Unable to open .mpp with Project 2007

[Jay]

I have a colleague that has saved a Project 2007 (.mpp) file to a SharePoint
document library. I have tried repeatedly to open the file using Project 2007
both to edit and as read-only and get the following error:

"The file was created by a newer version of Microsoft Office Project and a
convertor is needed to open it. Do you want to download the converter from
the Microsoft Office Web site?"

If I click yes I am redirected to download Project 2003 SP3 which doesn't
work since I am not running Project 2003 (Project 2003 has nver been
installed on this particular computer in fact)!

If I click No in the above dialog I get the following error message:

"Project cannot open this file because the format is not recognized. The
file was probably created with a newer version of Project"

The only "newer" version of Project would be the Beta bits for 2010 and I
have spoken to the file creator and he is not using that product as yet.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Rob Schneider]

I assume from the subject of this posting that you are using Project
2007 and that your colleague did indeed save it in Project 2007 format.
Therefore, all should be ok and it should not matter that SharePoint
is the place the file is stored. You also should not have to upgrade
anything. I suspect that is an erroneous message from Project.

Project 2007 and SharePoint 2007 do not work as as seamlessly with files
in a document library as does the other more mainstream Office 2007
programs (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

To make sure that your computer is not confused about what it is doing
with SharePoint, try saving the file direct to your computer by right
mouse clicking on the link in Sharepoint to "save target as" somewhere
local. Don't use the "double click" approach. Then with Project 2007
File/Open that file from the location on your local computer. (This
approach bypasses any file associations setup on your computer that may
well be getting in the way).

If this does not work, this probably the file has been mangled on the
upload to SharePoint or download to your machine. Your colleague
re-upload the file to SharePoint. Consider having them give you the file
in email or on a memory stick just to test that your copy of Project
2007 can read the files that he/she is creating without SharePoint being
in the middle.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

1) Is your 2007 version patched to the same level as his?
2) Can he open/save to 2003, and then ask you to open it?


- Andrew Lavinsky
Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm