I have a customer who is experiencing a problem I’ve never seen before. When she opens Word and tries to open a file by clicking on the “Orb” and then “Open” or the Open File icon on the toolbar the mouse cursor will flash for a millisecond, then nothing happens.

If she goes to the Recent Documents list and clicks on a document listed there it will open. Also, if she uses Windows Explorer or clicks on the My Documents icon and double clicks the file it will open. However, if she ever manages to get the document open she cannot Save any changes. Clicking on the Orb and then Save, or Save As, or the Save icon on the toolbar gives the same cursor flash and then nothing happens. Now the really wierd thing is about 1 in 5 times I can get Word to open a document using the Open File feature and then it will let me makes changes and Save.

Here is a short list of the things I’ve tried to diagnose the issue that did not fix it:. I’m sure there are other things I’ve tried but those are the ones I can remember. The computer otherwise performs fine for her needs. The problem doesn’t occur with any other programs such as Excel or Powerpoint. They all function exactly like they should.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I may have found a solution to the problem. After searching google for the strange command value I found in the registry I came across a site that had a reg file which claimed to fix the problem. I downloaded it and opened it in notepad. It seemed legit so I ran it and so far the problem has not returned!

Just in case someone else encounters the same problem here are the contents of the reg file:. I’d like to know how is everything going when run Word in the safe mode? Does this issue still occur? Method 1 : Change the default printer to any other printer, e.

Method 2 : Check the Properties for the shortcut to Office, in the Compatibility , if ” Run as administer ” is checked, uncheck it. Method 3 : Open the Explorer, and navigate to the following folder, check if there is anything strange, rename the folder to see if it will be OK.

Please note, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly, back up the registry before you modify it. Run Windows in clean boot mode to determine if it could be caused by the 3rd-party services. How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot. Come back and mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff microsoft. The “Run as Administrator” option was not available. Although I’m not sure if that is the correct folder to look in. I also looked at the options in Excel.

The value of command really alarmed me. So I changed both of them to the value you that you suggested. I rebooted the computer and the very first time I opened Word everything worked fine. I closed Word and re-opened it to check again and the problem came right back. Just in case, I opened regedit again and verified that the changes I made had not reverted to the strange value before.

Another thing worth noting was that command was a Multi-String Key. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be but for some reason that seemed strange to me. Thank you so much for all the suggestions. I’ve been an IT Pro for many years and this is one of the more elusive issues I’ve seen.

Even though it seems to only be an issue with Word it’s very disruptive to her job. I hope we can figure this out soon before I have to take drastic measures and wipe her computer.

Jeff, I feel a little foolish, but I executed that wordfix. My symptoms were identical, and everything ‘except for my OS is Windows 7’ was the same. Now the behavior is a little bizarre. I have to shut down through task manager. How do you undo a reg file?

Also, any other ideas besides the wordfix, which didn’t work in my case. Office Office Exchange Server. Not an IT pro? Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access.

Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Word IT Pro Discussions. This forum is for general questions and feedback related to Word all versions as they pertain to the IT Pro community. Sign in to vote. Friday, March 23, PM. I can’t say it will fix everyone use at you’re own discretion but I think it has fixed my customer’s problem.

Thursday, March 29, AM. Hi Jeff, I’d like to know how is everything going when run Word in the safe mode? Some other methods to try: Method 1 : Change the default printer to any other printer, e. Method 5: Run Windows in clean boot mode to determine if it could be caused by the 3rd-party services. Monday, March 26, AM. Hello, Did you solve the issue?

Tuesday, March 27, AM. Hi Max, thanks for the reply. Here are the results of your suggestions: “I’d like to know how is everything going when run Word in the safe mode?

Method 4: I also looked at the options in Excel. Method 5: I restarted the computer in Safe Mode and problem was still present. Tuesday, March 27, PM. No not yet. Tuesday, April 9, AM.

Untitled — Microsoft office enterprise download with.

Note: these are good links as listed here, but when placed as hyperlinks in MS Word – the problem arises “Cannot open the specified file”. Thanks again for your help. I tried both of links that didn’t work for you and they didn’t work for me either. I also tried the link to the image file and it didn’t work either but it acted different in that is did try to download something whereas the other were rejected straight away. I then tried a link from our website and it uses a “files” folder that I wasn’t aware of Could there be a problem in the filename?

What’s different about a link that worked and the one’s that didn’t? I notice that in the filename from my company’s website that it contains blank characters except there is one underline character near the end. Linking to the pdf file on my site I did get a warning message but it was about potential virus issues when downloading from the web, blah, blah, blah but it was just a warning based on my IE settings.

Still baffled as to why my valid links cannot be accessed from MS Word. I found another post where are similar question was posed but have yet to see an answer. This valid link will not work as a hyperlink in MS Word. Anyone have a clue on differentiating the URL links in MS Word that work verses the ones that return the message “Cannot open the specified file”?

Word mac , OS X Retested numerous times and all opened fine. Any recommendations on where to go for answers? Familiar with another forum with a group that may be able to shed some light? Cannot open the specified file. Open-ended investigations to do:. The special characters are what’s throwing it off. We had this issue as well, ours was resolved by doing the following:.

Dev Center. Explore Why Office? Android ASP. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Asked by:. Archived Forums. Word for Developers. Sign in to vote.

Same website using a different subfolder work. Saturday, August 13, PM. What version of Word are you using? So as a workaround, rename the “files” folder. The following error message “The file is corrupted and cannot be opened” occurs in new Microsoft Word versions when you try to open a document that has been created in older versions like or This error message usually appears after an upgrade. You might get frustrated, being unable to access an important document.

However, you shouldn’t worry too much about it because we will show you some ways to repair corrupted Word files. First, we are going to look at two Word file repair methods that you could apply right away. One method involves changing Word options, and the other one involves changing system settings. If none of the two methods are effective, then we have prepared a Word Repair Tool tutorial using a third-party software application.

Hopefully, you’ll learn how to fix document and ultimately recover your presumptuously lost data. Update “Trust Center” Settings : New Word versions have a stricter security policy on copied or downloaded files.

Sometimes you are unable to open a Word file because of the “Enabled Protected View” settings. What you need to do is change the policy. Here’s how:. If everything went ok, you should now be able to open the document without being prevented to do so. Change “Component Security” Settings: Sometimes your document is prevented from opening by the Windows security level, and in that case, you need to change “Component Security” settings to default.

Here’s how you can change it:. It’s time to check the results of this Word file repairing method. Open the document again and see if it works.

If you are still displayed the same error message, please go to Part 3 where we’ll talk about a Word Repair Tool that will help you repair corrupted Word files. Don’t worry if every method you have tried so far failed to repair your corrupted Word file. An alternative solution that is usually a quite effective Word file repair method is using a professional Word Repair Tool.

I suggest using a third-party software application like Stellar Phoenix Word Repair. This program can safely help you recover files that have been corrupted while preserving the document the way it used to be in terms of formatting, and layout.

You don’t need to worry about compatibility. It can be used to recover documents created in Word up to You will love the fact that the support for this app is so well documented. Stellar Phoenix Word Repair is very efficient in recovering corrupted documents, featuring three different recovery modes: “Simple Recovery”, “Raw Recovery” and “Advanced Recovery”.

At least one of these three methods should be able to ultimately fix your document. The interface can almost be used by a 2nd grader with ease. When you are launching the program, you get a search window that allows you to locate your files easily. After a file has been scanned you can preview it from a different perspective. You have to try this Word file repair software and you’ll convince yourself of its value.

Step 1 The software is launching in the dashboard area and the initial window is being displayed; you need to locate your file.