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Unable to open older DOC files in Word 2007

Anonymous
2020-04-26T02:07:51+00:00

Hey guys,

I know there have been similar threads on here, but this specific scenario doesn't seem appear much, or when it does, it offers a solution that doesn't work here.

I'm using Office 2007 on Windows 10, and when I try to open some old doc files (for example, songs I wrote many years ago), it comes up with this error:

You are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office.  This file type is blocked from opening in this version by your registry policy setting.

This error occurs if you try to open a Microsoft Office document and the file type for that document has been blocked by a registry policy setting. To help secure your computer, Microsoft or the administrator of this computer implemented a registry policy setting that prevents opening this type of file.

To open documents with this file type, disable the registry policy setting. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 922850.

I've tried following steps in other threads and pages by checking my Registry policy, and nothing shows for Microsoft Office.  Additionally, in Trust Centre settings, there is no option for registry policy.

Please help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2020-04-27T07:05:27+00:00

The files sent to me were Word 2 or earlier Binary Documents and to open them in Word that is part of Office 365, it was necessary to change the File Block Settings to allow opening of such files.

An alternative that I have just tested is to open them in Google Docs, which does not have a problem with that file type.

If you have more files that you want to open, I would suggest opening them in Google Docs from where you can then use File>Download>Microsoft Word (.docx) to get them into a format that you can open in Word 2007.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-04-26T02:48:43+00:00

    File Block Settings does not appear:

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  2. Stefan Blom 342.8K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-04-26T08:28:46+00:00

    In word 2007, there is no user interface for the File Block Settings. You have to edit the registry directly. See "Opening a file is blocked by your registry policy setting or File Block settings in Word" (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-au/office/troubleshoot/word/opening-file-blocked-by-registry-policy).

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-04-26T02:38:13+00:00

    In Word, go to File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>File Block Settings and uncheck the box for the type of file that you are trying to open

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-04-27T05:01:52+00:00

    I have tried this step, and again, the listed directory does not exist.

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