E-mailed Documents won't open

If it was just Word files I'd say "Open /Applications/Microsoft Office/Templates, rename Normal to oldNormal then try opening the document. If that doesn't work quit Word, delete Normal and rename oldNormal as Normal" but that wouldn't explain the QuickTime files.

Both types imply the attachment isn't being received fully/correctly or that something odd is happening when it's saved locally. Try forwarding, redirecting, or sending the message to yourself again ?

On many, not all, Word document email attachments, I get the following when trying to open:

Word cannot open the document.
Try one or more of the following:
* On the File menu, click Open to open the document.
* Make sure the document is a valid Word document.
(name of file here)

I deleted Microsoft Office 2004, installed X for Mac and get exactly the same problem. I don't appear to have problems with Word documents on my hard drive. Only with recent attachments. But even those saved to the hard drive won't open! I asked the senders if they were using Office 2007 and they are not. They are using older versions of Word.

Any ideas?

When you save it to the desktop, are you saving it with the full file name, including the .doc extension?

Is this happening with certain senders or all senders? I'm wondering if there are macros or other objects (including pictures) embedded in the specific docs you cannot open.

Just saving the attachment as normal. It's fully named, fully sized, etc. No macros, nothing. Just a plain old Word 2003 document - supposedly the same as a Word 2004 for Mac document.

I've just found a usenet thread where someone else has the same problem - and the same mailer: Groupwise! However, I cannot discern exactly what I must tell my Groupwise administrators so that they can fix the "problem".

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, our IT guys don't allow zip files in or out at all.

I did some more digging. The same Word document that doesn't open with Office 2004 or Office X for Mac also does not open under Windows!

So, I downloaded the file to my Mac with the Groupwise web interface. The attachment opens fine.

Seems to me the problem is with Apple mail, not Groupwise, and not MS Word.

Bill, when I ran into a similar problem with a client sending Word files, I had them use a zip utility (7zip) to 'package' the document. When I unzipped it upon arrival it was intact.