# Word 97 convert to Word 2007



## kbrewer (Feb 12, 2004)

I found a bunch of old 3 1/2" floppy dislettes I thought I'd lost. The docs on the diskettes were written with Office/Word 97. Now have Vista, Office 2007. Word 2007 will NOT read old Word docs. Says "You have attempted to open a file that was created in an earlierl version of Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this Word version by your registry settings." Then it proceeds to send me to an internet site that explains in great detail how much danger there is in attempting to change the registry settings. Have installed Office 97 on new computer and instructed the files to open in Word 97, but always defaults to 2007 and still won't read. I get the same message as above. I would love to have these docs back. Anybody know a workaround? I'll happily convert them to 2007 if necessary.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

I beleive an office 03 installation can read them. So maybe if you would like to recover you documents you could open them on your work pc. If someone knows how to unlock office 07 to read the old documents you could try their methods as well.


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

Office 2007 can read Office 97 files just fine, so I suspect that the files concerned are actually office 95 files, not Office 97?


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Try this Word 2003 viewer from MS.
Link

You won't be able to write to the doc, but you should be able to read it.


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## kbrewer (Feb 12, 2004)

Thanks, Stoner. Downloaded Word Viewer 2003 and I can now read the docs. Don't really care that I can't edit them because at least I have the info on them and I'm a fast typist! The docs are a blast from my past (journal, magazine articles) and I really wanted to get to them.


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## randy_california (Jul 16, 2007)

> Office 2007 can read Office 97 files just fine


kiwiguy is exactly right, don't know why you had a problem and am glad you found a way to open these.


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

I wasnt sure why that would happen either. I figured an 03 version would open them fine and in fact i never heard of the ms word viewer.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Perhaps these links will help some with compatibility issues with newer file formats that won't open with older MS office apps:

Microsoft OfficeCompatibilityPack
instructions:
Link


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