Cannot open downloaded Word documents after Windows 10

Anonymous
2015-08-04T16:57:57+00:00

Hello,

I cannot open downloaded Word documents (powerpoint included) that I download onto my computer from email or my online class. This happened after I downloaded Windows 10. My spyware is turned off and it does not change anything. Any tips if there is something else turned on I can't figure out to open them? I tried going through word and in a "repair" view but it still wouldn't open.  

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 352.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-27T21:28:37+00:00

    What are the exact symptoms that you see? Are you trying to open an e-mail attachment?

    By default, many files, such as e-mail attachments, open in Read Mode and that mode does not allow editing in Word 2013 or 2016. At File | Options | General, clear the option to "Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view."

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-28T09:11:47+00:00

    It's any file I've downloaded - whether I'm the author or anybody else. They're on my desktop and I have to manually unlock them or right-click and select "edit" to see it. If I don't, I'm met with this error (picture). Of course there's nothing wrong with my RAM or disc space. And there's nothing wrong with the file; as I say it's a constant thing. Every. Time. And as I said, I can always open them if I manually choose "edit". ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/120dd0ad-3783-44e3-8fc0-fda037216df3?platform=QnA)

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  3. Stefan Blom 352.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-29T00:10:13+00:00

    Try repairing Office from Control Panel, in case this is a problem with file associations.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-29T03:49:26+00:00

    Try repairing Office from Control Panel, in case this is a problem with file associations.

    Hi. The offline repair worked. This didn't help, so I tried the online variant. This didn't work. I got an error code. Googling this, I was told I had to remove all traces of Office and reinstall it. But I couldn't uninstall Office. Clearly there was a deepseated problem here. Strangely enough, though - just installing it anew worked. Now it opens these files in protected view instead of refusing to open them. So that's confusing. W10 is not problem free, that's for sure. But problem solved!

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  5. Stefan Blom 352.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-29T09:50:30+00:00

    I'm glad you got things sorted—well, almost.

    Unfortunately, when the online repair just doesn't work properly, all you can do is uninstall Office completely (and sometimes manually) as discussed at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2013-Office-2016-or-Office-365-from-a-PC-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8.

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