Share via

How to convert .doc files to .docx files by ignoring the template references.

Anonymous
2022-05-13T06:20:33+00:00

Hello Everyone,

We are facing issues on templates for older documents(.doc). The requirement is to convert the .doc file into .docx format and upload into FileNet system. Challenging is these doc files are using some templates(.dot) which are shared on a remote server. That server no longer in existence.

When we try to open these documents, it is taking forever to open in search of those template files(.dot).

To achieve this, we have already tried following options, but could not succeed.

1.Initially, we tried with doc to docx conversion using C#. It was working fine till Nov'2021. After that, there was a Microsoft office update got installed on the machines across the account, then on it is not able to convert the files.

  1. We tried to convert the doc files (having templates) to PDF using Microsoft Power Automate flow as we did not get any options to convert it to DOCX directly using flow.
  2. Also, we tried to use multiple docs(.doc) to docx convertor tools, but none could resolve (Convert) the issue due to templates.
  3. We tried VBA script for convert the DOC to DOCX without opening the document while conversion. It did not work as well.

Please help us on how to convert .doc files to .docx files by ignoring the templates.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

3 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-05-13T07:00:04+00:00

    When a document is opened on a machine on which the template, from which the document was created. is not available, by default, Word attaches the Normal.dotm template to that document and that normally does not significantly impact the time taken to open the document.

    There are however other features of a document that can significantly impact the time that it takes to open documents, one of those being links to other documents that may not be available, particularly when those links are in a header or footer that may not be present in the document.

    If you send me a copy of some of the documents, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2022-05-23T13:46:03+00:00

    Hello Nikhil Nishant,

    Thanks for posting back.

    We understand you want to convert .doc files to .docx files by ignoring the template references, as when you open the document, it takes more than 20 minutes to open.

    Considering you have lakhs of files, you don't want to manually change the template, and you cannot share the documents. In this situation, since we notice you post this question in For business category, we suppose you have Microsoft 365 business subscription, if yes, we sincerely recommend you try to let your Microsoft 365 administrator help you create a support ticket for this case. The support team over there has higher permission than us to remotely help you investigate the issue, they have more resource and correct escalation channel to help you look for solutions for your requirement. This would be a more efficient way in handling this case for you.

    For your reference: Get support | Microsoft Docs   How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin   

    Your patience and understanding are highly appreciated. Hope you are keeping safe and well!

    Best Regards,

    Tina

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2022-05-13T07:15:47+00:00

    Hi Doug,

    Thank you for your inputs. we are unable to provide you the documents as they contain client related data.

    The thing happening is, when we open the document, it is contacting with some network path, then try to download the template and that's make it more than 20 mins to open that doc. Once, the document is open, we can change the template to normal or none and save it, then it's working fine. Since, we have lakhs of file, it is not possible to manually change the template.

    0 comments