Cannot open 97-2004 Word .doc email attachment in Pages

Question

BK1979 Author

Level 1

10 points

Cannot open 97-2004 Word .doc email attachment in Pages

Hoping you can help me figure out why I keep running into error messages when I try to open 1997-2004 Word .doc (not .docx) email attachments in Pages on iPad.

The documents are attached to emails sent to a hotmail email address. The file names look like "smith 48_1213.doc". When I press on the icon attachment to the email, it opens to a grey full screen (cannot view the doc in this screen) with "Open in Pages" in the top right corner. When I push on the Open in button, the Pages app opens, but then it tells me that the document cannot be imported because the file format is invalid.

The email attachment was sent from an automated sender, so I cannot request that it be sent to me with a different file name. I do not know of another way to save the file to my iPad and rename it, and i am not aware of any other ways to even view the document on my iPad.

Does anyone know why the document will not import into Pages, and/or know of a way to get around this problem so I can view the Word document on my iPad without having to download it to a desktop computer, rename it, and email it to myself again (this is not a practical work-around for my circumstances)?

Thank you.

iPad, iOS 4

Posted on Jan 10, 2011 4:12 PM

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Answer 1

Peggy

Level 8

41,601 points

Jan 10, 2011 7:55 PM in response to BK1979

Welcome to the Apple forums

Is the Word document password-protected? Pages, iPad or Mac versions, cannot open password-protected Word documents. Sorry.

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Answer 2

BK1979 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 10, 2011 10:58 PM in response to Peggy

No, the doc is not password protected. Thanks for the thought, though. Much appreciated.

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Answer 3

Jan 11, 2011 6:42 AM in response to Peggy

Peggy, I have exactly the same problem, unprotected file and this message trying to open .doc with Pages: document cannot be imported because the file format is invalid. This is my first use of Pages; really frustrating! Please, any help.

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Answer 4

Jan 12, 2011 11:03 AM in response to BK1979

I have been using this function ever since I got my iPad and Pages for iPad and it's worked flawlessly. Until today. For some reason, all of a sudden I can't download some .doc's in email attachments. Something is wrong.

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Answer 5

DomT

Level 1

4 points

Jan 16, 2011 8:05 PM in response to BK1979

Same problem here, cannot open doc file, could anyone please fix this

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Answer 6

Jan 17, 2011 4:52 PM in response to BK1979

I think this must be a problem with iworks. I have had 3 (yes) 3 airbooks in the last 2 months because of technical difficulties. I had iworks installed at the store each time, and on the other 2 macbooks I was able to open word docs from emails, this last laptop (which miraculously hasn't crashed - YET) won't open any doc documents - even those I created today.

i have had no such problems with numbers and excel.

HELP!

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Answer 7

Jan 27, 2011 9:04 PM in response to BK1979

I just downloaded pages for ipad because i figured it would be easier to use than documents to go. i guess i was wrong though, because I cant open a simple .doc (universal document file, right?) file. oh by the way, it said "file format is invalid" just like these others.

So i tried opening my document in word and saving it as (the even more universal) an rtf file. I figured that an rtf is barely more complex than a txt file, and it should work... nope.

BY the way... docs to go opens both files.

Something is wrong with pages! fix this please, apple!

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Answer 8

Jan 31, 2011 2:15 AM in response to BK1979

I'm having a problem opening Word docs (97-2004 format) sent to me as email attachments too. I don't get an error message - the file opens - but only displays the first 3 pages (in Pages, as well as in Text Edit). I know there are more pages in the file itself because they are previewed if i hit the Quick Look button in Mail. So there seems to be a problem with the latest version of Pages (either on a Mac or on an iPad) not displaying Word .doc files correctly - I'm just not sure if we have one problem here or two! Anyone else getting the file to open but only display the first few pages?

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Answer 9

Mar 23, 2011 6:25 AM in response to Steve W67

I discovered this problem yesterday. I only recently updated from 10.5 to 10.6 (latest version). Documents that used to open under 10.5 do not open under 10.6. I am using Pages version 4.0.5. My guess? The problem is with the import document under OS 10.6.

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Answer 10

Oct 6, 2011 11:16 AM in response to BK1979

Yesterday could not open word doc on iPad, but can open on iPhone and PowerBook. A new message box opened with open in pages, dropbox you send it. Only dropbox could open and it was a mess. Came up clear as a bell on other devices.

iPad used to just click open word docs, this was new box and wouldn't open in pages.

Could not have been password protected as wouldn't open on other devices.

Please advise.

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Answer 11

Dec 10, 2011 10:08 PM in response to BK1979

I have recently purchased an iPad and having exact same problem with email doc attachments. I can not see any real solution in the replies. The doc is not password protected.

Quickoffice allowed me open the document.

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Answer 12

v07

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2014 3:56 PM in response to BK1979

I wanted to save my microsoft word file in 1997-2004 types. Usually I never face difficulties but just now I have tried to save it but cannot. Anyone can help? thanks

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Answer 13

Mar 17, 2014 9:37 PM in response to BK1979

If you want to be able to open a Microsoft Word document in your iPhone or iPad just save the file as a PDF, and send an email with the attachment, then you can open it. Make sure you first save it as a DOC or DOCX file, then save it again as PDF, so then you have the DOC file for the computer and the PDF file for your portable device.

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Answer 14

Mar 18, 2014 8:36 AM in response to BK1979

I can tell you first hand that IOS Pages v2.1, Pages ’09 v4.3, and OS X Pages v5.1 will not open a Word document created during Spring 1997. Although the document will say it is a Microsoft Word 1997 - 2004 document. The Quick Look panel in Mail will return the following. Note the last modified date. Single-click to enlarge.

IOS 7 and Pages v2.1 will simply return an error dialog when attempting to open this .doc attachment within IOS Mail.

Neither Pages or Preview will open this document. However, if you press and hold the button that says, "Open in Pages,” you will get a menu of all possibles, including those that will/will not open this document. The only application that showed the entire document, including the custom professional header, was LibreOffice. Bean and TextEdit will open the document, but suppressed the document header.

Try this last paragraph approach on your Word document. It is an entirely legitimate reason to have the latest LibreOffice installed.

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