Help opening a Word document on Mac Pro.

Question

I am not able to open a Word document from 3/21. I get message that says it's deleted or I do not have access. I've updated my security on Microsoft 365 and it didnt help. The doc is not on iCloud and I can't open it at all to check properties or look for earlier versions. Please help.

Answer 1

Have you searched with Spotlight? You can use the name, date, content, etc. as criteria.

Answer 2

Follow these steps in order on the Mac to try to open or recover the document.

1. Install the latest Office updates
   1. Open any Office app that will start (for example, Excel or PowerPoint).
   2. On the Help menu, select Check for Updates.
   3. In the updates window, select Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date.
   4. Select Update and install all available updates.
   5. After updates complete, try opening the document again from Word.
2. Try opening the file via Word’s File menu with recovery
   1. Start Word.
   2. On the File menu, select Open.
   3. Browse to the folder where the document is stored.
   4. Click the document once to select it.
   5. In the Open dropdown (next to the Open button), choose Recover Text, then select Open.
   6. If a warning appears, select OK.
   7. If the file opens, immediately go to File > Save As and in File Format choose Word Document (.docx), then Save.
3. Try converting the file through OneDrive
   1. In a web browser, sign in to OneDrive.
   2. Select Upload and upload the problem file.
   3. After upload, select the file; wait for the message that the file is being converted.
   4. In the online viewer, select File > Save as > Download a copy.
   5. Save the new copy to the Mac and try opening that copy in Word.
4. If the file is in an older or blocked format
   • After updating Office, try steps 2 and 3 again.
   • If the file is in an OpenDocument format (.odt, .ods, .odp), open it in Word for Mac while connected to the internet so it can be converted to .docx.
5. If the document still will not open
   • The file may be corrupted or actually deleted/moved from its original location.
   • Check any Time Machine or other backups for an earlier copy of the file.
   • If a backup copy opens, save it as a new .docx file.

If none of these steps work and no backup exists, the file is likely unrecoverable.

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References:

• Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version
• Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version
• Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version
• Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version