Microsoft Word Document Will Not Open And Possibly Shows You A Strange Message

Problem:

When trying to open a Microsoft Word document (.doc file) you get a message saying "There is not enough memory to open file" or somesuch, or the file simply will not open, or it opens but then becomes corrupted.

Your computer may be trying to open the Word document with Microsoft Works Word Processor rather than Microsoft Office Word. They are not the same thing. Works Word Processor can only handle simple Word documents.


Four Possible Solutions:

1. Download and save the Word document you want to open. Right click on the Word document, select "Open With" then click on Microsoft Office Word, not on Microsoft Works Word Processor. If Microsoft Office Word is not listed, click on "Choose Program", find Microsoft Office Word and click on it.

2. If you tried 1 but Microsoft Office Word is nowhere to be found you probably haven't got Microsoft Office Word installed on your computer. Don't despair: install Microsoft's (free) Word Viewer from here, repeat 1 and click on "Microsoft Word Viewer".

3. If you need to edit the Word document you can use Microsoft Word online, free, at Microsoft's site. You have to sign up for a Microsoft Live account which takes only a couple of minutes.

4. Alternatively, download Open Office with which you can open and edit the Word file. Save the file as .odt when you have edited it. Or try Libre Office which some prefer to Open Office.



Still not working?

It is possible your computer now has the right program installed, but your computer is trying to open Word documents with some other program. This is easily fixed:

Click Start (the round ball in the bottom left hand corner in Windows 7)
Click Control Panel
Click Programs
Click "Make a file type always open in a specific program"
Scroll down to .doc and click on that line to hightlight it
Click Change Program
Click the little arrow on the Other Programs line
Click on the program you want to open .doc files with (eg Open Office) and click OK

Whenever you try to open a Word document, whether on your computer or on a website, your computer will use the program you selected.