My saved documents are no longer the W icons but orange icons that I can't open. Please help.

Anonymous
2013-09-11T14:30:26+00:00

My saved word documents no longer have the W icon but rather an orange icon that I can't open.  Spent 10 mins phoning Microsoft at great expense.  No answer Any help?

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
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2013-09-12T10:58:51+00:00

Please try to uninstall Microsoft office 2010 from program list in Programs and features. It will appear there with most recent date of installation. After uninstall of that application, Microsoft office 2010 Starter should work as before the update.

*This will not uninstall your office starter

Detailed steps:

  1. Click Start, then click Uninstall program if you cannot see it click “Programs and features”
  2. Click Control Panel
  3. Click “Uninstall program” if you do not see it click “Programs and features”
  4. On the program list locate “Microsoft office 2010” not “Microsoft office 2010 Starter”
  5. Right click Microsoft office 2010 and click on uninstall option
  6. When uninstall finishes restart windows

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

169 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-15T04:03:51+00:00

    I am having the same problem!  At first everything had orange icons, but I somehow switched it to the icon of a transcription software that I use, and now everything in Word is trying to open with that.  I had a trial version of Microsoft Office, which I think I successfully removed, but I still can't get things to revert back to normal.  I'm very much a newbie, so I don't understand anything about the conversation about going into Explorer and trying to fix it from there.  I'm using Word 2002.  Could someone please give me step by step instructions, please??  I have no Office on my computer now that I know of.  I just need to be able to open my emails from my boss and save the attachments in Word and have everything back to normal!  Thanks

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-09-14T23:24:15+00:00

    While this is true for retail versions of Office, it does not apply to Office Starter. Some users report success choosing "Microsoft Office Client Virtualization Handler," but others, following advice in these forums and Microsoft's Help pages online, have found that they have unintentionally uninstalled Office Starter and can't get it back. This is a serious issue and has been escalated to the Word product group. Unfortunately, we probably can't hope for any action over the weekend.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-14T19:48:56+00:00

    The easiest way to handle this (happened to me today, Sept. 14, 2013, after early a.m. automatic updates):

    Right click on one of your Word docs and select Open With > Choose Default Program.  Select Microsoft Word; ensure that "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is CHECKED.  Click OK.  All of your files will refresh with typical icon and with your normal click(s), open.

    Do this for Excel files similarly affected. 

    EASY!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-09-14T18:20:39+00:00

    This solved the problem!  In Windows 7, however, I clicked "Start," then "Control Panel," then "Programs."  Under "Programs and Features" click "Uninstall a program" then follow AntoniaMajerxyz's instructions exactly for steps 4-6.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments