How do I unblock Word 2007 and later binary documents and templates?

When opening an old Word document, a newer version of Microsoft Word may report "Error: [Filename] uses a file type that is blocked from opening in this version".

Environment

This article applies to those trying to open Microsoft Word documents from old versions of Microsoft Office. Some older versions of Word documents cannot be opened in Word 2016 or newer.

Cause

File Block prevents outdated file types from opening and causes your file to open in Protected View and disables the Save and Open features. The code used to open and save the older formats have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. So they are security risks that should be avoided, if possible.

Resolution

The steps to take for working through this error are to 'Recover Text from any file' from within Microsoft Word.

1 - In Microsoft Word, click the File menu, click Open.
2 - Navigate the Open location to where the document is on your computer from within the Word Open dialog box.
3 - At the bottom of the Open dialog box, click the Options button so you see the Open: Original pop-down menu at the bottom-right corner.  NOTE: If you are using an older version of Microsoft Word, you might see an 'Enable' menu with "Original" selected.  Change 'Original' to be Recover Text and go to step 6.
4 - Click Original and select the Recover Text command.
5 - This will show your files in the Open dialog box and make them selectable.
6 - Click the document once to select it.
7 - Click Open.
8 - If you get a warning, click OK.
     Note: When you open the file, some formatting might change. You will need to review the document for formatting updates.
9 - In the Show Repairs window click Close.
10 - Click the File menu, click Save As....
11 - Enter the file name and choose the location for the recovered file.
12 - In the File Format drop down menu, select Word Document (.docx).
13 - If you need to "Maintain compatibility with previous versions of Word" checkmark the box by that option.
14 - Click Save to save your Word document in the .docx format.

You will most likely have to go through the document(s) and update the formatting which was lost due to the 'Recover text' process.

When you try to open any office file documents created with an earlier version of Office applications like Word 95, Word 6.0 or Word 2, the file will open in 'Protected View' by default and the editing functions will be disabled.

Though it is not recommended, but if you face such issue and still want to open the document for editing, you can follow the steps mentioned here.

'File Block' prevents outdated file types from opening to reduce the chance of being exploit to hackers. In some cases it causes your file to open in 'Protected View' and disables the 'Save' and 'Open' features of the opened document. This is to avoid the security risks of being vulnerable, due to the code that's being used to open and save the older formats.

In such cases, you may notice the following messages prompt by Microsoft Office applications:

1. You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your File Block settings in the Trust Center.
2. You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.
3. You are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by your registry policy setting.

The following are examples of the Message Bar for 'File Block'. When you see the message with a 'Yellow Shield', it indicates that the file can be edited in protected mode. When you see the message with 'Red Shield', it indicates that the file can’t be edited and thus the 'Save' button will get disabled. The error message will appear, if the File Block settings configured by you or your administrator are set to Do not open selected file types.

File Block Settings

You can configure how the 'File Block' will work, by making changes to the 'File Block settings' of the Microsoft applications. This is generally done in the Trust Center of the application. To open the settings page:

1. Click 'File > Options'.
2. Navigate to 'Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings'.
3. Uncheck the older file formats available in the list. These are:
   • Word 95 Binary Documents and Templates
   • Word 6.0 Binary Documents and Templates
   • Word 2 and earlier Binary Documents and Templates
4. Click on 'OK' to continue.

In this page, you can also modify the open behavior of the selected file types. There are three kinds of options available for you to choose:

• Do not open selected file types - This will block the selected file types from opening and saving. You will see an error message when this is set.
• Open selected file types in Protected View - When this is set, the selected file types will open in Protected View and the 'Enable Editing' button will get disabled.
• Open selected file types in Protected View and allow editing - When this is set, the selected file types will open in Protected View but the 'Enable Editing' button will stay enabled.

I hope that the above post was helpful and resolved the issue that you were looking for. Don't forget to subscribe to my feed and/or email newsletter to get the updates of the future posts. Connect with me on Twitter or Facebook to stay tuned.