Macbook Bug opening Word Docs

[vcar]

I have a Macbook and I installed Office 2004 Professional Edition.

I have hundreds of Word docs saved in folders on my desktop, most of
which came from my old Powerbook via Firewire (my old Powerbook had the
previous version of Word, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?).

Whenever I try to open a Word doc from the desktop by double-clicking
on it, I get an error message that the operation cannot be completed
(error code 10660). In order to open any Word docs I need to first open
Word, then go file: open, however this only works for some documents
(mostly smaller ones it seems); others cause it to freeze up completely
and then I need to force quit.

I ran Software Update and installed Mac OS 10.4.7. This did not fix the
problem. I uninstalled Office and then re-installed it. This did not
fix the problem.

Since the updates I am now getting two problems: either I get the error
message immediately upon trying to double-click on any Word doc from a
folder on the desktop, OR it goes so far as to begin opening the
document in Word but then I get a Word error message saying "Word
cannot open this document. This document may be in use or might not be
a valid Word document."

The guy at AppleCare had never heard of this problem and presumed it
was a problem on the Word side of things (big surprise).

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Try selecting one of these documents, doing a 'get info' and resetting the
'open with' application to Word, then click the 'change all' button. It may
just be an effect of having moved files from one platform to the other and
the association being lost.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I have a Macbook and I installed Office 2004 Professional Edition.

I have hundreds of Word docs saved in folders on my desktop, most of
which came from my old Powerbook via Firewire (my old Powerbook had the
previous version of Word, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?).

Whenever I try to open a Word doc from the desktop by double-clicking
on it, I get an error message that the operation cannot be completed
(error code 10660). In order to open any Word docs I need to first open
Word, then go file: open, however this only works for some documents
(mostly smaller ones it seems); others cause it to freeze up completely
and then I need to force quit.

Ouch... That looks like a LaunchService error. I woudl use a utility to
trash the launchservice database to let the System rebuild it from
scratch.
I often use Onyx for that:
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html

Use the app to trash the System and user cache and immediately after,
reboot the Mac. A bunch of files will loose their icons but as you
launch the corresponding apps (to let them register in the LaunchService
Database again) and reboot, they should all properly come back.
Once you've done that, launch Word once again, then quit it and see if
the problem still exists.

[...]

The guy at AppleCare had never heard of this problem and presumed it
was a problem on the Word side of things (big surprise).

Weird. THe guys at AppleCare should have seen it once in a while with
various applications. I've seen it with other apps before.

Corentin

 

[vcar]

Thanks for the help folks.

I took it to some (mostly Mac-clueless) tech support folks. Since I can
now open most (bot not all) of my Word docs from the desktop, we
decided it is a problem with the specific files--i.e., they are
corrupted (perhaps this happened in the FireWire transfer). We tried
opening some of them on other computers (PC's) and got similar error
messages. Now I just need to go through and see which ones were
damaged, one by one. I did get some error messages when doing the
FireWire transfer, and have even gotten such message when transferring
using a flash drive. Not sure how it happened, but it seems like the
best explanation.

 

[CyberTaz]

FWIW -

Barry & Corentin are dead on with their respective responses.

10660 is a LaunchServices error often generated because the Application
files are associated with is no longer available, i.e. has been 'trashed'.

Also, the errors on the PC are quite likely caused by the Mac fles not
having been saved with extensions.

Out of genuine curiosity, however, why is it that you come to a group of
knowledgeable *Mac* oriented professionals with your problem & then choose
to ignore their insights in favor of those who you readily admit are
"(mostly Mac-clueless) tech support folks"?