Recently, I had a user in my office get the following error when trying to open a Word document:
Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc.
Whenever the user clicked the OK button, it would simply pop back up. What was really weird is that if she clicked on the red X button, the document would open just fine! Strange!
The user was running Office 2007 and getting this error. After doing some research, we came across a few possible solutions. In this post, I’ll list them out here.
Method 1 – Unregister Text Converter
Basically, in Windows XP SP2 and above and Windows Server 2003 SP1 and above, if you have a plain text file or another kind of file that is not a Microsoft Word file, but has a .doc extension, you will get this error.
This can also happen if you are opening a really old document created by Word for Windows 6.0 or Word 97 documents. In this case, you can disable the mswrd632 converter so you don’t get this error. The files will then be opened by the Microsoft Office text converters.
You can unregister this converter by going to Start, then run and typing regedit. Then navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Text Converters\Import\MSWord6.wpc
Right-click on the MSWord6.wpc key in the left hand pane and choose Delete. If you have a Word 97 document, you should still be able to open it in Word 2003 or 2007. However, you will not be able to open these files in WordPad anymore. You’ll get an error like:
Cannot load Word for Windows 6.0 files
If you really have to use WordPad to open Word 6.0/95 files, you can re-enable the Word 6.0/95 for Windows and Macintosh to RFT converter. Open the registry and go to the following keys:
For 32-bit versions of Windows
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Applets\Wordpad
For Microsoft Windows on Windows 64 (WOW) mode
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad
If the Wordpad key is not there in the left-hand pane, create it. After that, create a new DWORD value in the right-pane called AllowConversion and give it a value of 1.
Method 2 – Copy the MSWrd632.wpc File
The other way to solve this issue is to copy the MSWrd632.wpc file from another computer to the computer having problems.
The only issue with this is that it is less secure and makes your computer vulnerable to a possible security hack, so don’t do this unless you really have to or that computer is not connected to the Internet.
You can usually find this file in the following path:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\TextConv\
That’s about it! If you are still having this problem, post a comment here and I’ll try to help! Enjoy!
Try renaming your offending .doc file to .docx. That just worked for me.
I did that in MS Word, but it is still not working. It is showing same option.
Please give any other suggestion.
I followed the steps in the registry editor but when I reach to the import part, there's no msword6.wpc.
Please help! :(
This problem popped up for me 2 days ago as well. I have a pretty fresh install of Windows XP Pro with SP3 and Office 2003. I noticed that I was having this problem with a lot of older legacy Word documents that I saved from my old system, however newer docs seemed to open fine.
I tried all the registry fixes as well as the Microsoft "Fix it" routine from the web site. I also tried a file on another system with Office 2003 and the problem still happens on older files.
Someone posted something here about changing the extension to docx, I know for a fact these files were created with Word 2003 so I didn't think that would fix it and it didn't. However in the course of trying that, I ran across the "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats" download.
microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en
After installing this I can open old documents again with no problem (even files from 2000) however I still can not open any older files that I tried to open before and had this problem. Perhaps they were corrupted while I was trying to open them. I think the ones I tried to open are goners but I have not found a new one with the problem since installing the compatibility pack.
Hope that helps someone!
Steve
Hello.
The following worked for me.
1. Install Microsoft 2007 to 2003 converter.
2. Rename the file with .docx extension.
It worked.
It worked for me too! thanks
I tried both these solutions, as well as the fix at support.microsoft.com/kb/973904, but I still have no success. All my work since 2004 is influenced by this, and I have documents with deadlines that I need to complete soon.
Anything else?
Saving my .doc file as a .docx file worked for me, also.
Installing the Compatibility Pack as suggested by StevePTechSupport solved my issue instantly.
Thanks.
Changing of the file extension from .doc to .docx, this worked for me!!! Thanks!
I, too, had the same problem but have found a solution, at least for me:
The .doc file you have is possibly a .docx file that has, for some reason, had the file extension changed.
Rename the file from filename.doc to filename.docx and open it.
Word should then be able to read it (assuming you have the 2007-2003 converter installed).
Thank you. I have the same problem and I fixed it using your instructions.
I just deleted the first line according to the instructions. Thank you, again.
———————————————-
You can unregister this converter by going to Start, then run and typing regedit. Then navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsText ConvertersImportMSWord6.wpc
If this doesn't work, the file may be a Microsoft document image even if it says .DOC. Save somewhere, "open with" and select Microsoft Office Document Imaging. Save as something else if you don't like this format (like print to .pdf).
I did the removal method and now I have a document of gibberish. What now?
In my case, I simply (hah!) changed the extension from .doc to .docx. Then, the file contents were properly displayed.
I don't remember the details of how the file was created, but the problem definitely arose due to working on different computers.
*** simply *** means I tried opening the file on several computers, then 5 minutes on Google, then change the extension. Then, pray.
Reply to smartone & may be adaptable for other users:
My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > File Types > New > Advanced
File Extension: doc
Associated File Type: Microsoft Office Word 92 – 2003 Document
Right-click on the document and change the extension to .docx.
I copied the offending document, pasted it back into the same folder and opened it. It worked just fine. I think I might have had an invisible character in the file name of the offending document.
Hopefully, this will be a permanent fix for me.
Mallory
"Right-click on the MSWord6.wpc key in the left hand pane and choose Delete."
Should be:
"Right-click on the MSWord6.wpc key in the left hand pane and choose Export. Save it on your Desktop or in your My Documents folder in case you need to restore it to the Registry. After Exporting it, right-click on the same key and choose Delete."
Any changes made to your Registry should be backed up just in case you make a mistake. We all know that mistakes are extremely rare in the computer universe, but they have been known to happen.
Hello I tried both of four methods and the file is still unreadable on all computers… i can send it to u if u like
Thank you so much it solved the problem
Thank you Monduj1 on July 6, 2010…BRILLIANT & EASY FIX!
I was also experiencing the same error when attempting to open a .doc file with Word from Office Professional 2003. I attempted your easy solution (.doc file was created as a Word from Office 2007 file with extension changed from .docx to .doc, instead of saving in Compatibility mode). I changed the extension on the file to .docx, per your recommendation and Word 2003 was able to open it without issue.
I deleted the MSWord6.wpc key and I still get the same error
I only seem to have one file under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE named “Default”. Does this mean the file in question has already been deleted?
The issue is new.
I am having htis same issue. However the issue is if I save the .doc file on my word for mac 2011 and try to open it on my word on my pc i get this error. I followed your suggestions and the error goes away but now the document is all garbled and not converting.
i tried to delete the mswrd6 on the reg edit section but when i opened the file it didn’t display the pop-up anymore but instead it asked me to select an encoder to make the file readable.. and it didn’t work.. i also tried to rename it to .docx but the same happens.. please help. Is it corrupted?
I was getting a similar error when trying to copy a graphic in word into an autocad file. Oddly, once I closed the error message, the graphic was ready to insert.
The thing is, it scales up and plots perfectly up to a certain size. Larger than that, however, and the plotter just ignores the image (even if it appears in the preview). Would this have to do with file compatibility and the original error our is it a scaling limitation ?
Thanks -
- Mike