Change 'Original' to be Recover Text and go to step 6.Ĥ - Click Original and select the Recover Text command.ĥ - This will show your files in the Open dialog box and make them selectable.Ħ - Click the document once to select it. NOTE: If you are using an older version of Microsoft Word, you might see an 'Enable' menu with 'Original' selected. The steps to take for working through this error are to 'Recover Text from any file' from within Microsoft Word.ġ - In Microsoft Word, click the File menu, click Open.Ģ - Navigate the Open location to where the document is on your computer from within the Word Open dialog box.ģ - At the bottom of the Open dialog box, click the Options button so you see the Open: Original pop-down menu at the bottom-right corner. So they are security risks that should be avoided, if possible. The code used to open and save the older formats have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Causeįile Block prevents outdated file types from opening and causes your file to open in Protected View and disables the Save and Open features. Some older versions of Word documents cannot be opened in Word 2016 or newer. This article applies to those trying to open Microsoft Word documents from old versions of Microsoft Office. A corrupt or damaged MS Word document can easily be fixed with Wondershare Repairit – File Repair in numerous scenarios.When opening an old Word document, a newer version of Microsoft Word may report 'Error: uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version'.

If even after unblocking the document or changing its settings, you are still facing this issue, then consider repairing it. As you can see, I have listed all kinds of solutions related to application, system, and data-related issues that you can follow to troubleshoot this problem.

I’m sure that after reading this guide, you can easily troubleshoot the “ Word experienced errors when trying to open the file” issue. Keep your MS Word files safe and avoid performing any action that can lead to their data corruption. Try not to install MS Word plugins from any unreliable third-party sources. Only install the MS Office Suite from reliable sources and avoid any pirated applications.Ĭonsider updating your MS Windows system and the Office Suite to its latest available version.Īvoid changing the overall configuration settings of the MS Word application that can cause unwanted conflicts with it.

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