Article ID: 922849 - Last Review: December 9, 2011 - Revision: 18.0

You receive an error message when you try to open a file type that was blocked by your registry policy settings in Word 2010, in Word 2007, or in Word 2003

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SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Office Word 2010, Microsoft Office Word 2007 or Microsoft Office Word 2003, you try to open a file that was saved in a Microsoft Word format. When you do this, the file does not open.

Additionally, you receive one of the following error messages:
You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.
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.
You are attempting to open a file type File_Type that has been blocked by your File Block settings in the Trust Center.
Note You may receive a similar error message when you try to save a file. In this case, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Error message when you try to save a document in Word 2007 or in Word 2003: "You are attempting to save a file that is blocked by your registry policy setting"

CAUSE

This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
  • You try to open a file that was saved in one of the following earlier Word formats. Word 2010 no longer supports documents that were saved in the following Word formats:
    • Microsoft Word for Windows 1.x
    • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.x
    • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 4.x
    • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 5.x
    • Microsoft Word 6.0 Binary Documents and Templates
    • Microsoft Word 95 Binary Documents and Templates
  • You try to open a file that was saved in one of the following earlier Word formats. Word 2007 no longer supports documents that were saved in the following Word formats:
    • Microsoft Word for Windows 1.x
    • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.x
    • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 4.x
    • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 5.x
  • An administrator has restricted the types of documents that you can open or save in Word 2007 or in Word 2003. An administrator can set a registry key to restrict this functionality.

    For Word 2007, the registry key can be set in the 2007 Office System Administrative Templates. For more information, see the "Word 2007" subsection of the "More Information" section.

    For Word 2003, security update 934181 enables the administrator to block the ability to save or to open files in Word 2003. For more information, see the "Word 2003" subsection of the "More Information" section.

RESOLUTION

To open files that are blocked by the registry, you can disable the restriction on opening presentations that were blocked by the registry settings of Word. To do this, use one of the following methods.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Method 1: Disable the restriction on opening documents of certain types

Word 2010

Click here to view or hide detailed information

Word 2007

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Word 2003

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Method 2: Use a trusted location, or create an exempt location

To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
  • In Word 2010, if you trust the file that you want to open, you can open that file even if the file type is blocked by the registry. You can override the registry policy settings by moving the file to a trusted location.

    For more information about how to create, to remove, or to change a trusted location for files, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  • In Word 2007, if you trust the file that you want to open, you can open that file even if the file type is blocked by the registry. You can override the registry policy settings by moving the file to a trusted location.

    For more information about how to create, to remove, or to change a trusted location for files, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  • In Word 2003, there are no trusted locations. You can create an exempt location to override the registry policy settings. To create an exempt location, follow these steps:

    Click here to view or hide detailed information
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Method 3:Contact the system administrator

Office 2010

You can download the Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool from the Microsoft Download Center at
This update provides updated Group Policy template files to either allow an override of the files blocked by default or block additional file types.

The opening of the file types listed below can be controlled through File Block Settings.

Click here to view or hide detailed information

Office 2007

Contact the system administrator to change the registry settings by changing the policies. The '2007 Office system (SP2) Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX, ADML) and Office Customization Tool' can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center at
This update provides updated Group Policy template files to either allow an override of the files blocked by default or block additional file types.

The 'Block opening of files before version' Group Policy setting provides a list of the file types that can be blocked. The file types are listed in chronological order, and selecting one forces versions prior to that version to be blocked (but not including the selected version). The Word versions are listed below.

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MORE INFORMATION

How to restrict files in Microsoft Word

Word 2010


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Word 2007

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Word 2003

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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Word 2010
  • Microsoft Office Word 2007
Keywords: 
kbsavefile kbopenfile kberrmsg kbsetup kbtshoot kbexpertisebeginner kbprb kbfixme kbmsifixme KB922849