How to open old Word documents in Windows 10

When opening an old Word document, a newer version of Microsoft Word may report "Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version".

Environment

This article applies to those trying to open Microsoft Word documents from old versions of Microsoft Office. Some older versions of Word documents cannot be opened in Word 2016 or newer.

Cause

File Block prevents outdated file types from opening and causes your file to open in Protected View and disables the Save and Open features. The code used to open and save the older formats have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. So they are security risks that should be avoided, if possible.

Resolution

The steps to take for working through this error are to 'Recover Text from any file' from within Microsoft Word.

1 - In Microsoft Word, click the File menu, click Open.
2 - Navigate the Open location to where the document is on your computer from within the Word Open dialog box.
3 - 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.  NOTE: If you are using an older version of Microsoft Word, you might see an 'Enable' menu with "Original" selected.  Change 'Original' to be Recover Text and go to step 6.
4 - Click Original and select the Recover Text command.
5 - This will show your files in the Open dialog box and make them selectable.
6 - Click the document once to select it.
7 - Click Open.
8 - If you get a warning, click OK.
     Note: When you open the file, some formatting might change. You will need to review the document for formatting updates.
9 - In the Show Repairs window click Close.
10 - Click the File menu, click Save As....
11 - Enter the file name and choose the location for the recovered file.
12 - In the File Format drop down menu, select Word Document (.docx).
13 - If you need to "Maintain compatibility with previous versions of Word" checkmark the box by that option.
14 - Click Save to save your Word document in the .docx format.

You will most likely have to go through the document(s) and update the formatting which was lost due to the 'Recover text' process.

When Microsoft Office 2016 is installed on your machine, its programs automatically become the default for opening all documents.

If you need to open a file in an older version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access or Publisher, follow these steps:

1. 1. Click
      
   2. Choose “All Programs”
   3. Then select, the “Microsoft Office” folder
      
      
   4. Now, open your desired Office application
      for e.g Microsoft Word 2010
   5. Once the application opens, select
      
   6. Click
      
      
      
      
   7. Now, select the document you wish to open in Office 2010 and click
      
      
      
      

Your document will now open in your chosen Office 2010 app!

Quick Links

• Submit a Service Request
• Visit the UIT Service Desk
• Website Feedback

George Courtney discovered that he couldn’t print old DOC files from inside Windows Explorer. “Do I have to convert the files to compatible mode?”

No, you don’t have to convert the files, and I hope you never do. As file formats change with application upgrades, the old formats should continue to be supported. Programs change, but content—words, numbers, images, and sounds—should last indefinitely.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen as cleanly as we’d like. As security became a bigger problem, Microsoft altered the Office formats to make them safer. But that meant that the old, less-secure formats had to be handled carefully.

[Have a tech question? Ask PCWorld Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector. Send your query to [email protected].]

That doesn’t mean you can’t open the files. It just means you have to know what you’re doing.

I’ve tested this in Word 2010, 2013, and 2016, as well as Excel 2010. My instructions are for Word, but can be adapted to other Office applications.

First, you need to get to the File Block Settings dialog box:

1. In Word, select File > Options.
2. In the resulting Word Options dialog box’s left pane, click Trust Center.
3. Click Trust Center Settings button
4. In the resulting Trust Center dialog box’s left pane, select File Block Settings.

Note that the resulting dialog box is dominated by a list of document formats—mostly variations of DOC and DOCX. All of them have an Open checkbox—although only a few are checked. Some also have a Save checkbox, but we don’t have to worry about that.

The three options at the bottom of the dialog box control what happens when you try to access a file whose format is checked. The default setting, Open selected file types in Protected View, allows you to view the document in Word, but not edit it.

Oddly, this default also blocks you from printing the file or previewing it in Windows/File Explorer. That makes no sense. If it’s safe to display in Word, it should be safe to print or display elsewhere.

The Do not open selected file types option blocks access to the file entirely—both in Word and in Windows/File Explorer’s Preview pane.

The Open selected file types in Protected View and allow editing option is similar to the default, except for a big Enable Editing button. Click it, and you can edit the file, print it, and even view it in Windows/File Explorer. And you can continue to do all of those things for that particular file.

Of course if you uncheck the format’s Open checkmark, you can do anything with the file. But you have to weigh the ease of accessing old files with security needs.

Author: lspector, Contributing Editor

Freelance journalist (and sometimes humorist) Lincoln Spector has been writing about tech longer than he would care to admit. A passionate cinephile, he also writes the Bayflicks.net movie blog.

How do I open a very old Word document?

Why can't I open my old Word Documents?

How do I open a Word 2003 document in 2010?