Word2000 won't read old files. Code page problem?

[Vincent]

Hi.

I had some important files (RTF format) on my computer. The computer broke
down, but we managed to copy the files from the hard drive. They don't work
on my new computer - I use Windows XP. Since my backup files (stored on a
disquette) don't work either, the problem seems to be that the files don't
communicate with my new computer, rather than the files being damaged
themselves.

A friend told me that "...it sounds like your current Word2000 doesn't
have the right code
page or whatever it uses to interpret the structure or characters in the
files".

I used to simply open the files using Word. When I try to access my files
now they come out as "óÑIØ|ÅÍc4ÿùñ#"o«±¸ù©îvU,ïº" etc., and when I try Word
Pad it's the same thing. Only the files containing tables don't work, those
consisting of plain text work all right. There is a great amount of info
stored in these files, and I would appreciate very much if anyone could make
it possible for me to make them work again. They consist almost entirely of
tables containing plain text.

If you have a suggestion for a more relevant newsgroup, I'd also
appreciate any advice.



Best regards,

Vincent ([email protected]).

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Vincent,

Sounds to me more like the information in the files may have been "jumbled",
but one thing to try would be to set "Confirm conversions on open" in Word's
Tools/Options/General to "on". Now try opening such an RTF file: Word should
prompt you for the file type. Choose PLAIN TEXT so that you can see the RTF
codes. Can you find and read the information that should be displayed in a
table?

Were you using WinXP on both machines? And Word2000 on both, as well? May the
one machine have been formatted with FAT and the other with NTFS file
structure?

I had some important files (RTF format) on my computer. The computer broke
down, but we managed to copy the files from the hard drive. They don't work
on my new computer - I use Windows XP. Since my backup files (stored on a
disquette) don't work either, the problem seems to be that the files don't
communicate with my new computer, rather than the files being damaged
themselves.

A friend told me that "...it sounds like your current Word2000 doesn't
have the right code
page or whatever it uses to interpret the structure or characters in the
files".

I used to simply open the files using Word. When I try to access my files
now they come out as "óÑIØ|ÅÍc4ÿùñ#"o«±¸ù©îvU,ïº" etc., and when I try Word
Pad it's the same thing. Only the files containing tables don't work, those
consisting of plain text work all right. There is a great amount of info
stored in these files, and I would appreciate very much if anyone could make
it possible for me to make them work again. They consist almost entirely of
tables containing plain text.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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