Article ID: 146059
Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office 95 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q146059
SYMPTOMS
When you use the Office Shortcut Bar or the Start menu to open or to create a Word document, you receive the following message:
If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to the following:
CAUSE
This problem occurs when you do either of the following:
- You click Open Office Document or New Office Document on the Start menu, and you then select a Word document.
-or-
- You click Open A Document or Start A New Document on the Office Shortcut Bar, and you create a new Word document.
This behavior occurs after you install any program that inserts a complex DDEExec command in the following entries in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Word.Backup\Shell\Open\DDEEXEC
-or-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Word.Backup\Shell\New\DDEEXEC
Several programs, including the Microsoft Macro Virus Protection tool (also called the Scanprot template), modify the DDEEXEC entry in the registry.
RESOLUTION
To correct the problem that occurs when you use the Start menu or the Office Shortcut Bar to open a document or to create a new document, do the following:
- Open Windows Explorer. Locate and double-click the Winword7.reg file to re-register Word.
- Start Word.
- Click Open A Document or Start A New Document on the Office Shortcut Bar. This resets the application settings in the Office Shortcut Bar.
- Close Word.
You can now choose Open A Document or Start A New Document on the Office Shortcut Bar.
WORKAROUND
You can work around the problem that occurs when you use the Start menu or the Office Shortcut Bar to open a document; however, no workaround exists for when you create a new Word document. Instead you must create a new Word document from within Word.
To create a new Word document, do the following:
- Start Word.
- On the File menu, click New, and then double-click a template.
To work around the problem that occurs when you open a document, use the following steps:
- Click the Start button, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer.
- On the View menu, click Options, and then click the File Types tab.
- Under Registered File Types, click Microsoft Word Document, and then click Edit.
- In the Edit File Type dialog box under Actions, click Open, and then click Edit.
- Delete the complex command in the DDE Message box and type the following text:
[FileOpen("%1")]
- Click OK.
- Click Close, and then click Close again to close the Options dialog box.
NOTE: Word may not run when you open a Word document after you use this workaround, and the following message may appear:
If you click OK, the following message appears:
If you click OK again, the document opens successfully.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0b.
MORE INFORMATION
The problem occurs when you use the Office Shortcut Bar or the Start menu to open or to create a new document. The Msow.exe module controls the Open and New commands on the Office Shortcut Bar and the Start menu; however, the Msow.exe does not understand the complex DDEExec message that is written in the registry.
For additional information regarding the Microsoft Macro Virus Protection tool, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
134728 AppNote: "Macro Virus Protection Tool" (WD1215)
You can successfully open a Word document by using either of the following methods:
- Click the Start button, point to Documents, and then double-click a recently-used document.
-or-
- Start Word, and on the File menu, click Open.
A complex DDEExec command is a DDEExec command for FileOpen or FileNew that contains If...Then...Else statements. The following command is the default FileNew DDEExec command:
[FileNew("%1")]
Additional query words: OSB OFF7 XL7 scanprot.dot ipf gpf
Keywords: KB146059