Word 2007 XML/ZIP files, older Word and/or Open Office
 

I got emailed an attachment as a ZIP file yesterday. Tried saving it
and looking inside - several folders, lots of .XML files, and Word 2003,
which is what's on my machine, couldn't figure out how to open any of
them individually.

Today someone else on the email list said that if I had Word 2007, I
could save the ZIP as a DOC and open it in the newer Word. My older
word has a converter installed - I have no problems opening .DOCX files.
But this didn't work - I get the error message

Word cannot start the converts mswrd632.wpc

A bit of reading on the Internet shows nothing Word-2003-specific about
my error message and mentions a registry edit, followed by importing a
registry script from the MS site, as the fix. What I read also mentions
an early December, 2009 security "fix" from MS as the cause of the
problem.

Other than shoot myself or shoot the person who sent me this file, any
suggestions about a good way to get it to open would be appreciated. I
don't have Open Office on my main machine but I do have it on the
laptop - haven't tried this yet, all the sleight of hand with renaming
the attachment made me want to ask first.

NB: I have no intention of buying Office 2007 and you'd have to pay me,
not make me pay, to get it installed on my machine.

I have asked for the file in a .DOC or .DOCX format, but while I'm
waiting, I thought I'd see if there was a way to make it work with what
I've got.

Thanks in advance.

-S-

Re: Word 2007 XML/ZIP files, older Word and/or Open Office
 

§nühw¤£f wrote:
> "Steve Freides" <steve@kbnj.com> clouded the waters of pure thought
> with news:7sdmv9FdfjU1@mid.individual.net:
>
>> I got emailed an attachment as a ZIP file yesterday. Tried saving
>> it and looking inside - several folders, lots of .XML files, and
>> Word 2003, which is what's on my machine, couldn't figure out how
>> to open any of them individually.
>>
>> Today someone else on the email list said that if I had Word 2007,
>> I could save the ZIP as a DOC and open it in the newer Word. My
>> older word has a converter installed - I have no problems opening
>> .DOCX files. But this didn't work - I get the error message
>>
>> Word cannot start the converts mswrd632.wpc
>>
>> A bit of reading on the Internet shows nothing Word-2003-specific
>> about my error message and mentions a registry edit, followed by
>> importing a registry script from the MS site, as the fix. What I
>> read also mentions an early December, 2009 security "fix" from MS
>> as the cause of the problem.
>>
>> Other than shoot myself or shoot the person who sent me this file,
>> any suggestions about a good way to get it to open would be
>> appreciated. I don't have Open Office on my main machine but I do
>> have it on the laptop - haven't tried this yet, all the sleight of
>> hand with renaming the attachment made me want to ask first.
>>
>> NB: I have no intention of buying Office 2007 and you'd have to
>> pay me, not make me pay, to get it installed on my machine.
>>
>> I have asked for the file in a .DOC or .DOCX format, but while I'm
>> waiting, I thought I'd see if there was a way to make it work with
>> what I've got.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> -S-
>>
> Try reading the *unzipped* file with WinVi...it will let you see M$
> Word files without all the formatting.
> Or try Abiword which is very good.
>
> HTH

Thank you.

Was given a different solution by the person who sent the original file.
Reamed the .ZIP to .DOCX - works fine in Word 2003. Pretty strange
that exactly the same file, named .DOC, won't work, and named .DOCX, the
converter kicks in just fine, but that's the way it is. I should have
thought to try that but I didn't think it would make any difference.

Go figure, eh?

-S-