Word cannot open this file the file format does not match the file extension (C:\users\...\spreadsheet_contents.docx)

Question

how can I change this file to a doc. file

Answer 1

What happens when you try to open a document?  What version of Word are you using?

If you put a copy of the file in a folder on your OneDrive that you set to be shared and you then get a link to that FOLDER and copy it into a message that you post back here, someone may be able to help you.

Answer 2

Hi,

Before we proceed, I need more information to help you better.

1. What is extension of the document you're trying to in Word?
2. Are you experiencing this issue with a specific document or on all documents?

I look forward to your reply to assist you further.

Thank you.

Answer 3

I have the same issue: A file saved as a .docx that gives the same error when opening in Word 2013. I changed the extension to .zip.  It is not a zip file. I changed the extension to .doc and it fails to open with message:    Microsoft Word cannot open this file because it is an unsupported file type. Then I changed the extension to .txt and opened it in notepad.  It appears very much to be a .doc file.  The last line contains the following: <ds:datastoreItem ds:itemID="{A87D756C-51E1-4CB4-ADBE-8F921D4509B4}" xmlns:ds="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/customXml"><ds:schemaRefs><ds:schemaRef ds:uri="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/bibliography"/></ds:schemaRefs></ds:datastoreItem>                                          
þÿ   ÿÿÿÿ›Luôõd@KŠôg—2¬   Microsoft Word Document     MSWordDoc    Word.Document.12 ô9²q (BTW, Opening another working .doc file I have shows something similar in the last line: <ds:datastoreItem ds:itemID="{D6CCB430-7B4E-4E48-8A3A-2FC8E3D09CF8}" xmlns:ds="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/customXml"><ds:schemaRefs><ds:schemaRef ds:uri="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/bibliography"/></ds:schemaRefs></ds:datastoreItem>                                          
þÿ   ÿÿÿÿ      À      F    Microsoft Word 97-2003 Document     MSWordDoc    Word.Document.8) The file started from a .dot file, and at some point was saved as a .docx by a user.  We could go through all our .dot templates and upgrade them to a newer version, but there's a lot of work involved, so would prefer (in the short term) to avoid what appears to be a weird mix of versions happening. Any ideas?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           EDIT: Found that the file was saved as a document and not a zip file. (i.e. As detailed above, changing the extension to .zip didn't reveal a zipped folder structure and the text of the file (when opened in Notepad) contained Word.Document in the last line. But it wasn't just any ordinary document. It was an 'auto-save' recovery document. To restore it, I changed the extension to .asd, placed the file in Word's auto-recovery location and then opened Word, File->Open, navigated to the auto-recovery folder (which you can find in Options), showed all files (*.*) and simply opened it. Not sure how it ended up in that format, so not sure how common this would be.

Answer 4

Hi,

same issue here.

I've changed the extension 'docx' to 'zip' and was able to open the file using 7Zip.

I can see the content. 

But what can I do now?

Andy

Answer 5

I am having this issue, too.  I'm trying to open a file created in Word 2010 back in March of 2010.   When I try to open it, either by double-clicking it in Windows Explorer or directly from Word, I get the message "Word cannot open the file because the file format does not match the file extension" along with the file location in a grey box.  I have tried changing the extension, but no dice (the original extension was docx anyway).   I am using Word 2016 in Windows 10.