The open XML file cannot be opened because there are problems with the contents or the file name might contain invalid characters.

1. Make a copy of the file in question and put it on your desktop.

2. Log into Google Docs (if you don't have an account, you have to create one and trust me you will be glad you did).

3.  In google docs start a new file (don't know why this works, but it does)...

4.  Go to the file menu and select "Open".  Along the top are several options (my drive, shared with me, Starred, recent or upload).

5.  Select "Upload" to Open your file in Google Docs... Violå... it opens formatting and all!!!!

6.  Save it as a google doc (so you have a  backup). Depending on your system you may have to select Make a copy....

7.  Once you have a Google doc saved as a google doc....Gso to the file menu and select DOWNLOAD AS "Microsoft Word (docx)... It will ask you what app on YOUR Mac to open it with, select Microsoft Word...

Hope this helps.

PrfPam

Guys:

This error message results from one of TWO conditions:

1)  There are illegal character(s) somewhere in the HDD name or the path or file name of the file.

2)  There is corruption within the XML code in the document.

The other guys have spoken about the first condition.  The second condition is the one you hope you do not have, because it usually means the file is lost.

Any references to "Location 2" means "The code of the document".

When Word attempts to open a document, it first checks to ensure it can read all of it. It needs to do this, because some of the most important information in a Word document is stored at the far end of the file.  If Word can't read the last few bytes of the file, it can't open the document.

When Word first starts trying to read the file, all the code is in one very long line (millions of bytes long, sometimes) on "line 2".  Until Word can read the file, it can't tell where the lines of text are, they are ALL in "line 2".  So if an error is reported in "Location 2" or "Line 2", that is Word saying "Sorry, I can't read this".

Here are some things you can try:

1)  Open in PC Word:  If you have access to PC Word, this is the best approach.  Often, this error is caused by PC Word writing content into the file that Mac Word can't read, sometimes because the copy of PC Word has not had the update that fixed this condition.  Open the file in PC Word, then Save As to a new file to clean out the file.

2)  Open in TextEdit: TextEdit can sometimes read simple Word documents.  If it can, TextEdit will ignore the error and you may get the text back.

3)  Open in Preview: Preview will often give you a read-only copy of the document.

4)  Open in Pages: Pages can sometimes read what Word can't (and vice-versa).

If you can read XML and you know how to operate the command-line Zip application in Mac OS X, come back and we can explain how to find the error and fix it by hand (note: it's a lot of work, but if you can't read XML, it's not possible).

Hope this helps