"Unable to read file"message in Word & Excel

My PC has suddenly started displaying the above message whenever I attempt to
open Word or Excel files on my hard disc. My files are not corrupted as I get
the same error when using a diskette containing files which are months old. I
use Excel 2002 (10.6501.6626) SP3 installed from an Office XP CD & Windows XP
Home SP1. Is this a program or operating system error? I can find no help
anywhere! Problems with both Word & Excel files occurred simultaneously. Just
noticed similar problem with Powepoint, displaying "Powerpoint can't read
<filename>" message.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Do you have access to another pc with excel on it?

If you do, try copying the file to that pc.

If you can open the file on that pc, then maybe repairing/reinstalling excel
would help.

If you can't open the file on the other pc, then maybe the file is really bad.

If it is the file, sometimes opening it in newer versions of excel (xl2003???)
could open it.

Or maybe OpenOffice (free spreadsheet program) would work for you:
http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD

Lots of people have praised OpenOffice for saving their work.

SPRINTSF wrote:
>
> My PC has suddenly started displaying the above message whenever I attempt to
> open Word or Excel files on my hard disc. My files are not corrupted as I get
> the same error when using a diskette containing files which are months old. I
> use Excel 2002 (10.6501.6626) SP3 installed from an Office XP CD & Windows XP
> Home SP1. Is this a program or operating system error? I can find no help
> anywhere! Problems with both Word & Excel files occurred simultaneously. Just
> noticed similar problem with Powepoint, displaying "Powerpoint can't read
> <filename>" message.
> Any help would be much appreciated.

--

Dave Peterson

Dave,
Thank you for your reply. I could indeed open the files on another PC. I
reinstalled Office on my PC & this has now fixed the problem.
I am surprised at the lack of information on the Microsoft site regarding
this problem.
Thank you for your help once again.

Thomas

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

> Do you have access to another pc with excel on it?
>
> If you do, try copying the file to that pc.
>
> If you can open the file on that pc, then maybe repairing/reinstalling excel
> would help.
>
> If you can't open the file on the other pc, then maybe the file is really bad.
>
> If it is the file, sometimes opening it in newer versions of excel (xl2003???)
> could open it.
>
> Or maybe OpenOffice (free spreadsheet program) would work for you:
> http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD
>
> Lots of people have praised OpenOffice for saving their work.
>
> SPRINTSF wrote:
> >
> > My PC has suddenly started displaying the above message whenever I attempt to
> > open Word or Excel files on my hard disc. My files are not corrupted as I get
> > the same error when using a diskette containing files which are months old. I
> > use Excel 2002 (10.6501.6626) SP3 installed from an Office XP CD & Windows XP
> > Home SP1. Is this a program or operating system error? I can find no help
> > anywhere! Problems with both Word & Excel files occurred simultaneously. Just
> > noticed similar problem with Powepoint, displaying "Powerpoint can't read
> > <filename>" message.
> > Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> --
>
> Dave Peterson
>