Word and Excel Documents not opening properly

M

Martin C

Hi Everyone

I have Vista and I am running Office 2007. Everything was running reasonably
okay for several months when suddenly, probably after a windows update or
installing software (not sure but it is possible although only respected
software has ever been installed) - now when I click on a Word or Excel file
- the correct application, Word or Excel start - but I get the following
message:-

Windows cannot find 'C:\Users\Martin\Desktop\Filename.docx'. Make sure you
typed the name correctly, and then try again.

If I then just drag the file into the half started application it works fine.

Since it is opening the correct application the file association must be
correct and I have checked this as well.

I can confirm that the filename and directory that is displayed is always
correct and I can't have typed it in wrong anyway as I have just double
clicked on the document. If anyone has got it wrong it is Vista.

I had a similar problem when I first installed Office 2007 but it was only
occassional and seemed to be some sort of 'time out' as if I double clicked
on the file again it generally worked.

There is nothing wrong with the actual documents since they open fine when I
drag them in or use the 'Open' option on the application menu.


Word and Excel are both affected, but other file types such as AVI and MP3
are fine.

Any idea how I correct this problem as it is driving me nuts.

Martin
 
M

Martin C

Okay - well I have finally located what appears to be the cause of my problem
but not exactly fixed it yet. I have noticed in trying to resolve the problem
that a lot of people have reported similar problems but there appears to be
no single magic bullet solution.

My problem turned out to be caused by a third party add-in file this is how
I found it.

First I ran the Microsoft Office Diagnosis that comes with Office 2007.

That didn't help but at the end it sent me online for further diagnosis

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/HA012340761033.aspx

These additional diagnosis didn't help me either but they might help others.


This eventually took me to 'guided help'

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915092

The automatic program that you can download didn't run for me - but it
doesn't look as though it was compatible with Vista - instead I ran the fixes
manually as documented and recreated the regedit entries. This didn't resolve
my problem for me but I did find statements online where people did report
that it taking these steps had worked for them.

Finally I arrived at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541 and it was one
of these that resolved my problem in that it identifyed the NitroPDF add-in
files that once recreated allowed Word to function normally again.

Trouble was if I left the newely created NitoPDF file there it didn't work
on subsequent files, i.e. the problem was back but at least I found what
appears to be the root cause.

Hope the above helps others
 
M

Martin C

Further information on this problem.

I have been able to recreate and remove the problem:-

- by installing the full version of NitroPDF that include addins for Word,
Excel and Poweerpoint Word fails to open a document that is double clicked
- by removing the full version of NitroPDF and installing a customised
instalation that does not include the NitroPDF add-ins for Word, Excel and
Powerpoint, I can double click on a word document and it opens okay.

I have contacted NitroPDF and they are not aware of a known problem but are
keen to help and are in the process of trying to help trace the problem. I
suspect that it is less to do with NitroPDF and more to do with Vista or Word.

I have noticed that every now and then (once a week say) when my system is
running slow for various reason I get the same problem when I try to open a
document by double clicking on it (i.e. document not found) - I can however
repeat the double click and the document opens, I therefore suspect that this
problem might be related to some sort of timeout in the Word/Excel initiation
procedure - I suspect that with the addins included a timeout is always
breached, without the addins a timeout is less often reached.

For me this would explain why with the addins installed one in a 100
attempts miraculously works. Would anyone with a detailed knowledge and
understanding of Office 2007 and Vista be prepared to comment?
 
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