"error in the Microsoft Word previewer"

Anonymous
2010-08-06T03:09:22+00:00

Is there a fix for this problem?

I have Office 2010 operating on Windows 7 64 bit

When I select File >> Open and click on a Word file (new format or 2003 format) the preview pane has a message as follows

"This file can't be previewed because of an error in the Microsoft Word previewer"

Even if I create a new document and save it, trying to see it in the File Open dialog box gives the same message

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2011-01-20T22:10:35+00:00

Take a look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983097 for workarounds.

Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

42 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2012-01-03T19:36:56+00:00

    Actually, if you're using Word 2010--and the original query was about Word 2010--you'll be happy to know that AutoComplete tips for AutoText was restored in Word 2010, although the implementation is different from Word 2003 and earlier. Note that AutoText expansion using the F3 key continued to be present in Word 2007 (and in Word 2010), but AutoComplete suggestions were gone in Word 2007. That's the aspect that was restored in Word 2010.

    So... if you're not seeing them in Word 2010:

    First, go to File - Options - Advanced, and under Editing Options, enable Show AutoComplete suggestions.

    Next... because of a very longstanding bug in Word, AutoComplete suggestions do not appear if the document window is displaying the horizontal scroll bar. So, you'd either need to increase the window size or reduce the zoom such that the horizontal scroll bar goes away.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-01-03T19:22:49+00:00

    I agree!  The top of this thread says '15 people have this problem."  But I'm sure it's a lot  more than that!  And the autotext has been removed from the program!  I used to use that constantly!

    Thank you.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-01-03T19:12:15+00:00

    Happy New Year.  Here we are in 2012 Microsoft and no fix for it's Office 2010 bugs.  The fix for this apparently is to preview word documents through Excel?  Oh come on.  This slows me down tremendously when I'm scanning for a certain letter, etc.  I don't understand why something that worked so well in the 2003 Office doesn't work for 2010.  THis also includes the autotext issue working sporadically.  Hello...is anyone working on these issues, or does it  just not matter?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2011-12-31T15:29:04+00:00

    All I know is that I'm still getting the same intermittent results I've been getting for years. I have three monitors, so I can afford the screen real estate to keep Windows Explorer open all the time. And, that's my work-around. When I need to see previews, I use Windows Explorer. I do not know if this is actually being worked on or if, instead, all resources are going into the next version of Office. If the latter, I sure hope this is on their list of long-broken things they plan to fix.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments