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I have Word files that are between 15 and 25 years old and in the Folders are no longer Word docs. They are now listed as "Unix executable." When I double-click on them I get some strange Terminal message that refers me to an Apple page about changing my "shell." Microsoft has no advice. Any thoughts on how to open these old Word docs?
iMac 21.5", macOS 10.15
The free LibreOffice, or try with Microsoft Office 2016 or later.
What you’re seeing is the “I don’t have anything that knows about this file” behavior, so you’ll have to install a tool to access these old Office docs.
If you’ve just done a Catalina upgrade, you’ll absolutely need to upgrade to Office 2016, Office 2019, or Office 365, if you’re going to use Microsoft Office tools. Office 2011 and earlier are 32-bit apps, and incompatible with Catalina. Or use LibreOffice, or such.
The free LibreOffice, or try with Microsoft Office 2016 or later.
What you’re seeing is the “I don’t have anything that knows about this file” behavior, so you’ll have to install a tool to access these old Office docs.
If you’ve just done a Catalina upgrade, you’ll absolutely need to upgrade to Office 2016, Office 2019, or Office 365, if you’re going to use Microsoft Office tools. Office 2011 and earlier are 32-bit apps, and incompatible with Catalina. Or use LibreOffice, or such.
Instead of double-clicking on a file, select one and Get Info... (command I) on the file. Then you can select the application that will be launched when you double click on it. Then click the Change All button.
Using my university's cloud-based MS Office, which I imagine is the most current, Office will not even recognize these files. I had this same problem with Office 2011 (which, of course, I can no longer use with Catalina). What other tools might be of help? Thanks.
Wait! LibreOffice opened them. Formatting looks good and everything. Thanks so much!
Old Word files are now Unix executable files and won't open How to recover?
