Cannot open some Office files after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10

Anonymous
2015-08-06T07:01:10+00:00

Hi everyone,

This is Bryan from the Office team.  We are extremely sorry to learn that some of you are running into an issue with Office after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 where some of your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents are failing to open with various error messages, such as:

  • Word: “Word experienced an error trying to open the file”
  • Excel: “This file is corrupt and cannot be opened”
  • PowerPoint:
    • “The application was unable to start correctly"
    • “PowerPoint found a problem with <filename>"
    • “Sorry, PowerPoint can’t read <filename>"

[UPDATE - 8/25/2015]

On Monday, a fix went out to all Office 2013 Click-to-Run users that fixed the Protected View issue that was preventing some files from opening.  For those users, the Office applications would launch and even creating new documents worked fine; however, opening some files resulted in various error messages like above.  If you haven't already been prompted to install the August update, you can manually trigger by going into an Office application like Word, then select File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

There are other known issues that could also cause similar error messages, but those are not related to the specific Protected View issue.  Teams are working hard to determine the root cause and resolve those issues.  For instance, if you are running Windows 10 and Office is running in Windows compatibility mode for a prior version, you likely will also experience issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused due to this issue!

Sincerely,

Bryan

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-14T17:13:06+00:00

    I UPDATED TWO COMPUTERS. ONE WITH WINDOWS 10 HOME THE OTHER WITH WINDOWS 10 PRO.

    I CURRENTLY USE EXCEL 2007 ON A DAILY BASIS. AFTER UPDATING I HAVE FOUND THAT WHEN I HAVE TRIED TO USE AN EXISTING FILE OR WHEN I CREATE A NEW FILE ABOUT THE 2ND OR 3RD TIME I SAVE THE FILE EXCEL 2007 LOCKS UP AND SHOWS "NOT RESPONDING". THIS DOES NOT RESOLVE ITSELF AND AFTER A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME I AM FORCED TO USED THE TASK MANAGER TO END THE TASK.

    WHEN EXCEL2007 ENDS IT LOSES THE CURRENT FILE I AM WORKING WITH AND IT DELETES THE ORIGINAL FILE FROM THE HARD DRIVE LEAVING NO TRACE OF THE FILE.  AUTO RECOVER DOES NOT WORK.

    THIS HAPPENS ON BOTH MY COMPUTERS AND WITH EVERY FILE I HAVE TESTED IT WITH, INCLUDING NEWLY CREATED FILES.

    ALL SETTINGS SUCH AS AUTORECOVER ARE APPROPRIATELY SET BUT DO NOT SEEM TO FUNCTION.

    I HAVE RUN THE MICROSOFT DIAGNOSTIC TESTS AND THESE TESTS CANNOT FIND ANY PROBLEM.

    I HAVE BEEN FORCED TO GO BACK TO WINDOWS 7.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-08-14T22:54:51+00:00

    This does not work!

    I just spent 2 hours on the phone with your representative Manesh......and he hung up on me and never called me back!

    i cannot access my Word or any files

    Please help

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-15T01:19:31+00:00

    I also have tried both work around fixes and reinstalled Office 365 and no results.  The performance speed seems to be faster, but faster is not better when you can't use the Office Suite Programs.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-08-15T19:33:51+00:00

    Thanks very much for your post.  The only thing stopping me from doing what you did was I have preinstalled Office 2013 and couldn't find the product key.   TomKC

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-08-16T15:10:20+00:00

    Benoit,

    You are kidding, right?  All the money and technology available to you at Microsoft and nobody thought about installing the software into a few computers who had been running various versions of Windows and let them increase the intensity of their use to test possible issues with compatibility.  For the first time, I am considering using a Mac.  I am so disappointed about my experience with Windows 8 to the point that my new computer had to use 7 and now this.   I think I should short your stock today.  I am beyond frustrated and the lack of urgency on your behalf seems totally inappropriate.

    The problem is much worse if you upgraded from Windows 8.  Everything crashes, you get a message that says you have an unlicensed product, and the "workaround" doesn't work.  It was certainly a mistake to accept the upgrade.  My computer is now useless, and I'm overseas, so a call to Microsoft would cost a fortune.

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