Q: MS Word documents open but aren't visible

It is possible you have a Word Macro virus. If this is the cause, they are pretty easy to remove. Here are a couple of links for more information:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187243
http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/its/training/macrovirus/

Hello Sarah:

Try a couple of things:

Run repair permissions from your HD.

Run repair disk from your software install DVD.

Trash the preference files and restart (com.microsoft.word.plist and com.microsoft.word.prefs.plist).

Barry

I put zero faith in anti-virus tools-either to find anything or to fix it. There is only one possible virus on a Mac and that is a word virus. Your virus scan probably only checked for those windows viruses that don't exist on a Mac.

Ordinarily, I would think that Barry's suggestion to delete the preferences files would do the trick. It worries me when you said the problem had "spread" to another machine. I can't see corrupt preferences files "spreading". I can see Word viruses doing that when you copy your documents to the other machine.

Instead of running a useless virus scan, manually check Word for macros that you didn't create. Word viruses are easy to detect and fix manually, but it wouldn't surprise me an anti-virus tool couldn't do it.

I had a problem with windows disappearing in Word and other applications. I found the problem was the System Preferences “Expose/Spaces.”

I tried Spaces after I installed Leopard and decided I wouldn’t use it, so I unchecked the Enable box. But Spaces mysteriously re-enabled itself. It would show the application menu bar but no window, even though the file was listed in the Windows menu.

When it happens, you can try cycling through Spaces by using the Control-arrow or Control-1,2,3 or 4 keys. If you ever tried Spaces and then thought you disabled it, this may be happening to you also.

To completely disable Spaces, go to the System Preferences, click the Expose/Spaces icon, click on the Spaces tab, check the Enable Spaces box, and select the applications in the spaces. Then click on the minus button at the bottom of the window. After removing all the applications, uncheck the Enable box again.

I don’t know if this is the problem with your computer or not. It seems unlikely it is a virus, as others suggested and from what you have replied. Checking the Spaces System Preferences and trying what I did to remove the applications from the Spaces function couldn’t hurt, unless you really want to use Spaces. In that case, try using the Control-arrow or Control-1, 2, or 3 key combinations when it doesn’t show the document window.

This method worked for some others:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6202441#6202441
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6183939#6183939

You must have Spaces on, because that's what causes this. Here's your workaround (well, it's my workaround, but it's been working since pre-release Leopard back in, oh, July...)
Of all the ways I can switch into Word when Spaces is on: Command-Tab, Control-1 (that's the space it's in), Control-whatever-arrow depending on the other space I'm in, the Spaces menu... Control-1 is the only one that always shows me the document window. So, when, out of habit, I go back to Word with, say Command-Tab, and get its menu bar but no document window, then I hit Control-1 even tho I'm already there, and the documents show up.

Your virus scan probably only checked for those windows viruses that don't exist on a Mac.

Via the wiki http://wiki.clamav.net/Main/MalwareNaming for clamav, the engine for ClamXav, we see that they include "MS Office macro malware" in their virus definitions.

If the problem is Spaces, then press F8 to display all spaces at once. If your documents are open somewhere, they should show up in one of the windows.

I have spaces enabled and use Word all the time and I've never had a problem like this. Maybe just turn spaces back on if nothing else.

Word is bad. It doesn't have good Leopard compatibility. Lots of programs break like this in Leopard, not just Word. Apple should quit selling Office:mac in their stores and quit loading a test drive on new machines. I deleted it as soon as I saw it. Then I reloaded it to get a laugh out of the Office Assistant. Then I deleted it. I suggest using OpenOffice.org instead of M$'s lousy Offic€. It works better with Leopard because (acts like dr.evil saying 1 mil. dollars) it's done entirely in X11! (Unless you use the Aqua version.)