Problems Opening Documents after Installing Word 2003 SP3

Randy is using Word 2003, and after updating to SP3 he finds that there are now several files he can't open. He gets this error message: "You are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by your registry policy setting." The files he can't open are all .doc files, and Randy notes that the Microsoft Knowledge Base seems to indicate that I must edit the registry to resolve this (which he is very hesitant to do).

It appears that Word 2003 SP3 restricts the opening of files created in very early versions of Word, presumably those using the pre-1997 file format. Randy is correct; it appears that a Registry edit is the only way around this. The information is detailed in the following Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938810

While it may be scary to make edits to the Registry (there are always dire warnings associated with doing so incorrectly), the particular edit detailed in this article isn't a terribly tough one.

There is, of course, another option: You can open the old Word files on a different system that doesn't have SP3 installed, and then save them out in a later Word format. Those "converted" files should then open just fine on your SP3-enabled system.