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Author Topic: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?  (Read 4431 times)

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Drd

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    How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
    « on: October 26, 2008, 09:21:48 AM »
    Hello. I work online at a university and students are upgrading gradually to Vista. I get .docx documents that I have to grade but my MS Office Word 2003 just turns it into jibberish when it tries to convert it. Can I do anything on my end to make these files readable, or do the students need to do something on their end before sending? I think I recall that the student can choose to "save as" and then choose the .doc ending, but I'd rather not ask them to do this. Many are even more technologically challenged than I am! So, if you can tell me how I can handle this on my end I would appreciate it.

    In peace, Dr. D.

    Carbon Dudeoxide

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    soybean



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    Drd

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      Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
      « Reply #3 on: October 27, 2008, 01:30:18 PM »
      Uh oh,  :(
        I spoke too soon. I was able to download the program, but I can't figure out how to get it to work. I downloaded it, and installed it, but when I try to open the document it still is not converted. Do I need to do something to get the conversion to kick in?

      Thanks
      Dr. D.

      soybean



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      Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
      « Reply #4 on: October 28, 2008, 08:28:45 AM »
      Did you install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack, as advised on the Microsoft download page posted in my previous message?

      After you downloaded, did you Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program?

      Drd

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        Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
        « Reply #5 on: October 28, 2008, 10:33:42 AM »
        Hello Mr. Soybean:  I did double click on the file which I had saved to my desktop. The name of the file is File Format Converters, the version is: 12.0.6015.5000
         As for the high-priority  updates, no, I didn't do anything about that because my automatic updates are always on and I assumed that I had everything. As a matter of fact, at this very moment, some sort of updates are coming into my computer. I saw that some of them were named as security for Office 2007. I don't have Office 2007, of course, but maybe these will help.
           I'll check again after these are installed to see if the conversion works. Is there anything else I should be doing in the meantime?
          Thank you.

        Dr. D.

        soybean



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        Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
        « Reply #6 on: October 28, 2008, 11:52:46 AM »
        Try uninstalling and then reinstalling it.  A reference: http://www.usca.edu/helpdesk/office_2007_compatibility_pack.asp

        Drd

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          Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
          « Reply #7 on: October 30, 2008, 01:05:38 PM »
          Hello Mr. Soybean: I have the Microsoft updates turned on for my computer, and receive weekly updates.  To solve the current problem, I thought I could just download the necessary conversion program. I did that, and as you know, it didn't work. So, I uninstalled it and went to the page you said to go to, to see if there were any  urgent updates I needed to install first, before reinstalling.  First, Microsoft told me I had to use Explorer, so I came out of my Firefox (which usually downloads all my updates) and went to Explorer (which I never use unless absolutely necessary).  Next Microsoft issued a reliability check, which my newly bought computer promptly failed. Apparently this was not an official version of whatever needed to be official. So, back to square one. I can't download the safety features.  So, does this mean I shouldn't try to download the converter again, either, or, should I give the converter another try, even though microsoft seems to be blocking the safety patch.
            (And, isn't this weird because I'm constantly getting  updates through my Firefox browser--what's going on here with MS?)
           Please let me know what to do next to try and be able to convert .docx to .doc.
          In peace,
          Dr. D.

          Eg0Death



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            Re: How can I read a .docx document with my MS Office Word 2003?
            « Reply #8 on: October 30, 2008, 01:12:31 PM »
            Were you able to open the .docx file?  It won't be automatically converted from .docx to .doc, the Mircosoft Office Compatability Pack only allows Office 2003 to open Office 2007 .docx files.  If you can open it you would then do File -> Save As ->
            Why is this thus?  What is the reason for this thusness?