Word 2003 opening Word 2007 documents

I have one user (using Word 2003) that is having trouble opening documents
saved in 2007 format from another user. They get the "file conversion
dialogue box..encoding to make document readable."

They only have issues with this one particular user. All other documents
from other users convert fine. The latest compatility pack has been
installed on this user's machine. Also these troublesome documents that the
original user has a problem with can be opened on some machines with no
problems but a few other machines have problems with them.

I would think the problem is coming from the 2007 end but what do I look for?

Any ideas of where I can look.

If they are encountering the File Conversion dialog box then that indicates
the Compatibility Pack isn't being recognized. You might try uninstalling it
(restart the computer after uninstalling), downloading it again from this
link, and then installing it:

The user does not have any problem opening 2007 documents from other users.
I have already reinstalled the conversion pack.

Try the following:

- Start Word in Safe Mode (press and hold Ctrl, start Word, continuing
holding Ctrl until prompted to start in Safe Mode)
- Create a new document
- Add some text
- Save and open on the computer with the difficulty

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

I will try that later but here is what I found so far. It is almost like the
file is confused as wheter it is a 2003 or 2007 format.

If I open the .doc file in question and goto save as-->Word 97 to 2003
Document, I still get the "Microsoft Office Word Compatibility Checker"
coming up. this should not come up if it is already saved in the older
format. I also notice that if I right click on the properties of the file,
the "Custom" tab is missing on this file. If I open the file on another
machine that will open it, it shows converting file even though it should be
converted already.

....which is why I suggested the steps I provided. To rule out a macro/add-in
intercepting the Save events and saving the file incorrectly.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

It turns out that it was not Microsoft Word causing the problem after all.
The email client (Eudora) was stripping off the x on the .dotx file making it
look like a 2003 file. I fixed the problem and everything is fine now.
thanks for your help. I did learn something new about safe mode for Word
however.

Glad to hear you now have it sorted. :-) Does Eudora have an add-in or was
this occurring when the document was sent by email?

Looks like both sender and receiver need to know about the new office
extensions. There is a setting in the eudora.ini file under mappings to take
care of this. i.e. both=docx,,,, for word and similar lines for the other
apps.