office 2010, I am unable to open any Office files (Word, Excel, etc.) that have been either e-mailed to me or transfered on a flash drive.  The following error message appears; "Word experienced an error trying to open the file".  Any ideas on how I can open these?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-05-08T08:44:15+00:00

To get round this – right click on the file and select properties.

Next click unblock.

Because you noted the file came from an outside source, this is the new procedure, Please indicate this was helpful if it solved your problem. The indicated answer on this page appears to only be another question.

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Anonymous
2011-08-16T17:29:02+00:00

Suzanne,

I don't know if the following will be helpful to you, but maybe you could give me advice. I would like to know if what I did could be problematic for a computer in my office.   I experienced a similar problem as did "Goonerbu".  Here were the actual error messages. Different messages for different files.

Excel error - "The file is corrupt and cannot be opened" error on office 2010 Excel while opening .xls files

Word error - Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Try these suggestions.

* Check the file permissions for the document or drive.

* Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space

* Open the file with the Text Recovery converter

When I checked the Trust Center Settings as recommended above the file Excel2007 workbook was not check. The only items that were checked were the following.

  • Excel 4 Workbooks
  • Excel 4 Worksheets
  • Excel 3 Worksheets
  • Excel 2 Worksheets
  • Excel 4 Macrosheets and Add-in Files
  • Excel 3 Macrosheets and Add-in Files
  • Excel 2 Macrosheets and Add-in Files

HERE IS WHAT I DID TO RESOLVE.

  • Click file>options
  • Click Trust Center>Trust Center Settings
  • Click Protected View
  • Uncheck the following boxes
  • Enable Protected View for Files originating from the Internet
  • Enable Protected View for Files located in potentially unsafe locations
  • Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments

Is there any problem with what I did to resolve it?

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2011-08-09T03:49:53+00:00

Go to File | Options | Trust Center and click Trust Center Settings...  Select File Block Settings and clear the check boxes for the file types you want not to be blocked.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-10-24T14:31:04+00:00

    PaulKulas and MicrosoftRocks definitely deserve the points for answering this post! From their information I was able to create a very specific internal Knowledgebase article for my companny. Here it is:

    Problem

    ·       You attempt to open a password protected Office document (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc) from a website or an email and are presented with one of the following error screens:

                 "Word experienced an error trying to open the file"

                 "Excel experienced an error trying to open the file"

                 "Powerpoint experienced and error trying to open the file"

    ·       This error may also appear when trying to open standard, non-password protected, Office document from a website or within Outlook 2010.

    Environmental

    ·       Office 2010

    Audience

    ·       Everyone

    Cause

    ·       The Office program not allowing you to open the document is caused by the new Protected View settings in Office 2010. Protected view opens potentially dangerous files, without any security prompts, in a restricted mode to help minimize harm to your computer. An example of Protected View working in Office 2010 is when you open a Word document from a website or an email, a yellow security bar titled "Protected View" displays at the top of the window. In order to edit or print the file, you must click on the "Enable Editing" button.

    Resolution

    There are two ways to work around this issue. The recommended course of action is to save the document to the desktop and manually unblock it to view its contents. To do this:

    1.     Save the file to your computer (Desktop, or My Documents).

    2.     Right-click the file, choose Properties.

    3.     On the General Tab, click the "Unblock" button. Click Apply, then OK.

    4.     Double-click on the file to open it.

    The other option is to disable Protected View entirely. 

    **Microsoft does not recommend disabling Protected View since it can expose your computer to possible security threats. This option should be a last resort.  One thing to note is that Disabling Protected View in one Office 2010 application (such as Microsoft Word) does not automatically disable it for any other Office 2010 application. You must disable Protected View in all Office programs one-by-one. Excel, etc. To disable Protected View:

    1.     Open Word, Excel, or Powerpoint.

    2.     Click File > Options.

    3.     Click "Trust Center", then click the Trust Center Settings button.

    4.     Click "Protected View".

    5.     Remove the check marks from these options:

    Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet

    Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.

    Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.

    6.     Click Apply, OK. Close the Office application and attempt to open the document again.

    References

    ·       http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_2010-word/word-experienced-an-error-trying-to-open-the-file/07b539fa-c641-e011-9767-d8d385dcbb12

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-10-21T20:28:40+00:00

    This answer worked for me.  Thank you!

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