doesn't word automatically open a doc/docx file when I double click on a file

Question

Why doesn't word automatically open a doc/docx file when I double click on a file? Only the program opens without the content of the document (greyed out). You can only open a file through the word open menu and selecting the file from the list of documents. Please help.

Answer 1

Hi @Andrzej Wysocki,

Did this problem only appear in Word? How about other applications?

What kind of file format did the document?

Try to create .docx, .doc or other kinds of document format, then test if this issue is still existed.

You can also try to do an online repair for Office:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/repair-an-office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

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Answer 2

The file associations in your operating system are incorrect. This is the part of the operating system that associates the file ending of a file name with the program that is intended to open it. If you can post what operating system you're using, we can give you steps to try to fix the problem.

Answer 3

Do you think about default app settings?? I have it set here. It is Windows 10 and MS Office 2007.

Thank you John

Answer 4

Only in the Word app Word only opens documents via file\open It does not open by double-clicking the document.