Can't open word. What to do if a Word document does not open

How to open word document?


Word is one of the most popular text editors. Basically, in order to open a document in doc format that is read by a text editor, no effort is required from the user. However, there are times when the document does not open. The reasons for this may be different, so in this article we will look at them in detail.

Also in the article you can find information on how to open documents in doc format and other text formats using similar text editors from Microsoft.

How to open a text document using word

That's enough simple operation, which even a child can handle.

  1. Need to choose text document which you want to open. Click on it right click mouse and select in context menu"Open with."
  2. Then you need to select the word text editor from the proposed list. This way you can open documents in docx, doc, dot, docm, xml, xps and others.

The user can also open in new versions text editor word documents that were saved in older versions. It should be taken into account, however, that some formats, for example, pdf, may not fully correspond to the original document when opened in a given text editor. It is recommended to open them in a specialized software adobe pdf reader.

If word does not open documents

One of the main reasons for text failure word editor open this or that document, the file becomes damaged. The damaged file can be recovered using the built-in recovery feature. To do this, open a text editor and go to the “File” tab, then “Open” and select “Open and Restore” from the pop-up menu.

This method is considered very effective, however, it does not guarantee the restoration of the entire text. Part of the file may still not
subject to restoration.

Also enough effective method is the use special program Recuva. It allows you to recover documents microsoft word, excel.

Another reason could be outdated version your text editor. You can easily update it on the Microsoft website, however, if you used a key obtained illegally, you will have to pay for the new version.

At the same time, Microsoft offers free analogues word text editor. It's about about the so-called viewer programs. They allow you to open and view as well as print text. However, their functionality is very limited compared to the full package. You can download these analogs using these links.

There are several reasons why the “The file cannot be opened because there are problems with its contents” error occurs in Word. If MS Office is English, the message will look like this: “We’re sorry. We can’t open “FileName” because we found a problem withits contents".

How to resolve the error “The file cannot be opened because there are problems with its contents”

The easiest way to correct an error that occurs when opening a Word document is to right-click on the file and select the “Restore previous version” option.


Very often this happens due to incorrect saving of the file. It is saved in the wrong format. To fix this, you need to restore the correct format. In this case, Word will display a message that the file is damaged and will offer to restore it. You must confirm your consent to restoration. After this procedure, if the operation is completed successfully, the information will open.

  1. Also, the error “The file cannot be opened due to problems with its contents” may occur if the “hidden file” attribute is set in the properties.
  2. In this case, when you select “Details,” the message “The file has been damaged” appears. Next, the recovery wizard will prompt you to “Try restoring the contents?” Here we must agree.
  3. In most cases, the recovery is successful, but sometimes it happens that the system displays the error “the file has been blocked to protect the computer.”
  4. In this case, regardless of the user’s choice (the options include: unlock, confirm the file format during conversion, restore via Office), most likely there will be hieroglyphs instead of text.

Then you need to try opening this document third party application eg Notepad. To try to save the contents you need to:

  1. Right-click on the file;
  2. Select “Open with” from the drop-down menu;
  3. Select Notepad;
  4. If there is no such item in the menu, you must click “Select another application”;
  5. A new dialog box will open. In it, scrolling is available on the right;
  6. You also need to select Notepad;
  7. If the required application is not in this list, you need to scroll to the end of the list and select the option “Find another application on this computer;
  8. A new dialog box will open with the "Open with" option;
  9. Next, you need to specify the location of the Notepad.exe program (most often it is located: C:\WINDOWS\system32\notepad.exe;
  10. Confirm your choice.

For example, Microsoft files Office will be displayed in hieroglyphs with words starting with the letters “PK”. Another situation may occur, for example, the document opens empty, then the contents are lost.

How to recover lost data after an error

To recover lost files, you can use recovery programs. Recuva is considered one of the simplest and highest quality. But such a restoration has its drawbacks. The main one is the time factor. The program may take several hours to complete. This means that it is useless if the file needs to be restored urgently.

In this case, you can try another method. You need to open the archiver file and select document.xml. All edits in document.xml are carried out in any editor text files. Further instructions are given in great detail in this manual. It will be useful to users who understand what tags are and how to work with them.

Often the source of this error is the formulas that the user tries to add to the document. The main way to solve the problem is that the name of the end tag of the element must be identical to the start tag.

To prevent this from happening to documents, it is recommended to do this regularly backup copy(backup) important files. To do this, you can use both paid and free programs. Among free programs Handy Backup is considered the undisputed leader. It is also recommended to keep at least one copy on removable media(usbflash or usbhdd).

In addition, it is necessary to regularly update your computer software and check it for viruses. This is the only way to protect yourself and your documents from errors such as “The file cannot be opened due to problems with its contents.”

When you try to open an Excel workbook, Word document, or PowerPoint presentation The following errors may occur in Excel, Word, or PowerPoint.

    The file does not open in the required application. For example, Excel workbook does not open in Excel 2019, but in another application or an earlier version of Excel.

    You may receive an error message indicating a file association problem. For example, you may see the message There is no program associated with this file to perform this action. Install the program or, if it is already installed, create an association using the Default Programs component of Control Panel

    This action is only allowed for installed products.

Help in solving the problem

    Click this button to download the Easy Fix Tool and try to fix the problem.

    Select your browser from the drop-down list to see instructions for saving and then running the file.

    1. Save.

      In the next message window officefile.diagcab download complete click the button Open.

      Next and follow the instructions.

      At the bottom of the browser window, click Open to open the file officefile.diagcab.

      If the file does not open automatically, select Save > Open folder and then double-click the file (its name must start with officefile) to run the simple fix tool.

      The mapping wizard will start Office files. Click Next and follow the instructions.

      Select file in the lower left corner officefile, and then select from the drop-down list Show in folder.

      Double click the downloaded file officefile to run the easy fix tool.

      The Office File Association Wizard will launch. Click Next and follow the instructions.

      In the upper right corner of the browser window, click Show all downloads. In the Library window, select Downloads > officefile.diagcab, and then click the folder icon. Double click the file officefile.

      The Office File Association Wizard will launch. Click Next and follow the instructions.

Fast recovery to resolve file association issues

    Click the "Start" button.

    Note: Start > Control Panel and skip the next step.

    Now select the Office application you want to restore and click the button Change.

    Select "Quick Recovery" and click the button Restore.

For more information about the restore feature in Office, see the article Repair an Office application.

If the problem is still not resolved, try to map the files to the correct applications manually.

Manually matching files with the desired application Office

    Click the "Start" button.

    Note: If you have Windows 7, click Start > Control Panel and skip the next step.

    Search for "Control Panel" and click the result that appears.

    Select an item Default programs(If you don't see it, type "Default Programs" into the search box in the top right corner of the window and press ENTER.)

    Select an item Setting default programs.

    Select the Office app that isn't opening correctly and select "Set this program as default."

    Click OK.

Advice: Repeat this procedure for other Office applications as needed.

If you have multiple versions of Microsoft Office installed...

You may want to remove unnecessary versions. To do this:

    Click the "Start" button.

    Note: If you have Windows 7, click Start > Control Panel and skip the next step.

    Search for "Control Panel" and click the result that appears.

    Select "Uninstall a program", and then select the version of Office you want to uninstall.

    Click Delete.

    Restart your computer.

If you have too many versions of Office installed on your computer, it can cause problems, including opening files in the wrong version of Office.

Advice: In some cases, it's best to uninstall ALL versions of Office and then install only the one you need.

If the problem cannot be resolved...

You always have the option to open the application first and then open the file from it. To do this:

    Launch the program in which you want to open the document (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint).

    In the program, select File > Open, and then in the file navigator, find the file and open it.

When you try to open an Excel workbook, a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation with Excel, Word, or PowerPoint, the following errors may occur:

    The file doesn’t open in the expected application. For instance, an Excel workbook doesn’t open in Excel 2019; instead, it opens in another app or an older version of Excel.

    An error indicating a file association problem may occur. For instance, you may get an error similar to “ This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. please install a program or if one is already installed create an associate in the default programs control panel"

    This action is only valid for products that are currently installed

Note: If you"ve tried to open an Excel workbook but instead Excel only opens a blank screen see: Excel 2016 opens to a blank screen .

Fix it for me

    Click this easy fix button to attempt to resolve this issue.

    Select your browser from the drop-down list to see how to save and then launch the file.

    1. Save.

      In the next box that indicates officefile.diagcab is finished downloading, click Open.

      Next and follow the prompts.

      At the bottom of the browser window, select Open to open the officefile.diagcab file.

      If the file doesn’t open automatically, choose Save > Open Folder, and then double-click the file (it should start with " officefile") to run the easy fix tool.

      The Office File Association wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

      In the lower-lower left corner select the officefile file and from the drop down, select Show in folder.

      Double-click the download, officefile, to run the easy fix tool.

      The Office File Association wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

      Select Save File, and then OK.

      In the upper-right browser window, select Show all downloads. In the Library, select Downloads > officefile.diagcab, and then select the folder icon. Double-click the officefile.

      The Office File Association wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

Run a Quick Repair to fix the file association problem

    Click the Start button

    Note: Start > Control Panel

    Choose Programs > Programs and Features.

    Next, select the Office product you want to repair and then choose Change.

    Choose the Quick Repair option and then choose Repair.

For more information about the repair option in Office, go to Repair an Office application.

If that doesn't resolve the issue try manually associating the files to the correct app.

Manually associate files to the correct Office app

If you have multiple versions of Microsoft Office...

Consider uninstalling the versions you don"t need. To do that:

    Click the Start button

    Note: If you"re using Windows 7, just click Start > Control Panel then you can skip to step 3, below.

    Type and choose "Control Panel"

    Choose Uninstall a Program and select the version of Office you want to remove.

    Click Uninstall.

    Restart your computer.

Having too many versions of Office on your computer can cause issues, including files opening in the wrong version of Office.

Tip: In some cases you"ll get your best result by uninstalling ALL versions of Office, then reinstalling just the version you want.

If all else fails..

You should still be able to open your file by opening the application first, then opening the file from there. To do that:

    Start the program needed to access your document; Word, Excel or PowerPoint

    When the program opens, click File> Open, find your file in the file navigator and open it.

Error when opening Word file. There is a solution. Word error when trying to open a file

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I decided to write a short post regarding everyone’s favorite Word program.

And we'll talk about the error of opening a file in Word, which I'm already fed up with. I decided to deal with it today. And this is what I came to. So, when receiving files in Word format, everything was downloaded normally and displayed on my computer.

But when opening the files, a Word error popped up when trying to open the file. How can we solve this Word error?

Error opening Word file. Word, error when opening a file. Step by step solution...

Open Word. At the top left click “File”

then go to “Settings”, look for “Trust Control Center” in the list that opens. Click on it.

Afterwards it opens new tab, where we look for “Protected View”, click on this button. After all these manipulations, a window will open in which we need to uncheck the first three lines; there are four lines with checkboxes.

The three lines are:

  • Enable protected browsing for files from the Internet;
  • Enable Protected View for files in potentially unsafe locations;
  • Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.

We remove the checkboxes from the above restrictions, save the settings and open the file that we did not open. It should be opening now.

Remove protected browsing

In my case, it was, of course, possible to disable only the first restriction, that is, “Enable Protected View for files from the Internet,” since I received the file from the etxt.ru service via the Internet, but in order not to return again to the Trust Center in Word, I advise you to uncheck all three boxes for protected views.

By the way, at etxt.ru, copywriters earn good money.

So, to summarize: open Word/File/Options/Trust Center/Trust Center Settings/Protected View/Uncheck the first three checkboxes.

The window with the initial text “Word error when trying to open the file...” will no longer pop up.

Error when opening a Word file - now you know how to fix it! Good luck with Word.

P.S. I am attaching a screenshot of my earnings in affiliate programs. Moreover, I remind you that anyone can earn money this way, even a beginner! The main thing is to do it correctly, which means learning from those who are already making money, that is, from Internet business professionals.

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