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Word starter update and opening attachments in email

Since 14 September 2013 I cannot successfully send Word Starter 2010 attachments using yahoo, gmail etc (in Chrome or IE).  I have tested this by sending my self a copy of the email.  The word starter document icons have changed colour from blue to orange, whereas they have remained blue on my harddisc/pc and can be opened easily.  I am using the attach button in email - drag and drop does not work.  When I try and open the attachment which is shown as a box at the top of the text box a warning box stating unknown publisher message comes up followed by a box which says I do not have the software to support opening the attachment and invites me to buy one of the word/office packages for sale.  The box does if I already have word I have to enter a product code but I cannot do this as word starter (which I understand is free anyway) came with the computer when I purchased it in Dec 2011 and I was not given such a code (I suspect as word starter is free no product is given anyway).
I have searched the word updates list and discovered that  microsoft updates were made the day before these troubles started i.e. on 13 September.  No word updates were made to one of my phones (iphone) I use to access email, and I was instantly able to open the attachment in the test email I sent tomyself and which, as I say, cannot be opened on my pc post the updates.
Winndows 7 is installed on my pc.  I don't know whether the 32-bit 64-bit point is relevant - the 13 Sept updates involved both.  I do not know what my word starter software is in this respect.
Shall I uninstall the 13 Sep 2013 word update?  I fear that uninstalling the 13 Sept '13 update might unistall all of word starter 2010 onb my pc.
 
Hi MaylynOV,

The Update on Office Starter cause the issue, I suggest you can run a repair on office starter in the Programs and features.

Regard,

Edward Nierva

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It is my understanding that Microsoft is aware of the problem. I don't know that it has been fixed. The prediction I read was that a fix might be out this week.

It is a bad practice, anyway, to open Word documents directly from email. The preferred practice is to save the attachment to a known folder on your hard drive and open from there. If you do that, can you open the attachments, either by double-clicking or by opening Word and using File>Open?
Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.


Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Legal site: https://addbalance.com

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Don't uninstall the update. We're expecting that Microsoft will issue a patch soon. For the time being, if you are able to open Word documents from within Word Starter, then you should save attachments to your HD, open Word Starter, and use its Open dialog to open the documents. If you are able to open documents this way, then you can probably also solve the problem by manually repairing the damaged file associations:

  1. In Windows Explorer, right-click on a Word document.
  2. Choose Open With, then Choose Default Program.
  3. If you see "Microsoft Office Client Virtualization Handler," choose that.
  4. Making sure that the box for "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked, click OK.

If this solves the problem, you're home free. If it does not, do nothing more. Do not follow any repair or especially uninstall instructions you may find in these forums or elsewhere online, as they currently do not work and will just make the situation worse. Instead, continue to open files from within Word Starter until MS issues a fix.

Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
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Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 1,523 Applies to: