Accessibility: Unavailable

Question

Can a conversion be reversed to go back to previous Word doc setting. I have a word doc that was created from a template for an online class. The template was created using Word 1997. I have Word 2019. When I went to print the document, I got this message: Accessibility: Unavailable: at the bottom of the document. I thought this was an issue with my printer as the reason given was that Word 1997 was incompatible. When I clicked on convert, this removed the header and side margins to all of my completed doc in about 20 folders as well as the templates that were embedded in the online class itself.

Print Preview shows the correct header and margins. The document doesn't go to my printer.

Answer 1

Hello,

This forum is a user-to-user support forum. My name is Charles and I am a fellow user with decades of experience using Microsoft Word. I have written extensively on using Word and have authored help articles on the Microsoft site.

The only way to undo a conversion to the latest file type is to exit without saving. The accessibility checker may be unavailable in earlier Word versions.

I hope this information helps.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

Stay well

Answer 2

Conversion of a single document should not change any other documents. On the other hand, if you convert a template, that will change any documents based on the template.

You can try an online repair of your installation to refresh your install files.

https://support.office.com/article/Repair-an-Of...

See also https://support.office.com/article/error-when-o...

Answer 3

Note that converting a document to the most recent file format wouldn't affect other documents.

If you are saying that you can't see headers and footers, check that you are viewing your documents in Print Layout view. On the View tab, click Print Layout. Also, once you have activated Print Layout view, click File > Options > Display and select the option "Show white space between pages in Print Layout view."

Answer 4

Thank you for your response. The "show white space between pages" was checked off. I can see the header when I do the print preview. It doesn't show on the saved file documents.

Something is preventing the document to go to my printer. That's when I got the Accessibility: Unavailable msg. I thought by clicking convert it would make my Word 2019 doc compatible with the Word 1997 for printing purposes.

Answer 5

Thank you for your response. I should never have clicked "convert." Even though I don't remember saving, I have exited and rebooted several times.

It appears that this conversion will affect all of my documents going forward. And I can't use my printer. Do I need to download a new version of Word 2019?

Paula