mswrd632.wpc Word cannot start the converter error

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280 Responses

  1. Cesar Rojo says:

    It works, Thanks 😉

  2. netmon1 says:

    Thank you very much, this solved a friends issue.

  3. dummy says:

    There’s no wordpad under Applets on my laptop. I just created the AllowConversion under it and set bit to 1, but unable still to open the doc. Help. This is my school project I need to submit tomorrow.

  4. Marc says:

    This worked great for me, thanks for the help.

  5. ?? says:

    Repaired all issues we were having with our mail merge, great thanks.

  6. @fabio says:

    With the registry script everything was solved. thank you

  7. Huubbie says:

    thanks,
    problemfixed

  8. DT says:

    This was very helpful!

    I’d have been totally unable to print of a long Christmas list without the information given here.

    All done! Thanks! 🙂

  9. ... says:

    Thanks!!!!!!! Reg add works!

  10. Peter says:

    Having received the mswrd632.wpc error I downloaded the Registry Entry. The document now opens but it seems to have been corrupted somewhere along the way. The document is full of ‘y’s with two dots on top.

    Not to worry. The document is not that important.

    I appreciate very much the excellent service you are providing.

  11. Uffe says:

    Thanks it worked fine

  12. farhan qureshi says:

    my problem remains unsolved. Your solution has completely failed to rectify my problem. Kindly give another solution.

  13. Nik says:

    @farhan,
    have you tried to use the registry script provided in the bottom of this article?

  14. Nicos says:

    It works fine !! Many thanks

  15. G8crasha says:

    My documents still don’t open correctly unfortunately…

  16. DParrott says:

    Thanks for the fix — Word docs within Calyx POINT now open!

  17. Uzoras says:

    I tried both the KB973904 instructions listed above, and the link provided, both to no avail. My docs will open, and they look fine to me, but the error message pops up each time I try to open one, and I have to click OK twice for the message to go away! It’s more of an annoyance for me…it’s really slowing down my productivity. Any other suggestions?

  18. Nik says:

    @Uzoras
    Try to import registry fix once again. It should solve your issue.

  19. Uzoras says:

    I tried it a 3rd time with no luck. The computer I’m using is actually at work, and we have a closed-circuit type of driver/server…I don’t know if that makes a difference. The MSWord registry looks fine when I locate it following the directions above. Also, my MS programs (only on my computer) run on Citrix.

  20. Nik says:

    @Uzoras,
    Ah that explains it. If you run MS applications on Citrix, you should pass this registry key to your Citrix administrator.
    This registry key has to be applied on a Citrix server where this applications are published.

    Regards,
    Nik

  21. Uzoras says:

    Thank you Nik! I will talk to our admin…of course, he’s clueless, so it may not help. I appreciate your help!

  22. Nik says:

    It should definitely help, after all I’m Citrix admin 😉
    This patch is working when you apply it on client machine. Citrix just passes over picture to your PC from the server, so if you’re using MS Word which is published on Citrix, there’s nothing you can do on your local PC to fix this issue.

    Regards,
    Nik

  23. Jeanne Sheldon says:

    Re-enabling a vulnerable WordPad converter is not the appropriate fix to prevent this error in Word. Instead, just unregister the converter following the instructions on http:support.microsoft.com/kb/973904.

  24. Nik says:

    Thanks Jeanne,
    I will update my first post, but Microsoft released this update (more secure) yesterday. First given fix was provided in the original post.

  25. tony says:

    ‘tworks!

  26. bortset says:

    Great fix. Thanks

  27. Aun Ali says:

    Thanks It worked

  28. Jose Acebedo says:

    Gracias, Thanks, Grazas. llevo dos dias intentando solucionar este tema.;-);-);-)

  29. Russell Broad says:

    Many thanks for this fix. The registry key delete worked for me. Now have MS Word mail merge working again along with MS Office Accounting. Thanks again. Russell.

  30. BOB says:

    ACCURATE ANSWER. THANKS A LOT

  31. janette says:

    thanks alot, that has been bugging me for days, all fixed

  32. HNCCK says:

    Thanks your suggestion solved the problem..

  33. nona says:

    Thank you , i have sent it to you and i hope it will work with you 🙂

  34. Neither registry change worked for me... BUT... says:

    Someone in a microsoft news group suggested the file might be Word 2007 (…docx) but named as an earlier version (.doc). I renamed the file in question and it opened properly.

  35. DUH says:

    Mistook “Name” for “Title”

  36. nona says:

    I did change the version from (docx) to (doc) but still not open !!

  37. ann says:

    I just had this problem with two Word 2003 .doc files on a thumb drive. Other Word test files open fine. The registry fix in the KB mentioned above got rid of the error message but then the files just open as untranslated gobbledegook, as also mentioned above. I suspect I actually just hosed these two files (I pulled the thumb drive off without using its “eject” menu) and this is just the response Word has to files that aren’t quite right. So, solution may be, don’t corrupt your files…

  38. Tech says:

    Registry changes did not work for me. The suggestion of changing the name from .doc to .docx DID work! Thanks–IT Tech on vacation, am sure I will need it upon return.

  39. Writer says:

    Thanks! i had an important document that i wasn’t able to read because of this problem. =)

  40. Babeta says:

    Thank you so much,that’s OK for me.:-)

  41. Del says:

    I have tried both options, but still no joy for me. Any other options???:sad:
    THANKS

  42. Necessary Evil says:

    You solved my problem,thank you so much.
    you’re kinda orator v.v

  43. syed manzar abbas advocate says:

    WELL WELL THANX IT REALLY HELP US , there is dead line for filing a suit and word doc showe said error , thanxthis is great save lot of our time
    :-*8)

  44. DCM says:

    Registry change worked for me!!!! Thanks.

  45. Will says:

    thanking you for saving me manually doing word docs!
    cheers

  46. JDavidson says:

    I have done every thing sugested here and my doc look like a lot of small boxes

  47. Liz says:

    I’ve tried both suggestions and this is what I get:

    П ๱ ñ€ kà $š $ >@
    ’þÿ 0‹ Bà‚ !€ˆ Ö Â ˆ _ ¹š €þÿï¿ @€UP ÿþÿÿ¿ÿÿ¾•ÿÿ¿ÿÿú÷ÿÛÿÿýïÏÿÿþÿÿßÿþÿÿÿÿÿÿÿûëÿÿÿmÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿßÿþÿýÿ¿ÿýÿûÿÿÿÿÿ
    Any others?

  48. Tech says:

    If are are renaming the file the docx and trying to open with 2003 don’t forget you need to have the 2007 document converter installed. http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/2/2/9222d67f-7630-4f49-bd26-476b51517fc1/FileFormatConverters.exe

  49. Carla says:

    Thanks so much. That worked!;-)

  50. Dave says:

    Registry fixes did not work.
    Prompt for converter no longer appears, but documents now opening with cryptic characters
    users all are running Window XP, SP3
    users all are running MS Office 2003 ( we have not yet converted)
    users all have the MS Office 2007 Compatability Patch.
    Documents were never created with Office 2007…all original 2003 files.
    Documents were accessible and readable Before Dec 2009.
    System Restore did not resolve the problem.

  51. cir says:

    It worked on all three workstations that were getting that error. Thanks so much. 😉

  52. mike says:

    reinstalled the compatibility pack and ran the REG fix. still can’t open the doc.

  53. slw says:

    this did not work for me for some reason. i am still gettig the error….yikes! i hope i have not lost all of the stuff i’ve done…

  54. j says:

    I am having same problem. Have tried regedit and reg fix. Three word 2003 docs that I have been working on for a month open as gobbledy gook. Tried renaming as .docx. Same problem with all my backups of these docs. help – so much work has gone into these docs and I don’t know what to do

  55. Sai Praveen Manchiraju says:

    THANK U VERY VERY VERY MUCH.:-)
    I hope this does not effect my system on the long run.:cry:

  56. Nik says:

    Regfix was a temporary solution.
    Although, safer solution is to delete the following registry key.

    Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc
    On the Edit menu, click Delete.
    Click Yes.
    Exit Registry Editor.

    j, have you tried to install file converters?
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/2/2/9222d67f-7630-4f49-bd26-476b51517fc1/FileFormatConverters.exe

  57. Mr Happy says:

    Good work !! Your fix worked, thanks heaps 😉

  58. Arthur Nascimento says:

    No meu caso, eu recebi um arquivo word 2007 que estava salvo com “.doc”
    Renomeei o arquivo corretamente para “.docx” e o conversor abriu corretamente o arquivo no meu office 2003.

  59. Kobe says:

    Thanks a lot!
    It work at the first try^^

  60. rachel says:

    i tried to delete the file but it wouldnt let me

  61. Nik says:

    rachel, do you have administrative permissions?
    can you try to run regedit in as Administrator?

  62. GJ says:

    I DIDNT GOT FULL PATH IN MY SYSTEM.
    (TEXT CONVERTER IMPORT MSWRD6.WPC

  63. DJ - Cincinnati OH says:

    Found another work-around when using Office 2003 with converters installed for Office 2007, and trying to open embedded .docx objects inside a .docx document:

    Right click on the embedded > Package Object > Edit Package

    Pop-up window appears

    File > Save Contents > enter file with same extension to local folder (no feedback that it saved)

    Go to local folder > Open doc, installed converter runs > Save As a 2003 type doc (ie: .doc instead of .docx)

    Now you can reopen the doc and it will not go through the conversion process.

  64. SVK, Pune says:

    Worked for me! thanks!

  65. VM says:

    Hi.I`m having a problem that when i try to convert the file it still shows hieroglifs and no text that was in there. What should i Do?

  66. Jane says:

    Great fix. My first time doing this.

  67. paul says:

    Nik, Help! I tried all 3 suggestions you made: registry change, registry fix & downloading the converters. Nothing has worked. Thank you.

  68. duder says:

    Yeahh, I’ve tried all this, Including the reg fix etc,

    Seems to work for others but not all. I open the file and get just boxes. Looks like the file might be corrupted?

  69. Nik says:

    Hello Paul,
    have you tried solution from other visitor?

    Found another work-around when using Office 2003 with converters installed for Office 2007, and trying to open embedded .docx objects inside a .docx document:

    Right click on the embedded > Package Object > Edit Package

    Pop-up window appears

    File > Save Contents > enter file with same extension to local folder (no feedback that it saved)

    Go to local folder > Open doc, installed converter runs > Save As a 2003 type doc (ie: .doc instead of .docx)

    Now you can reopen the doc and it will not go through the conversion process.

    It could be that your document is corrupted. You can try to search online for some free applications which can fix corrupted office documents.

  70. Ken Burton says:

    This Registry fix is a permanent solution and you are not deleting anything.
    When using Office 2007 and opening a *.PPTX file with embedded text from an earlier Word version do the following:

    Locate the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc
    Right click the Extensions string value and choose Modify.
    Make sure the Value Data field has the following: doc docx
    Click, OK
    Exit Registry Editor.

    Enjoy,

    Ken B

  71. Ken B says:

    Sorry, I typed too fast. The problem just surfaced on another machine and the only way around it was to rename or delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc registry key.

    Hope this helps,

  72. Lara says:

    No, this didn’t work for me

  73. Gelu says:

    Thankyou very much. There are some answers to this issue, but only yours resolve the problem! 😀

  74. paul says:

    Nik:
    “have you tried solution from other visitor?”
    Which solution?

    “Right click on the embedded > Package Object > Edit Package”
    What is embedded?

  75. Tabby says:

    And suggestions on how to convert “recovered” files?

  76. Aleksandar Radenkovic says:

    Tnx Worked 100% 8)

  77. guesswho says:

    OOOO Thanks, this solution saved VCojocaru 🙂

  78. 97 MS says:

    I can not get this to work with deletion. Yes-I have 97 and living in the past.
    Can you help me?

  79. Ilya says:

    It worked well, thank you very much!

  80. Michael says:

    Worked ! Thanks for the help

  81. gireesh kudav says:

    thanks its worked immidiate.

  82. rich says:

    Thanks to the post from Dec 29th – resave the file as a Office 2007 (docx) and it opens fine. Otherwise the regedit solution will still delivery an ASCII file.

  83. kay says:

    yes, it works, thank you 😉

  84. Christopher says:

    No change, waste of time. Still can’t open / convert / import text to Word. Skootcapt2@aol.com

  85. Suzie says:

    I accidentally deleted a bunch of files and had to use a data recovery program. Music files and photos came back fine but now none of the Word, Excel, or Power Point files will open without looking like a jumbled mess. I reinstalled Microsoft Office 2003 and I’ve tried all these fixes. Any other suggestions for me?

  86. Nik says:

    There are a lot of suggestions in comments of this article. Have you tried all of this suggestions?

  87. Ashoutosh says:

    I just could not install registry as message appears that same has been blocked by adminstrator. Pl help.

  88. Nik says:

    Unfortunately, you need administrative privileges to modify the registry.

  89. Confused says:

    I followed the instructions, but when I click Delete I get the following message: “Unable to delete all specified values” HELP!!!..Thanks

  90. tiny says:

    I cannot make labels with office 2000 and windows XP I recieve error

  91. Jeeper says:

    Ok I tried the registry fix it didn’t work for me. But by just renaming the word document from .doc to .docx then opened the file it worked. This was a pc with MS Office 2003 also. Hopefully this will help someone.

  92. Peggy says:

    THANK YOU!! I have been trying to fix this for a week with no luck. Problem solved!!:-)

  93. mickie says:

    Thanks.
    This fix worked great.:-)

  94. Satvinder says:

    Hi, My computer was hit by virus. Then i used bit-defender to remove it when(ESET couldn’t). But in the process i lost a lot of my data. Movies, pics, doc files. When i recovered them using Tune-up utilities.My word (doc.) files won’t open. They showed “Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc” error.

    I unregistered the mswrd632 converter by editing the registry by following the steps suggested by admin. But the files till show gibberish data.

    Pls help !
    Sato
    blazing.sato@hotmail.com

  95. Nik says:

    Please read through the comments. There are several useful suggestions on what you can do.

  96. Satvinder says:

    My recovered pics also do not open. When i recoverd them the condition status shown in Tune-Up utilities was: “Bad”. But even the good status files don’t open.

  97. Emmy says:

    I have gone through the regedit method to fix this problem and I no longer get the error message, however, MSWord is now trying to install another converter to open the file, but I don’t have the disk and I’m not sure what it is that needs to be installed.
    Any suggestions?

  98. Nik says:

    Which type of file you’re trying to open. Which office version are you using?

  99. Adam says:

    I have tried the suggested fixes including the REG fix, now all that happens is that I don’t get the Word message when I open the file, but I still end up with squares instead of texts…I even tried labelling it do .docx but still the same…I have been working on Word 2003. Any ideas??

  100. Adam says:

    Nik I even tried installing the convertors but I get the message “installation of this package failed”. Any other ideas? I’m screwed aren’t I?

  101. Emmy says:

    I ended up giving the File Format Converters compatability pack a go and it worked. I’m using 2002 Word, and I’m still not sure what type of file it is because I downloaded it off a website. Thanks so much for your help!!

  102. boyak says:

    hye,

    i already try both of that way…delete the msword6.wpc n import the registry that i download.
    the error gone but contain of the file all is converted
    to symbol (like boxs).
    Can give me the another way to solve this problem. tq

  103. Roy says:

    Thank you!

    The first steps didn;t work for me, I just got another error, but the script worked like a charm!

  104. TRAVISasdfasfasdfsdfs says:

    FYI, we got this error when the files were actually Word TEMPLATES named wrong.

    i.e. Renamed the “.DOC” to “.DOTX”, error went away.

    So, if renaming the “.DOC” to “.DOCX” doesn’t work, try “.DOTX”

  105. Joey says:

    This totally Worked…

    Thank you totally saved me today

  106. JK says:

    I clicked the download link, but when I click “run” it doesn’t give me a chance to type anything in. A dialogue box comes up that says “Are you sure you want to add the information in C:Documents and Settings… to the registry?” Then you choose yes or no, and then it just closes. I clicked “yes” hoping it would allow me to follow your instructions, but it just closed and I still can’t open word files.

  107. Prue says:

    Thanks a lot for the help. 😉

  108. Christina says:

    Fabulous! I had to unregister the converter as instructed and install the REG fix. Problem solved, thanks!!

  109. Ricardo says:

    Hi!
    Thanks a lot!
    I’ve just used the RegFix, which worked very nice indeed.

  110. Adrian Nutu says:

    Hi,

    I have a problem with .doc file: when i’m opening the file, i see a lot of strange characters.
    I have Windows Vista and Office 2007. Is there someone who can help me ( with some tips or with opening the file for me ) ?

    Thanks in advance!

    nutu2002as@yahoo.com

  111. martysberg says:

    Deleting the registrty key seems to have worked fine. I hope. THANKS!!!

  112. Mark says:

    Easy fix with REGEDIT, as described above.
    Thanks

  113. Wordster says:

    Super. Easy to Understand Instructions. Works.

  114. Nisar Ahmed Abbasi says:

    Ohhh Your are intelegent…
    Thanks

  115. asdfasdf says:

    yeah i got absolutely nothing. i SERIOUSLY need help, i tried everything. my paper is due like yesterday.

  116. sam says:

    I lost the dialogue box, but text still won’t appear

  117. kevin says:

    tank you
    8)8)

  118. TH says:

    I tried both suggestions above but cannot get my files read. For about 6 months I’ve used the same thumbdrive and I switch it back and forth between a Mac and PC for my documents. Up until now it worked fine on each. Now it doesn’t. Help me Rhonda.24

  119. TH says:

    I tried both suggestions above but cannot get my files read. For about 6 months I’ve used the same thumbdrive and I switch it back and forth between a Mac and PC for my documents. Up until now it worked fine on each. Now it doesn’t. Help me Rhonda.

  120. Dave Kwiatkowski says:

    Thanks, this was very annoying until I applied your fix

  121. Chuck says:

    Thanks! It worked perfectly:-)

  122. The Rose says:

    Solved a corporate wide issue -May Thanks

  123. Steve says:

    Tried everything here w/o succcess. You indicated the downloadable registry fix (AllowConversion.reg) could cause a security problem. I’d like to remove the registry change that AllowConversion.reg made. Can you provide any instructions to go into regedit and undo the changes made by AllowConversion.reg?

    • Nik says:

      @Steve,
      Open registry editor and navigate to the following folder:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionAppletsWordpad

      Delete the following key:
      “AllowConversion”=dword:00000001

      That’s it. You shouldn’t have any issues by deleting this key, but try it first on a test pc if possible.

      Regards

  124. Thomas Lewis says:

    If after applying the registry fix (repeated numerous times above) Word 2003 still opens the file in random characters try this:
    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab)
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.
    but you must unregister mswrd632 first as stated above

  125. Maria says:

    The error doesn’t come up anymore, and i’ve read through all the comments, yet nothing seems to help. I have xp, latest edition. And everytime i open it up it comes up with cryptic symbols, the squares and lines.

    If anyone knows how to convert it to proper writing? It is quite important.
    thanks.

  126. Dacia says:

    If after applying the registry fix (repeated numerous times above) Word 2003 still opens the file in random characters try this:
    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab)
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.
    but you must unregister mswrd632 first as stated above
    *****************************

    Can anyone who has 2007 Word interpret how to do the above?? I am still getting the weird characters

  127. Destro - Brazil says:

    Thank you!!! The error desapeared.

  128. strongs says:

    Changing the extension of the file from .doc to .docx wor as long as it was a 2007 file orginally. thanks for your help.

  129. Michael says:

    Many word files were fixed. But some, I’m left with a file that tells me I have to chose “File Conversion – (filename)”. Choices include Windows, MS-DOS or Other. What should I do now? Windows , other choices do not work. My computer now is responding very slowly. MSWord error no program response. Typing this comment is very slow going.

  130. Shelly Page says:

    Thanks Thomas Lewis. This is what finally fixed it for me after trying all the other things above. I did the following in Word 2003 and now I get a “Convert File” window when opening these weird .doc files and I can pick Word 2007 as an option and the document finally opens normal.

    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.

  131. Nicola says:

    Hey i am getting the Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc error message and my document is opening as pages and pages of little boxes. I followed all your instructions and now the error message doesnt come up but i still cant read my text! i have Microsoft office professional with frontpage 2003. When i try the Thomas lewis solution there is no word 2007 option and none of the other options will work… Help! Important document!

  132. Julius de Venecia says:

    im using ms word2007. i cant open the document located on my usb.it has the same error so i used your steps but still…theres nothing happened…help pls:-)

  133. KMingle says:

    Registry fix did not work; however, changing the options to prompt for conversion when opening a document did the trick. Thanks so much!!! 😉

  134. Marc says:

    Helped great, thanks! Just the regfix did it.

  135. dana says:

    voila! like magic, my problem (using ProWrite label mail merge from Outlook to word … which is a great time saver for me) is gone. thank you. (i was hesitant to edit the registry entry at first.)

  136. Saint says:

    after all of the above, i still cant open my document.
    It returns : error opening the file.

    It appears i started experiencing this on all word documents i copeied with a particulr pend drive.

    Any more options:::-???

  137. Adriano Cella says:

    Grazie del consiglio funziona pefettamente.
    Adriano

  138. Nana says:

    I have the same problem. It still not work.. The file can’t open. I have delete the following key 00000001 from my computer, but without no luck. I need all my documents for my school. Is there any other opyions??

    Thanks…

    Actually I can’t get it.. Because I have save all my documents after this new security update on December 8, 2009. Why can’t it not work now?? Thats strange.

  139. Sukhjinder says:

    i really need help with this because my coursework is due in tomorrow and my file isn’t opening after the steps i followed at the top of this page, can any please, please, please help me i am in urgent need of help, i can send the file through to you through email if u can get it fixed for me some how. i am in desperate need of help thank you.

  140. Ryan says:

    We are using Word 97 at the office with the Compatibility Pack installed. Up until a few months ago, we had no problems opening Word 2007 (.docx) documents. We started receiving the “Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc” error. We used the Microsoft fix and the error went away but now Word 2007 documents just show a bunch of special characters when opening.

    Interestingly, there is another computer in the office with the same setup (Word 97 w/ Compatibility Pack) and Word 2007 documents open just fine and without any errors.

    I’ve can’t seem to find a solution except for maybe reinstalling Word 97. I know that others have had the problem with Word 2007 documents opening as gibberish with other versions of Word. Has anyone found a solution for that problem with any version of Word?

    Thanks

  141. Angela says:

    Thomas Lewis’ solution worked! Thanks.

  142. Hem Shailabh Sahu says:

    Thanx it works really…….;-)

  143. Hamegh says:

    Characters still look like symbols. I need more help to change symbols back to characters to be able to read.

  144. Laura says:

    Thanks! Worked like a charm!

  145. Robert Lee says:

    The registry file fixed the problem with Word 2K/Excel 2K on my XP64 system. I was originally looking to see why Word hung when opening a Mail Merge Template.

  146. vinod bamaniya says:

    thanks alot. its working…!

  147. TeamTactical says:

    I have an important assignment due, (it’s actually overdue due to crashes and this issue) whenever i try and open up my document, all it has are boxes, like squares, which i think mean that the symbols aren’t supported. also, when i copy paste these boxes it just comes up with…

    …nothing.
    please help me.

  148. Guillermo says:

    Working like a charm 😉

  149. ms says:

    tried everything. nothing works. I just can’t open my file

  150. ofer says:

    I did all what is suggested above but the list of suggested covnersions doesan’t include word 2007. what can i do?
    thanks

  151. omie says:

    I am now getting black word documents…..any help?
    sorry, meant blank (no content)

  152. xinpore says:

    Try this, launch the document. You will receive error msg, just click to continue. The document will eventually launch, now you save (SAVE AS) the document in .docm format. Works for me this morning.

  153. Michael says:

    It works. Thank you Thomas Lewis8)

  154. amanda says:

    nothings working! pls help!

  155. REM says:

    Maestraso, muchas gracias

  156. Raza Khan says:

    thanks i am very happy for this help

  157. smartoone says:

    not only have I not been able to open the document after trying the various fixes, I clearly did something wrong as now ALL my previously saved Word docs have transformed to WordPad. Is there a way to covert those back to Word. At this point I don’t care about the original document that I still can’t open.. Thanks.

  158. Nik says:

    Try the following:

    Open the document using MS Word. To do so, select File/Open and in the window that opens choose All Files in the Files of Type dropdown. Select the Wordpad document you wish to open. Then, to save as a MS Word document, select File/Save As and select Word Document in the Save as Type dropdown. Enter a name, and you are good to go.

  159. smartoone says:

    Thanks Nik. I did all of the above before but had not changed the document name. I will try that. Otherwise, it did not work. All the docs kept showing “A” icon meaning WordPad as opposed to the blue “W”. .doc is the common extension for both. So, when I go to a folder and open I get a list of “A”s .. not Ws.. even when I select show all Word files.

    From your answer, it appears I am going to have to resave ALL the documents in my computer as there is no way to do a batch conversion back to Word on all those documents. Understand, every single Word document in every single folder and subfolder turned into a WordPad document after I attmpted all those fixes. The next time I see this error message, I am going to delete the document.

  160. Nik says:

    Hmm, you can try to change the default application for the .doc file type. That should do it.
    I’ve made an article for you, although I’m guessing your already know how to achieve this.
    https://www.wincert.net/tips/microsoft-windows/2142-how-to-set-the-default-application-for-a-file-type-or-extension.html

  161. smartoone says:

    Thank You again. I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it..but I followed the instructions. Thank You very much for taking the time to write the article. The files still aren’t converting. Very weird is that there are a couple of files with the W but the “type” in that column of My Documents says its an RTF file. If only I knew what I did??!?! So frustrating! Thanks again. s

  162. smartoone says:

    OK Nik – get this…I went to browse history and deleted everything, Hx, temp files, cookies…just about everything converted back to Word. They have the W and are identified under Type as Word docs..no longer WordPad! Those couple that were typed as RTF still are, but I can live with that as they open and close fine, even though I keep trying to save them as Word docs. This is soooo beyond me!!!

  163. Mats says:

    This worked out great for me.
    I had an issue of opening interaction templates in Navision (NAV 5.0).

    This procedure solved my problem:

    Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

    Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc
    On the Edit menu, click Delete.
    Click Yes.
    Exit Registry Editor.

    Thanks a lot!

  164. Terry says:

    The REG fix worked

  165. phil storey says:

    The fix got rid of the message but still cant cut/paste from an already saved word file, only from a new one before it is saved.

  166. Linda melbourne australia says:

    worked..first time..!

  167. lugh says:

    thank you…

  168. Tillie says:

    Tried the suggestions with no luck. Am angry that I cannot the work I brought home on an external drive. Microsoft created this problem–they should fix it!

  169. King Lear says:

    😀 Xie Xie! Great!
    The bottom of the article works!
    Word 2003->word 2007!:-)

  170. sk says:

    Thanks a lot…its working great…

  171. NyteSkye says:

    Using XP, Office 2003. Had a recent hard drive crash. Only one IMPORTANT document didn’t make it to new hard drive–it’s the only corrupted file.

    Tried just about everything listed here. Now I get a message that “There was an error opening the file.” Trying some online fixes, to no avail.

    Anyone have a suggestion about this particular turn?

  172. heero says:

    i doesn’t work for me 🙁

  173. Don says:

    Thanks!!!! You best “WORDer”)))

  174. ... says:

    Obrigado cara….Brasil!!!!!

  175. JTG - Chicago says:

    Thank you. Needed to complete both parts and was able to open file. Thank you.

  176. Arsalan says:

    Sorry it doesn’t work….i tried.

  177. Eliz says:

    Thank you so much, after following both instructions all documents now open successfully!

  178. fhill says:

    I tried the registry, and the patch, but… it still didn’t work.
    is there any other way to resolve that problem?

  179. jan says:

    using Word 2003 / Firefox
    Trying to recover deleted files.
    Says I can’t open; need msowrd632.wp
    Followed instructions above to delete it from registry.
    Went into Tools/Options in Word to convert to Word 2007 (don’t have Word 2007)
    Downloaded the Word 2007 converter
    Pop Up box now comes up to Convert File From: (choose Word 2007)
    Pop Up box – “There was an error opening the file”

    The Tools/Option is now grayed out.

    Now what????

  180. Chris, KDC says:

    In my case, renaming the file from *.doc to *.pdf worked. Whoever put it up on this website had used the wrong file-type. Grrrr!

  181. lene says:

    HELP!!!!
    i wrote my bachelorthesis – and now its gone
    i have windows xp and word 2003
    the last document i made with 9 sites text has now suddenly 0 byte and when i try to open it shows that the mswrd632 is missing – but i have the installation cd not with me in vienna to install it
    it was a little bit strange cause when i saved my document a notice popped up that i cannot save it cause ists alredady used or something like that so i saved as new document

    love lene
    who has no knowlegde about pc and doesnt want to experiment because its her bachelorwork

  182. daneeeh says:

    yes, it worked, made me be the coolest guy in the office today 8)

  183. Shelendra says:

    Tried setting specified in the end. It works. Thanks

  184. Fred says:

    Hi all,

    Didn’t have regedit powers, but found a damn simple solution. Right click on the document in question, and click “Save As…”. Choose something like .docx and save, open and voila. Worked a charm without having to use regedit.

  185. Roderik says:

    In my case I also had to add the location of the default mailmerge target to the trusted location in the trust center – locations of Word 2007.

  186. nnn says:

    the problem is still present

  187. bigo says:

    the delete feature is disabled and there is a box on the right side with 2 items that mean nothing to me

  188. bigo says:

    When I try to open a doc, I get a msg “thr item(filename) that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly” then it asks me if I wnat to delete the shortcut
    Shortcut business means nothing to me. Anyone make sense of the msg?

  189. NSN SD says:

    Thanks it worked…

  190. gfajardo says:

    Funciona!! Gracias

  191. Okaloosa Gregory says:

    🙂 Thanks I used the confirm in old word 2003 and I nolonger have this issue using MSOP 2009

  192. singuista says:

    thanks, it worked for me using the the top and bottom options

  193. arvi says:

    thanx much for this clear and easy explanation..

  194. ford4life69 says:

    LIFESAVER!! I had typed up a lease when my computer just randomly turned off. I got the mswrd632 error message and this fixed it perfectly, once I completed the second set of steps inside word itself.

    THANKS!!!!!!!

  195. Cecilia says:

    Registry fixes did not work for me, not the first nor the second.
    Prompt to converter no loner appears but now files open, are blank and there are no further instructions or error messages. Help, please.

  196. Cecilia says:

    I am trying to open attachments being emailed from a school intranet. These are another teacher’s lesson plans and I believe they were created using MSWord. I have read the comments regarding converting to .docx but I don’t know how to go about trying that.

  197. Elallandria says:

    This guide was a lifesaver, thanks allot.

    Error:
    word cannot start the converter msword632.wpc

  198. Mike245 says:

    I was recieving the same error, after further research I found out in our case it was related to the cases that the docx files were renamed to doc file that was causing this error to occur, once I renamed them back to docx it worked fine. Hope this helps.

  199. shuggy says:

    I can only get so far with your steps. Can you think of a reason why I can’t find “Shared Tools” in the regedit? It stops at HKEY…..Microsoft
    Oh, I’m using MS Office 2003, by the way

    Thanks

  200. lmonteros says:

    Did not work. I still get the error. When I choose Word 2007, I get a doc will not open error.

  201. Jen says:

    Hello..i need help.I”ve tried to follow the instructions stated in the article but still it wont work. Actually I dont have the Word 2007. I only found Word 2003 and it says: the File is not the right file type.(word 97).
    let me restate the last sentence…I only found Word 97 and it says: the file is not the right file type(Word 97). By the way, I’m using MS Word 2003.

  202. . says:

    thanksssss

  203. mukesh says:

    hai am facing still the same prob even after trying your resolvingg issue its not unable to open… pls try to resolve my issue

  204. KayN says:

    I just ran into this problem for the first time. I simply changed the file properties to a PDF file, and then opened it in Adobe Reader with no problems. Go figure.

  205. Vijay says:

    I tried your solution, of deleting the entry frm registry and checking the “confirm conversion open” now when I open the document it ask for the option but “word 2007” opetion is not there, what do I do?

  206. Anand says:

    There is no option of “word 2007”, I am using word2003, pls help.

  207. Somayeh- Iran says:

    i have office 2007 and i dont know how can find “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    in it:
    Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”

    please help me to fix the problem
    snhekmat@gmail.com

  208. manisha says:

    this fixed my pproblem. But I recognized that when i open any word document that is in my PC, it opens slower than before. It takes some time. Can the deletion of file mswrd632.wpc may have resulted in such delay???

  209. azar says:

    thanks for your help

  210. marilena says:

    hey i make all of the above and when my file open i see only squares. my world document have 18000 characters and i see only 6 pages with squares

    how i fix this problem???

  211. Kerri-Ann says:

    Thomas Lewis’ answer worked a treat with a document created on an apple mac. Thank you!

  212. davide4 says:

    still doesnt work, deleted file, also tried downloading reg fix, and still doesnt open? says that there is an error or just comes up with the squares?

  213. martsas says:

    thanks…that was very usefull

  214. Krystal says:

    Hello to you. I have read all the comments and have tried all suggestions. I downloaded all window 2007 apps. I deleted the converter mswrd632…. all of it, and I am still experiencing the ‘gobbligook’ that others have. Do I have to close everything down and restart??? I am on a very old windows xp version, 2000 does that have anything to do with it?? Any other advice you can give would be great!!! What you have listed here so far seems to work for most.
    Have a great day 🙂

  215. kaitlyn says:

    The combo worked for me!

  216. Cate says:

    I can’t delete MSWord6.wpc 🙁

  217. Vicki says:

    Last one worked for me thanks.

  218. Bob says:

    Worked like a charm! thanks for the quick/correct fix!

  219. jj says:

    i followed the steps in the registry editor but when i reach to the import part, there’s no msword6.wpc, , pls help! 🙁

  220. mm says:

    I remove the entry from the registry and the configured word to prompt me for the version of word. It did not work for me. I realised I didnt have the x in the .docx, so saved it with the .docx extension. Also did not work.
    So, I had to save the document in Word 2003. That worked

  221. Di says:

    I did the micrsoft “fix” but still got an unreadable document. I then did the final suggestion and it worked. Even though we only use Word 2003…I could then resave the document as a word 2003 .doc. Thank so much 🙂

  222. Highlander says:

    Have also suffered mswrd632.wpc error but only on a few Word documents. Tried all of the solutions offered above and many others but without success. I am using Office 2003.
    I then downloaded and installed the MS Office 2007 Compatibility Pack. Problem solved. It seems that the problematic files were created as docx or xml files then renamed as *.doc, not realising this did not make them compatible with previous office releases. Download the compatibility pack from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/microsoft-office-compatibility-pack-for-word-excel-and-powerpoint-2007-file-formats-HA010168676.aspx (a cut & paste job !!!!)

  223. used-to-be-confused says:

    THANKYOU!
    You’re amazing. I spent ages wondering why the documents wouldn’t open when they weren’t even saved in a docx format. This was a great help

  224. Traci says:

    This worked!

    I used:

    To resolve this issue, an affected user can unregister the mswrd632 converter by editing the registry as follows:

    Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

    Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc
    On the Edit menu, click Delete.
    Click Yes.
    Exit Registry Editor.

    Thank you!

  225. MaskMarvl says:

    I had this problem with a file a co-worker was having problems with and tried everything to no avail. Finally at one point when I was looking through the gibberish that opened in Word, I read the word “Workbook” and immediately suspected that the document was in actuality an EXCEL document and NOT a WORD document. I proceded to change the extension to .xls and it opened as an Excel file! I don’t know how this file ended up with a .doc extension, but maybe, just MAYBE some of you are having the same problem!

    Good Luck!

    Regards,

    MaskMarvl

  226. Robert says:

    I’ve done everything said here but when I try to open it as a 2007 word document it says “Error opening file”.
    What do you suggest I do?
    It’s really important I get it fixed because it’s a piece of coursework 🙁

    Thanks!

  227. angela says:

    Thank you so much! just found ur helpful post over the internet, and you saved me! 😀

  228. retro says:

    Works like a charm! THNX!

  229. Alex says:

    Like everyone said, it works.
    thank you 🙂

  230. JONNY TICKLE says:

    Nailed that sucker. Thanks dude
    8)

  231. Wealey says:

    Just tried the first option; no longer getting the “cannot start converter” message, but opened document is still in hieroglyphs

    • Paul says:

      I also have this problem, but only when opening the .DOCX from a 3rd party application, opening from the desktop works fine. I have tried all of the above fixes and ensured that the compatibility view is up to date, but still not working. Documents open fine through the 3rd party app using Office 2007 & Office 2010, but not on any Office 2003 machines.

  232. tookawhile says:

    I used this solution:

    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.
    Have in mind that you will have to unregister mswrd632 first, which is noted above, before you make this changes.
    ————————

    However, it did not work, but when I clicked on “Recover Text from any File” instead of “Word 2007” the document opened.

    I hope this helps!

    • laura says:

      I must be the only one unable to do any of this/ I followed everything said here. I got the error message too . I tried the recover text and it is still gibberish. I downloaded the patch, I did the reg thingy, I unchecked whatever I was supposed to uncheck..

  233. maxi r says:

    it works .. thanks 😉

  234. XXXX says:

    I didn’t want to UN-PROTECT my system so I went with:

    Go to Tools; Options; General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.

    NOW – FYI – It doesn’t say it – but You will get the error message – a few more times – just keep clicking OK until the CONFIRM option comes up

    AND this part:

    “Have in mind that you will have to unregister mswrd632 first, which is noted above, before you make this changes.”

    I DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS FIRST as stated and it worked perfectly – I have been having this problem for awhile with a P2P site that clients upload docs to and I guess they don’t have the fix on his/her computer as I have or had and EVEN older version of WORD than I have – I have 2003

  235. SJ says:

    The Tools; Options suggestion worked wonders for me, and I didn’t even have to edit the registry. Thank you!!! : )

  236. An Nguyen says:

    easiest way to do it, sign up for a Google account and go into Google documents. Go to upload and upload the file you need to open. It should then work perfectly fine. If not, file is corrupted and ur screwed

  237. maryyugo says:

    Sorry if this appears in other comments– there are too many for me review them all:

    You can use notepad to determine if the document is actually another file type. That can cause this error if you, for example, attempt to open a Da PDF document with Word and the file has an erroneous extension.

    For example, I received this error trying to open a .PDF file which someone had accidentally changed the extension to and it was now a .DOC file. The start of the file when it was opened in notepad read %PDF-1.0.

    Simply changing the extension back to PDF allowed the file to open (with Adobe PDF Reader of course).

    This information should have been available from Microsoft help pages within Word or on the web but far as I know, it was not.

  238. Abdul Qadir says:

    word fail in not open pleas open the fail solution. ok

  239. Ahmad Magdy says:

    Thank you, it works

  240. Charlie says:

    The suggestions were helpful esp. tools>options>… select word 2007 document
    Thanks… 🙂

  241. Janet says:

    Awesome! Thanks for the advise – you just saved me about 3 hrs of work!!!

  242. Herb says:

    The “Tools – Options – General Tab, etc fix worked like a charm when the other solutions offered did not. THANK YOU!

  243. gaurav B says:

    Thanks for the help.

  244. Debbie Bentley says:

    Hi! The suggestion to “Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”,When you next try to open the document it will prompt you with a list to convert from. Choose Word 2007 and your document will open.
    It all worked until the part where you are supposed to select “Word 2007”. The box I have in Word 2003 doesn’t have “Word 2007” as a selection. Is there anything else I can choose to help me get this document open. Thanks Deb

  245. ptronius says:

    I went through the steps of deleting the registry key for the Word6 converter and the whole “confirm Text Conversion on open” routine, and it worked for me. I did a registry compare before and after going through the “confirm conversion at open” process. From that I found one registry key that changed as a result. Below are the two command lines that should produce the same result as doing all of the stuff at the beginning of this thread. Try them at your own risk, but they worked for me. If you want to create an executable batch file, just copy the lines below into a text file and save it with a .bat extension:

    @ECHO OFF

    REG DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Text Converters\Import\MSWord6.wpc /f

    REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products /v TCRecoverFilesIntl_1033 /t reg_dword /d 3f210001

    EXIT

  246. Trigger says:

    downloaded the reg file
    Mormally I can open these file with EDIT but what ever I try it wil RUN the file.

    To that I only can say, WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO DO, so I tell my self its CRAP!!!!
    Or VIRUS or what ever. Thougth that wincert.net was reel!

    • Nik says:

      Please don’t insult us if you are unsure in what you are doing.
      When you try to edit file you will see a
      Open File – Security Warning. This is a normal situation since this file has been downloaded from the internet. When you click RUN, you WON’T open the file, but edit it.
      If you would like to avoid this prompt for this file, click properties on the file and in the bottom of the Properties windows choose Unblock option.

  247. RohitP says:

    For error word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

    if the word file on the server is created as win 2003 format and on the server MS Office is 2007 then there is an option in winword. Open the necessary winword and click the Office Button Click, Then click word options then Save.. just mention the save file format as 97-2003*.doc option. Then click ok.

    This will open the files in the client machines as .doc and not .docx. So the word convertor will not be required in this case. So the error of word converter will not appear.

  248. 2_b_lupine says:

    Thomas Lewis – Thanks for the last step by step instruction to correct the Word Conversion Error Message. It worked when the above two or three steps did not! Kudos!

  249. MeNotYou says:

    I got that same error message.

    It turned out that the document I tried to open was a pdf-file, not a word document. I changed “.doc” to “.pdf” and it opened.

    Worked for me.

    • Avin J says:

      Wow awesome bro.. never expected such a silly thing to work but one of the documents i received worked because of your comment… thanks a lot

  250. ali bellerson says:

    HELP! My documents were recovered after a virus and some produced the error above, I used the recommened first fix of deleting from my registry. Now a “conversion” box comes up asking how I wish to have my files be read with windows default being the option, MS DOS another etc, but it is all garbage…..
    What to do now? The documents WERE not destryoyed by the virus as I had them at one point in time, after “unhiding” them, but my computer was still messed up, so I upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista and they were lost again….Please help me! thank you

  251. ertu says:

    Thank you for the tip. It helped a lot

  252. afsaneh says:

    I recovered some “.doc” files I had deleted in error.. I got the files back OK but when I try to open them, I get the error message: “Word Cannot Start the Converter MSWRD632.WPC”. I am able to open all other “.doc” files in my computer. Why not these? Any ideas?

  253. steve shabazian says:

    Change the extension to DOCX to open with either Word 2003 or 2010. It’s that simple. You geeks make the simple complicated.

  254. Sulabh Verma says:

    I was able to fix the issue. Thank you!

  255. Jorge Marsicano says:

    I followed Steve Shabazian instructions and could opened the file. Thanks Steve!!!

  256. Zoran Aleksovski says:

    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003
    And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”
    Pozdrav thanks

  257. kyle p says:

    i am having this problem when i transport my files from a mac at school to my home pc, i tryed both suggestions and got nothing, but what i do get is a duplicate of the file that i can open, so when i look at my usb there is one document that is faded and will not open, and one that is in full color and will open. should this happen?

  258. Avinoam G. says:

    Excellent!!! Thanks a LOT!
    I unregistered mswrd632, then followed this:
    Go to Tools > Options > General (Tab) in Word 2003 And check “Confirm Conversion at Open”

  259. Cristina Buchan says:

    Thomas Lewis suggestion worked great. Thanks!!!

  260. VIRENDRA says:

    SIMPLE:
    Change the file extension to -> .docx
    and see the magic 🙂

  261. James Venn says:

    This is old but still occuring on companies that support WXP and W7.

    Once you have removed the registry keys, do not tick the tickbox in Word – simply install FileFormatConverters.exe which will load the text converter for Office 2007/2010 documents.

    This will allow you to open the files without issues.

  262. Karthick says:

    i followed steve shabazian steps
    its worked thanks lot to steve

  263. Rizwan ul Hussan says:

    I used MS Word 2007. My word files are corrupted due to installing windows again. Now when I open the file it displays message that “Word can’t find the converter mswrd632.” but the new file that are created after installing widows are opened correctly.
    what was wrong with files created with MS Word 2007 before windows installation. I used the updated Anti-Virus and there will be no virus there.
    Plz help if you can.
    I tried all above steps already. plz tell me another possible solution.
    thanks

  264. Gabor Halasz says:

    It has helped me a lot. I could namely also open a file by using Thomas Lewis’s suggession. THANKS
    Gabor

  265. Julie says:

    Hi,
    I only read comments #260 to before my response & wanted to let you know my scenario.

    I received a doc in gmail – appeared to be “Word doc”. I tried to open it in IE first, it opened fine but when I tried to print that is when I got the “word cannot start the converter mswrd632”.

    So not really wanting to play with registry keys – opened Word 2003 – Tools – General (tab) & clicked on “Confirm conversion on open”. (Now I can’t remember if I ran through the attempt to open/print in Chrome before opening Word 2003. I am able to print the doc in Chrome now.

    Back to IE. Attempted to open file. Hit Print & now I decide to click “find file to open with” (reason is because I see “.doc.pdf” at end of file & remember another comment that it could’ve been saved incorrectly) so I find “PDF Viewer SE Plus” & I didn’t see regular Adobe in my list so I ran with that choice…..SUCCESS! it allowed me to print!

  266. Mike Stewart says:

    No solution I found on the ‘net would work. I’m using Office2003 and have the Converters installed. The document I had was a Word2003 with a Word2007 one embedded within it.
    However … I found that right-clicking on the embedded 2007 document (then clicking OK every time the error message popped up) I was eventually getting the right-click menu. Selecting “Document Object/Open” from there actually opened the document OK!

  267. Peter says:

    My Word and Excel docs are messed up, like they are encrypted.

    Have tried almost all these so-called suggestions and none have worked for me. How about something that actually works for a change.
    I’ve deleted this and changed that, been on to the Microsoft “Help” pages, forums etc. Nothing.

  268. Peter says:

    Easier said than done with the .wpc file. Try again.

  269. Wolfgans Bachmann says:

    Thank you so much – it works perfectly and came easy – not a trial and error story:
    Removal of registry key from top of quiry
    check what was suggested by Thomas Lewis.

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