Cannot open Word doc. Error: document name or path is not valid
i asked this question in a directly related thread without noticing it was closed and most likely not to be viewed by anyone ever again, so i'll ask it in my own qustion. btw, the solution listed in that other thread with the remarkably similar name did NOT work for me.
anyhow, here we are:
i'm running winXP sp3, word XP fully updated, etc...etc...etc...
the document we can not open was NOT received via email as with some other people. it was created by the girl on her work laptop with a stock ghost image we use, so i know there's nothing kooky on her system that's not on mine--this happens on both of our computers btw, so that elimates a lot of things. it does open in wordpad, but she had formatting on it that wordpad loses, so she'd rather not use that route. going into word and doing file, open does not work either.
temp files have been cleared (but that's most likely moot since it happens on a sales girl's machine and an IT guy's machine--we don't run in the same circles of documents and websites), office and winXP are both current as far as updates, this is not a virus--nor a naming issue (the file is called "manual.doc").
anyone have any suggestions? i saw a suggestion somewhere that this may be a "smart tags" issue within the document...anyone care to comment or maybe provide some insight and perhaps a solution?
anyhow, here we are:
i'm running winXP sp3, word XP fully updated, etc...etc...etc...
the document we can not open was NOT received via email as with some other people. it was created by the girl on her work laptop with a stock ghost image we use, so i know there's nothing kooky on her system that's not on mine--this happens on both of our computers btw, so that elimates a lot of things. it does open in wordpad, but she had formatting on it that wordpad loses, so she'd rather not use that route. going into word and doing file, open does not work either.
temp files have been cleared (but that's most likely moot since it happens on a sales girl's machine and an IT guy's machine--we don't run in the same circles of documents and websites), office and winXP are both current as far as updates, this is not a virus--nor a naming issue (the file is called "manual.doc").
anyone have any suggestions? i saw a suggestion somewhere that this may be a "smart tags" issue within the document...anyone care to comment or maybe provide some insight and perhaps a solution?
It might have a VBA macro called Document_Open in the ThisDocument module or AutoOpen in any module
ASKER
"Do you get an error message when you try to open this file in Word? Does the document has security protections? Thanks.
Dude02"
yes, this is where the error. i cannot open it by double clicking on it nor opening it from within Word. if by "word" you mean wordpad, yes i can--but it loses a lot of the formatting the girl did and short of recreating the file from the basic text that RTF provides for her, she'd rather get the original back.
also, as an adminstrator on her system as well as my own, i have full permissions on the file and the residing folder as well. she's also an administrator on her own system and the author of the file and did not put any special permissions on it or anything like that. this was just a regular Word doc.
btw, we've both rebooted.
"It might have a VBA macro called Document_Open in the ThisDocument module or AutoOpen in any module"
eh?
Dude02"
yes, this is where the error. i cannot open it by double clicking on it nor opening it from within Word. if by "word" you mean wordpad, yes i can--but it loses a lot of the formatting the girl did and short of recreating the file from the basic text that RTF provides for her, she'd rather get the original back.
also, as an adminstrator on her system as well as my own, i have full permissions on the file and the residing folder as well. she's also an administrator on her own system and the author of the file and did not put any special permissions on it or anything like that. this was just a regular Word doc.
btw, we've both rebooted.
"It might have a VBA macro called Document_Open in the ThisDocument module or AutoOpen in any module"
eh?
hi,
is there a chance that the document was created in Office 2007. there a update with microsoft for openeing files created/modifed in office 2007.
Office 2007 Conv pack - search for that and install that, i have opened a few files before...
is there a chance that the document was created in Office 2007. there a update with microsoft for openeing files created/modifed in office 2007.
Office 2007 Conv pack - search for that and install that, i have opened a few files before...
Is this file on the network? If it is, can you right click on it and look at the target path? Does Windows recognize the file as a word file? Thanks.
Dude02
Dude02
A macro is a bit of user programming. If it has one of those two names it will run automatically and perhaps have a problem finding a file that it is programmed to do.
However, perhaps you should see this article by Microsoft first.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837016
However, perhaps you should see this article by Microsoft first.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837016
ASKER
created in OfficeXP and attempted opening in the same. no need for the 2007 conv pack as neither one of us use 2007. i did try to open it in Office 2003 and no luck there either. the same for the "open & repair" option.
no, it's not on the network. i tried opening it from my computer mapped to her drive and still no luck. moved it to my local and still the same. windows does see it as a Word doc.
the user claims there is nothing special about the file. i double checked there were no macros. thanks for the link, GrahamSkan, but i should have pointed out Microsoft's website was relatively useless in this case as the only pertaining article was for Office 2003, a version which has very little bearing on this situation. i tried to open it with a fully updated Office 2003 as the article suggests but with no luck.
i'm at the point where i'm leaning towards a corrupt file and i'm looking into a recovery program that i've been recommended for $79 which i would rather avoid due to the outright cost. in order to try a new direction of troubleshooting, are there any other suggestions for repairing a potentially corrupt file?
no, it's not on the network. i tried opening it from my computer mapped to her drive and still no luck. moved it to my local and still the same. windows does see it as a Word doc.
the user claims there is nothing special about the file. i double checked there were no macros. thanks for the link, GrahamSkan, but i should have pointed out Microsoft's website was relatively useless in this case as the only pertaining article was for Office 2003, a version which has very little bearing on this situation. i tried to open it with a fully updated Office 2003 as the article suggests but with no luck.
i'm at the point where i'm leaning towards a corrupt file and i'm looking into a recovery program that i've been recommended for $79 which i would rather avoid due to the outright cost. in order to try a new direction of troubleshooting, are there any other suggestions for repairing a potentially corrupt file?
ASKER
and i know what a macro is...i just didn't quite get how i was going to attempt to disable it when i couldn't get the document open in the first place.
:)
:)
There aren't too many differences between Office XP (2002) and 2003, so I thought it was worth trying.
If it is not too large, and not confidential, you could attach it here, and we can see if it's fixable.
If it is not too large, and not confidential, you could attach it here, and we can see if it's fixable.
ASKER
it's internal for training purposes--and the company is in the middle of a buyout, so i'd rather not consider it safe for public consumption.
You can set macro security to Very High. Or you can prevent Auto macros from running it you hold the shift key down while opening the document.
ASKER
we've given up on it and she's resolved to recreate the document from what was salvaged by Wordpad. how do i close the question out?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
she's going to rework the document from what she could salvage in Wordpad.
thanks for the help.
thanks for the help.
Dude02