Cannot open downloaded Word documents

Question

Windows 10 upgraded from Windows 8.1

Office 2016

Dell XPS 18

I cannot open Word documents that I download.  I can open Word documents that I create on my computer.  I have tried suggestions including updating Word (it was up to date), Open and Repair and Recover Text from any File. When I try to open the documents, I receive this message:

 

I run an administrator account, and the computer has a huge amount of free memory and disk space.  I can open the documents in WordPad, but they look corrupted.  This has happened with multiple Word documents from different trusted sources. I am attempting to open the files after saving them to the hard drive. The problem started immediately after the January 29 update.

Should you have a solution, it needs to be possible to do it without a working Start menu or Search function, a problem created by an earlier update that I posted to a different Forum without any luck. If I need to go to Windows Update for the solution, please tell me how to get there without a Start menu or Search function.

Answer 1

After "Unblocking" the documents that you send to me by right clicking on them in the File Explorer and then clicking on Properties and the checking the "Unblock" box, I had no problem opening them in Word 2016 - Version 16.0.6366.2062, running under Windows 10.

Answer 2

Thanks for the answer.  It isn't blocked, so I can't click Unblock.

I work remotely, and the documents are on my employer's server. I can download and open the documents without trouble on another computer that is still running Windows 8.1.

Answer 3

If you save the document to your hard drive, right-click the icon, select Properties, and (in the Properties window) click Unblock followed by Apply, then can you open the file?

By the way, from where did you download the document? From an e-mail? From OneDrive? Elsewhere?

Answer 4

Well, the Start/Search problem was caused by the Jan 6 update.  There are thousands or more of us in the same boat, and there is no known fix. Eventually, I will have to reinstall, but unfortunately I can't do that right now. 

The Word problem was caused by the Jan 29 update.  I don't know if the problems are related or not.

I did run the system file check, and it did not find any problems.

Answer 5

If you are having problems with the Start/search

First cure those problems, as likely its connected to this word problem; initially run the system File checker, sfc

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833