Microsoft Word

[Mark C Munro]

Any idea how to get rid of this?

"Word cannot open this document. The document might be in use, the document might not be a valid Word document, or the file name might contain invalid characters (for example,\/)."

[Bob White]

Re: Microsoft Word

More information from you would be helpful.. Is the document ".doc" or ".docx"? Which version of Word? Which macOS version are you using?

Does the message stubbornly remain when you click OK? If so, have you tried to force quit Word? (See the Apple menu.) If you have done a force quit and tried to re-open the document, does the same thing happen?

With said information, lots of people here should be able to help.

[Mark C Munro]

Re: Microsoft Word

This file is being generated by Reunion 12 and the error appeared with the recent upgrade.

The file name is something like this "Report 010, SM Register.rtfd" and Word can't open it.

If I click OK, I get a second error "The document “Report 010, SM Register.rtfd” could not be opened." Then, I click "OK" and it gives up.

The file does open with the Text Edit application.

So... this seems to be a bug with Reunion 12 or possibly Word. However, it worked fine with Word up until the v12 upgrade of Reunion, so I assume it is some kind of a bug with Reunion.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Microsoft Word

This file is being generated by Reunion 12 and the error appeared with the recent upgrade.

The file name is something like this "Report 010, SM Register.rtfd" and Word can't open it.

If I click OK, I get a second error "The document “Report 010, SM Register.rtfd” could not be opened." Then, I click "OK" and it gives up.

The file does open with the Text Edit application.

So... this seems to be a bug with Reunion 12 or possibly Word. However, it worked fine with Word up until the v12 upgrade of Reunion, so I assume it is some kind of a bug with Reunion.

".rtfd" is not a Word file, and as far as I know, can't be opened with Word. It's an Apple file format used for TextEdit or Pages. So the problem is that Reunion is generating ".rtfd" files instead of ".rtf" files.

There's a preference that should be set when you choose your word processor so that it generates ".rtf" files (for Word).

You could do this manually (Preferences -> Report Preferences -> RTF -> make sure "Create .rtfd files when needed" is NOT checked) and see if it works for you. If not, try selecting your word processor again and see what happens.

[Mark C Munro]

Re: Microsoft Word

Unchecking the Preferences -> Report Preferences -> RTF -> make sure "Create .rtfd files when needed" option fixed this. I guess the new update automatically check it... Thanks.

[Phil Chauvin]

Re: Microsoft Word

Any idea how to get rid of this?

"Word cannot open this document. The document might be in use, the document might not be a valid Word document, or the file name might contain invalid characters (for example,\/)."

Yes I get the same error message. checked preferences - Look fine. redid preferences closed word and now it works - go figure

[Paul Reitz]

Re: Microsoft Word

Any idea how to get rid of this?

"Word cannot open this document. The document might be in use, the document might not be a valid Word document, or the file name might contain invalid characters (for example,\/)."

A good reminder about rtfd.

But FWIW, Word 2016 refused to open or save files that contained characters valid in macOS but prohibited in Microsoft OS. When I had that problem last year, Word gave no indication of the cause. At least they've added the hint.

[Riedez]

Re: Microsoft Word

Thanks,
this answer helped me too. I had a similar problem which I couldn't solve. Now it appears that I incidentally checked rtfd in Preferences / Reports.

Rien.