Problems Opening Documents from Explorer

Summary: You can open a Word document by double-clicking the document's icon in Windows Explorer. If double-clicking doesn't open the document (or opens the document with a different program), then your file associations are probably messed up. This tip provides a quick way to reestablish your file associations so you can again open documents by double-clicking. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

If you have a problem opening Word documents from the Windows Explorer, the problem probably lies in how the document files are registered with the operating system. The first thing to try in correcting the problem is to unregister and reregister Word with Windows. From the command line, use the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\winword.exe" /unregserver

The quotes are necessary, but you may need to change the path so it reflects the location of the winword.exe file on your system. (You can use Windows' Search tool to locate the path to the winword.exe file.) The /unregserver switch "unhooks" all the references to Word in the Windows Registry. You should then, immediately, use the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\winword.exe" /regserver

This command causes Word to rewrite all its Registry keys and to reassociate itself with document and template files.

Tip #200 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Problems Opening Documents from Explorer