Microsoft KB Archive/892961

= How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you open a file in Word for Mac, in Excel for Mac, and in PowerPoint for Mac =

Article ID: 892961

Article Last Modified on 8/18/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft Office X for Mac Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Entourage X for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel X for Mac
 * Microsoft PowerPoint X for Mac
 * Microsoft Word X for Mac

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INTRODUCTION
Sometimes you may experience unexpected behavior when you open a file in a Microsoft Office for Mac program. In this article, we will discuss how you can troubleshoot ways to successfully open your documents. This article discusses how to troubleshoot the following issues that you may experience when you open a file in an Office for Mac program:
 * The document stops responding while it is opening.
 * A document opens very slowly.

Note If your documents open or close slower than expected, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information about how to troubleshoot this issue:

892959 How to troubleshoot Office for Mac documents that open more slowly than expected



MORE INFORMATION
If a file suddenly stops responding, you must have a method to troubleshoot the issue. This article describes some of the issues that you may experience if a file suddenly stops responding when you try to open it in an Office for Mac program, and it gives you a method to troubleshoot the issue to try to resolve it. Follow each method in the order that they are presented until the issue is resolved.

Note Before you start troubleshooting any file, make a duplicate of this file. To do this, click to select the file, and then click Duplicate on the File menu. It is a good idea to put this duplicate file in a different folder so that you will not accidentally throw the file away or start working with it partway through the process.

If you are finding that many of your files stop responding unexpectedly when you try to open them, the first thing that you should do is to make sure that you are working with the most current version of both your operating system and your Office for Mac programs. Many times the updates will address this issue. You can find these updates by visiting the following Web sites:

AppleCare support Web site:

http://www.apple.com/support

Microsoft Mactopia download Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx

You cannot open a file by double-clicking the Document icon
If you have been trying to open your file by double-clicking the Document icon, you may experience one of the following problems:
 * A different program tries to open the Office for Mac file.
 * The Office for Mac program does not start when you try to open a file, and then it stops responding.

A different program tries to open the Office for Mac file
If a program other than an Office for Mac program tries to open a file, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click to select the Office for Mac file, and then click Get Info on the File menu.
 * 2) Click the Open with tab.
 * 3) Click Other from the list of programs.
 * 4) Locate the Office for Mac program that owns the document type, and then click Add.
 * 5) Click Change All, and then click Continue.

The Office for Mac program does not start when you try to open a file, and then it stops responding
If the Office for Mac program does not start, and then it stops responding, you must determine whether the problem is with the file or in the Mac OS X operating system. To do this, try to open the Office for Mac file from within the program that owns the file type. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start the Office for Mac program.
 * 2) Click Open on the File menu, and then locate the file.
 * 3) Select your file, and then click Open.

If you can open the file in this manner, the issue may be related to your operating system. You should install a clean version of the Mac OS X only if the other troubleshooting steps cannot resolve the issue.

This is only one example of a situation that might require a reinstall of the operating system. You may notice when that you open an Office for Mac program, you may receive an error that a carbon file or a framework file is required and missing. Additionally, you may notice that other programs are experiencing problems.

Before you install a clean copy of Mac OS X, use the Remove Office utility to remove Office for Mac from your computer. Additionally, remove any preferences from the Library/Preferences folder in your Home folder that pertain to Office for Mac. This includes the Microsoft Office folder and the Microsoft preferences folder.

For more information about how to remove Office for Mac from your computer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

312172 How to remove Office v.X and Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition from your computer

If you need help with installing a clean copy of Mac OS X, contact Apple. You can contact Apple support at 1-800-275-2273, or you can visit the following Apple Care support Web site for more information:

http://www.apple.com/support

Insert the document into another document
If you cannot open your file by double-clicking the Document icon or by opening it from within the program that owns the file, try to insert the file into another document. To do this, follow these steps depending on the program that owns the file that you are trying to open:
 * Microsoft Word for Mac:
 * Create a new document in Word for Mac.
 * On the Insert menu, click File.
 * Locate the document that you have been trying to open.
 * Click Insert.
 * Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac:
 * Create a new PowerPoint for Mac presentation.
 * On the Insert menu, click Slides from File.
 * Locate the slide show that you have been trying to open.
 * Make your selection to either Insert all slides or Select slides to insert.
 * Click Insert.
 * Microsoft Excel for Mac:
 * Create a new Excel Workbook.
 * On the Insert menu, click Object.
 * Click From File.
 * Locate the workbook that you have been trying to start.
 * Click OK.

Recover text from any file
When you are working with problematic Word for Mac files, if and the following steps have not resolved your issue, you can try to open the file by recovering text from any file. This file does not have to be a Word for Mac file.

For more information about how to view the steps to recover text from any file, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

180871 How to recover text from any Word for Mac or Excel for Mac file

Troubleshoot fonts
For more information about troubleshooting fonts, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

313535 How to troubleshoot font problems in Office for Mac programs

For more information
892960 How to troubleshoot formatting issues in Word for Mac, Excel for Mac, and PowerPoint for Mac documents

180871 How to recover text from any Word for Mac or Excel for Mac file

313535 How to troubleshoot font problems in Office for Mac programs

324133 Word X for Mac stops responding when you open a document

Additional query words: OFF2004 2004 MacOFFX Mac OFFX WD PPT XL ENT OS ten X 10.3 10.2 quit unexpectedly troubleshoot slow quit damaged document font stop error

Keywords: kbhowto kbperformance kbopenfile KB892961

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