WD97: Double-Clicking Document Icon Does Not Open Document

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Windows Explorer, when you double-click the icon for a document created in any one of the following versions of Word

   Microsoft Word 6.0 for the Macintosh
   Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows
   Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0

• The document is opened in another program (the opened document may be unreadable).

  -or-

• Another program is started and that program returns an error message because it cannot open the document.

  -or-

• Double-clicking the icon doesn't have any effect (the document is not opened).

CAUSE

The file is not recognized as a valid Microsoft Word file. This problem will occur in the following cases.

Case 1: The File Name Extension Is Associated with Another Program

If the file name extension is something other than .doc and it is associated with another program, the file will be recognized as belonging to that program. For example, if you double-click a Microsoft Word document named Test.txt, Notepad will attempt to open the document because the .txt extension is associated with Notepad.

Case 2: The File Name Extension Is Unregistered

To check registered file types and extensions, do the following:

1. On the Windows desktop, double-click the My Computer icon.

2. On the View menu, click Options.

3. Click the File Types tab.

Case 3: The File Does Not Have a File Name Extension

This problem is most likely to occur with files created on the Macintosh.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Open the Document from Within Microsoft Word

1. On the File menu, click Open.

2. Under Look In, select the drive and then open the folder where your document is located.

3. In the Files Of Type list, select All Files (*.*).

4. Click to select your document, and then click Open.

Method 2: Give the Document a .doc File Name Extension

1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer (Windows 95) or Windows NT Explorer (Windows NT 4.0).

2. On the View menu, click Options.

3. Click the View tab.

4. Click to remove the check mark from "Hide MS-DOS file extensions for file types that are registered" (Windows 95) or "Hide file extensions for known file types" (Windows NT 4.0).

5. Click OK.

6. Locate your document. Right-click the document, and then click Rename on the shortcut menu.

7. If the document does not have a file name extension, add .doc to the end of the file name (for example, rename "Mydoc" to "Mydoc.doc"). Otherwise, change the file name extension to .doc (for example, rename Mydoc.abc to Mydoc.doc).

   NOTE: The icon changes to a Microsoft Word document icon.

8. Double-click the document icon to open the document.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about opening documents, click the Office Assistant, type "how to open a document," click Search, and then click to view the "Open a document" topic.

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Microsoft Word Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120802
   TITLE     : Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office Program
               or Component