The most common problem that causes users to be unable to open this file is an incorrectly assigned program. To fix this in Windows, you need to right-click on the file, in the context menu, point to the "Open with" item, and select the "Select program ..." item in the drop-down menu. As a result, you will see a list installed programs on your computer and you can choose the right one. We also recommend checking the box next to "Use this app for all DOC files".
Another problem that our users also encounter quite often is that the DOC file is corrupted. This situation can arise in many cases. For example: the file was downloaded incompletely as a result server errors, the file was damaged initially, etc. To fix this problem, use one of the recommendations:
- Try to find desired file in another source on the Internet. You may be lucky enough to find a more suitable version. Google search example: "File filetype: DOC". Just replace the word "file" with the name you want;
- Ask to send you the original file again, it may have been damaged in transit;
How to open doc, docx and excel files
without installing Microsoft Office?
Quite often there is a need to open files for viewing doc, docx or excel, but, as luck would have it, the program Microsoft Office missing on your home computer. Moreover, in most cases, you only need to view the document, and not make changes to it (this can be done with success at work).
Of course, no one forbids you to install a wonderful product of the company on your computer. Microsoft, but, firstly, it will not work quickly, secondly, it takes up a large amount of memory, and thirdly, for some reason it is far from free. But you are not afraid of difficulties and boldly set this huge office suite... After that, according to the law of meanness, when you try to open the required file, you are happily informed that your version Word does not understand the format docx and updates are required. Fortunately for Bill Gates, he is far away at the moment and does not hear your expressions of gratitude towards him.
But not everything is so bad in this world. By popular demand of workers, the company Microsoft developed and offers completely free (!) small utilities for opening files doc, docx, excel and others, such as presentations PowerPoint.
These Viewers allow you to open, view and print documents Excel and Word and also copy them to other programs. However, operations such as changing data, saving a document, or creating a new one are not available.
It is best to download these programs from the official website of Microsoft Corporation, as it offers the latest versions for all variants of Windows and contains detailed instructions on installing and uninstalling these file viewers doc, docx, excel... Downloading and installing on a computer goes as usual and does not cause any difficulties.
I recommend, without delay, to download and install these viewers on your computer, so that it does not hurt excruciatingly in "Hour X", that is, when there is an urgent need to open Word documents or Excel.
It happens that users have Windows XP on one computer and Windows 7 or later on another. Either Word 2003 on one computer and Word 2007 or older on the other. Let's try to figure out what is the difference between Word files.doc and .docx.
I will give an example when you may need to translate from .doc to .docx or vice versa. Sometimes it is suggested to abandon paper bills of housing and communal services, communication services landline phone and go to receive invoices by email. In this case, invoices can be sent in the "old" .doc format.
- using an online converter,
- using the Word program.
About online converter « online-convert.com/ru»In more detail in the article. Now let's move on to the second method of converting using Word.
Files with the .doc extension (for example, test.doc or term.doc) are created using earlier versions of Word, namely Word 97-2003. To create such a file, the "New" command is used in the File menu. Accordingly, .doc files are opened without any problems using Word 97-2003.
Let me remind you that the file name extension (for example, .doc, .txt, .mp4, .jpg) for the user may not mean anything, but for operating system Windows extension is a hint as to which program to open this file.
On the other hand, if you create a file from scratch in Word 2007, the .docx extension will automatically be created for such a file.
Why such confusion between doc and docx files?
Developer office program Word is a Microsoft company. At one time, this company announced the emergence of a new .docx extension for files that take up much less space on the computer's hard disk compared to files with the old .doc extension.
By the way, this is especially noticeable on "heavy" Word files with numerous pictures and tables. .Docx files with a lot of pictures, tables, take up much less space on the computer's hard disk than the same file but with the .doc extension.
Similarly, Excel tables with the new .xlsx extension also significantly save space on the PC's hard disk compared to tables with the "old" .xls extension.
Another plus of this transition from .doc to .docx format is that Word 2007 (and later versions) have wider functionality than Word 97-2003.
That is why, if you open a file with the "old" .doc extension using Word 2007 (or a later version), then unexpectedly at the top you can see the inscription " Reduced functionality mode"(Fig. 1). It is therefore limited because you cannot use the unlimited capabilities of the new Word 2007 for files with the "old" .doc extension.
Rice. 1 A .doc file opens in Word 2007 in reduced functionality mode
To remove the inscription "Limited functionality mode" and work with the document in normal mode without restrictions, you need to save the .doc file in the new .docx format, more on this below.
So, Word files can have the following extensions:
- .doc (created in Word 2003), or
- .docx (created in Word 2007 and later).
At first glance, the difference is small: just one "extra" letter "x". However, if you periodically use a computer with Windows XP, then a computer with Windows 7, then sooner or later you will come across such a situation. The file was created in Word 2007, which means that it has the .docx extension. If you move the .docx file to Windows XP and try to open it there, it may not open.
As I wrote above, the problem is that the old Word 2003 (the one that produces files with the .doc extension) does not understand, does not open and is not friendly with new files from Word 2007 that have the .docx extension.
How to solve the problem? First, pay attention to the extension that appears in the file when it is first saved in Word.
Secondly, a file with a .docx extension can be saved in Word 2007 with a different extension - .doc. Then you will have the same file saved with different extensions. For example, in Word 2007, the same file can be saved like this:
- test.doc,
- test.docx.
Then the test.doc file will open in Word 2003 and in Word 2007 (though here in reduced functionality mode).
How to convert docx to doc or doc to docx in Word 2007
Word 2003 saves and opens documents with the .doc extension.
And Word 2007 (and later) saves and opens documents with the .docx extension.
However, in Word 2007 it is possible to open a .docx document and save it as a .doc. Or you can do the opposite: save the .doc file as .docx.
Rice. 2 How to save a file with the "old" extension.doc with the "new" extension.docx or vice versa save.docx in.doc
To do this in Word 2007 (or a later version of Word)
- open the document,
- click the Office button (number 1 in Figure 2),
- in this menu, click on the "Save as" option,
- select a folder or location to store the file (number 2 in Fig. 2),
- open the drop-down list "Files of type" (number 3 in Fig. 2) - a window will appear, as in Fig. 3.
DOCX is the textual variant of the Office Open XML series of electronic formats. It is a more advanced form of the previous Word DOC format. Let's find out what programs can be used to view files with this extension.
Noting that DOCX is a text format, it is natural that it is primarily manipulated by word processors. Some "readers" and other software also support working with it.
Method 1: Word
Considering that DOCX is the development of Microsoft, which is the base format for the Word application, starting from the 2007 version, we will begin our review with this program. The named application supports absolutely all standards of the specified format, is able to view DOCX documents, create them, edit and save them.
There is also an easier way to open DOCX in Word. If Microsoft Office is installed on the PC, then this extension will automatically associate with the Word program, unless, of course, you manually specify other settings. Therefore, it is enough to go to the object of the specified format in Windows Explorer and click on it with the mouse, doing it twice with the left button.
These recommendations are only valid if you have Word 2007 or newer installed. But the early versions do not know how to open DOCX by default, since they were created before this format appeared. But nevertheless, there is an opportunity to make it so that applications of older versions can run files with the specified extension... To do this, you just need to install a special patch in the form of a compatibility package.
Method 2: LibreOffice
You can launch a file item with the studied extension by dragging the item from Explorer to the LibreOffice startup shell. This manipulation should be performed with the left mouse button pressed.
If you have already started Writer, you can also perform the opening process through the internal shell of this program.
Method 3: OpenOffice
The competitor to LibreOffice is OpenOffice. It also has its own word processor, also called Writer. Only unlike the two previously described options, with its help you can view and change the content of DOCX, but you will have to save it in a different format.
As with the previous application, you can drag the desired object from Explorer.
An object with the DOCX extension can also be launched after the launch of Writer.
In general, it should be noted that of all the word processors studied here, OpenOffice Writer is the least suitable for working with DOCX, since it cannot create documents with such an extension.
Method 4: WordPad
The studied format can also run individual text editors. For example, the built-in Windows program- WordPad.
Considering all the above circumstances, it must be said that the use of WordPad for viewing, and even more so for editing DOCX content, is less preferable than using full-fledged word processors described in the previous methods for these purposes.
Method 5: AlReader
Supports viewing the studied format and some representatives of software for reading e-books ("readers"). True, so far the specified function is not present in all programs of this group. You can read DOCX, for example, using the "reader" AlReader, which has a very large number of supported formats.
You can also open a document by dragging and dropping from Explorer into the graphical shell of the "reader".
Of course, reading DOCX books is more pleasant in AlReader than in text editors and processors, but the specified application offers only the ability to read the document and convert it to a limited number of formats (TXT, PDB and HTML), but does not have tools for making changes.
Method 6: ICE Book Reader
Another "reader" with which you can read DOCX is ICE Book Reader. But the procedure for starting a document in this application will be somewhat more complicated, since it is related to the task of adding an object to the program library.
Method 7: Caliber
An even more powerful book-cataloging reader is Caliber. She also knows how to operate with DOCX.
In general, Caliber is more suited to cataloging DOCX objects rather than quickly browsing them.
Method 8: Universal Viewer
DOCX documents can also be viewed using a separate group of programs that are universal viewers. These applications allow you to view files of a wide variety of directions: text, tables, videos, images, etc. But, as a rule, in terms of the possibilities of working with specific formats, they are inferior to highly specialized programs. This is fully true for DOCX as well. One of the representatives of this type the software is Universal Viewer.
As you can see, at present, a fairly large number of applications of different directions working with text objects are capable of processing DOCX files. But, despite such an abundance, only Microsoft Word... Its free counterpart LibreOffice Writer also has an almost complete set for processing this format. But the word processor OpenOffice Writer will only allow you to read and make changes to the document, but you will have to save the data in a different format.
If the DOCX file is an e-book, then it will be convenient to read it using the "reader" AlReader. To add a book to the library, the ICE Book Reader or Caliber programs are suitable. If you just want to see what is inside the document, then for these purposes you can use the Universal Viewer. The built-in Windows text editor WordPad will allow you to view the contents without installing third-party software.
The DOC file extension is most commonly associated with word processor-generated documents Microsoft Word, the famous word creation and processing application that ships with all versions of the Microsoft Office suite. This is the default file format used in Microsoft Word 97-2003, while newer versions of MS Word (2007+) offer users to save documents in DOCX.
What's in DOC files
The DOC file was originally created in WordPerfect, which was widespread in the 1980s. The DOC extension, on the other hand, has been on everyone's lips since the introduction of Microsoft Word in the 1990s. Today it is the most widely used text document format.
Previously, files in DOC contained only formatted text, but over time, it became possible to add a large number of built-in objects - such as any tables and various diagrams from other applications, as well as sounds, videos and images.
DOC Conversion
To convert the DOC format, for example, convert DOC to - you can use any convenient online DOC converter or program, for example, Convertin.io.
How to open your DOC file
DOC files can be opened using latest version standard applications for working with texts - such as Microsoft Word and LibreOffice Writer. Wordpad on Windows can also be used to open DOC files, although formatting is severely limited. As of Microsoft Office 2007, the format is the "native" format of this word processor and it won't open in earlier versions of word processing programs without a compatibility pack.
The main program for opening DOC files is Microsoft Word (version 97 and higher), but it belongs to proprietary software (unless you are using the free trial version MS Office). However, there are several free alternatives paid Microsoft Office, which has support for DOC files - Kingsoft Writer, LibreOffice Writer, and OpenOffice Writer. With their help, you can not only open DOC files, but also edit them, saving them in the same format. And in the first two, DOC files are even successfully saved in Microsoft's new DOCX format. Also, you can open Microsoft file Word online, for example, using the service
