Can't Open Saved Files Saved in My Documents

[rogeepete]

I attempted to retreive (open) several files that I saved back in May.
Most of these were in Microsoft Word, or Word Pad which I like because of
its simplicity (for me anyway)

Now, when I try to open, I get a screen "File Conversion - Select the
encoding that
makes your document readable.......

Where do I go from here, and how did I get this screen?

Thanks

Roger

 

[Don Phillipson]

I attempted to retreive (open) several files that I saved back in May.
Most of these were in Microsoft Word, or Word Pad which I like because of
its simplicity (for me anyway)
Now, when I try to open, I get a screen "File Conversion - Select the
encoding that makes your document readable.......

1. When we seek advice about a major anomaly like
this, it helps to know what antivirus app the OP uses.
2. When a text document fails to open directly, it
may help to load the writing application first, then use
it to open the desired text file.

 

[sgopus]

you've lost the file association, just right click on a word file and choose
open with, and ensure the box is checked that says always use this setting,
and then browse to your word exe and select it.

 

[rogeepete]

I can't tell if the problem file in a Word file or not...when I right clicked
on it, it did bring up a menu with the "Open With" option, and three options
were listed -
Microsoft Word, Wordpad, Notepad, and a fourth one was listed - Choose
Program.
If I select either Word, WordPad, Notepad, none of these will open the file.

The File Conversion screen that comes up when I left click to open the file
gives me three choices fir Text Encoding: Windows (default), MS-DOS, and Other
Encoding. The latter has the dot as the default. But none of the "Others"
listed
(the list starts with Arabic Auto Select will work.

The file I am attempting to open is one of several - the others work fine.
I wonder
what I did to create this problem with this particular file.

Thanks again for your continuing assistance

Rogere

 

[Tim Meddick]

Don't panic - it just means you have saved .doc files in WordPad which converts them
to RTF format without changing the extension (remains a .doc file)

WordPad cannot save file as true .doc format but has to convert them to RTF.

You should go into Word and choose :

'Tools' > 'Options' and click on the 'General' tab.

Then deselect ('uncheck') the option named :

"Confirm conversion at Open"

....while this option is 'checked' Word will always ask about such files.

If you 'uncheck' the option Word will just open the files without asking.

It has got nothing to do with file associations!


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[rogeepete]

Tom: Thanks for your help, but...

When I went into Word, I found that Confirm Conversion at Open dot was already
unchecked. So this didn't work....What about the File Conversion screen
that I get and the three options listed - Windows, MS-DOS, and Other Encoding?

I just don't understand why this file won't open whereas I have others
created the same day that open with no problem.

Roger

 

[Tim Meddick]

You would get the "Convert File" box on opening a document when that document does
NOT contain the encoding that Word expects.

As I said in my earlier post - this can happen with .doc files that have been
re-saved using WordPad, as this program cannot save in .doc format it converts the
file to RTF but doesn't change the file extension but leaves it as .doc.

So Word on trying to open such a file expects it to be encoded with Word Document
protocol, but when it sees that the file does not conform to that standard asks you
what format you want it to be read in.

This behaviour extends to more than just DOC files saved as RTF but to any document
whose format differs from the expected due to it's file extension.

If you got used to editing and saving all your documents in Word, and only use
WordPad to READ documents, then as time goes by, you will se the conversion box less
and less.

But, I have no explanation as to why 'unchecking' the option I quoted in my earlier
post does not stop this behaviour on your system. But it may be that it is because
they differ so much from any known format Word feels it has got to ask you which
format to use to open it.

As a general rune, when confronted by the "Convert File" dialogue box, try to select
the format from the list that most matches the extension of the file you are trying
to open.

However, as already discussed, .doc files saved with WordPad must be opened as RTF
format.

If a file appears garbled and does not display correctly after selecting a format
from the list, close the file and try again selecting a different format until it
appears readable.

P.S. My name is Tim
==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.