Word Perfect 2000 won't read MS Word documents?

Infopackets Reader Warren P. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I'm a new member of your newsletter and have a question! I have Word Perfect 2000 installed on my computer. It appears that I am no longer able to open Microsoft Word (.DOC) files. Earlier versions of .DOC files opened up in Word Pad. Any ideas? "

My Response:

There are a few possibilities that I can think of. Either: a) The Windows file association for .DOC files may have changed and no longer points to Word Pad, or b) The .DOC file could have been corrupt and is producing an error message. In this case, try to obtain another copy and avoid floppy disks if possible (due to their high failure rates).

Side note: I believe Word Pad has limited support for MS Word 2000 / XP documents which contain embedded pictures or extensive formatting and may therefore distort the true appearance of some documents.

Opening a .DOC file using Word Perfect 2000

Assuming that Word Perfect 2000 can read MS Word 97 and 2000 files:

Try loading Word Perfect 2000 first, then click File -> Open and load your document that way. This will avoid loading Word Pad or any other program which has been associated with a .DOC file, assuming that the association was set incorrectly. Ensure that the .DOC file association launches using Word Perfect 2000 (see below).

To change a file association (with Internet Explorer 5+ installed):

Right-click over top of a .DOC file; click Open With -> Choose Program. Select Word Perfect 2000 from the list. If it does not appear in the list, you may have to click the Browse button and locate the Word Perfect executable file (most likely listed in your c:\program files) Once the Word Perfect executable has been located, be sure to checkmark "Always use this program to open files of this type".