SOLVED Problem with downloading MS Office Files since upgrade from W7 to W10

[Bernard Plume]

Ok Community need your help—and apologies for a long post I have tried to keep it succinct---I have spent extended time on the phone to Microsoft with little progress.

About 7 months ago I upgraded my Desk top PC from windows 7 to windows 10 via the official upgrade invitation—however I left my LAPtop on windows 7 as I wanted to see how I got on with 10.

I am running Microsoft Office professional plus 2016 Office Suite on both my PC and my Laptop.

As a backup I have since installed the Free Libre Office suite since I have had real problems with downloading and opening Microsoft Word /P Point and Excel documents that are sent direct over the internet to my PC. On the Laptop they open fine in Windows 7, note it’s the same 2016 office suite on both machines but on the PC I get a host of error messages on MS word its says there is an error opening and says check file permission/memory etc, on P Point its says it cannot read the powerpoint or start the application on Excel its says the file is corrupt and cannot be opened.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the 2016 office suite but that has made no difference--I reinstalled Office 2010 and I still get the same problem--also I can take exactly the same files load them on to my PC via a flash drive and they open and work fine in 2016.

I can also download on my PC them using the Libre Office Suite and they work fine.

So I have come to the conclusion that the only time they malfunction is when they are downloaded via Windows 10 and the problem does not lie with the office suite.

I saw a community topic similar to this one about 9 months ago that said MS were issuing a patch as this does not happen when you upgrade from 8 or 8.1 but only if you go straight from Win 7 to 10 - however I update patches regulary and nothing is fixed.

Does anyone have any suggestions or workarounds as I seem to have multiple problems and I am seriously thinking of rolling back to Win 7 as I regularly have to download MS files on my PC and I do not want the hassle of having to keep transferring them from my Windows 7 Laptop to get them to open and function-- I have attached a PDF screen grab of the error messages

 

[Trouble]

documents that are sent direct over the internet to my PC

Sent how? What is the source of these files? When they are sent and subsequently received, where do they reside? Where? In what folder? Are you attempting to open them directly from an email client? Are you saving them to a folder on your computer? If so where are you directing them to be saved to?
Open the program(s) in safe mode from the run dialog box
winword.exe /safe
excel.exe /safe
powerpnt.exe /safe
Then use the file open (Open other Documents) to browse to the container and open the files.
If that works then you have a persistent add in that is causing the problem. Many third party programs attach plugins to office suite applications which can produce problems.

 

[Bernard Plume]

Sent how? What is the source of these files? When they are sent and subsequently received, where do they reside? Where? In what folder? Are you attempting to open them directly from an email client? Are you saving them to a folder on your computer? If so where are you directing them to be saved to?
Open the program(s) in safe mode from the run dialog box
winword.exe /safe
excel.exe /safe
powerpnt.exe /safe
Then use the file open (Open other Documents) to browse to the container and open the files.
If that works then you have a persistent add in that is causing the problem. Many third party programs attach plugins to office suite applications which can produce problems.

Hi Thanks very much for your input, :-}

To answer the questions

Sent How : From my work computer or various friends or church members no unusual sources same stuff I have been getting for years and opening with no probs till Win 10 upgrade

Save where: Again same often used process downloaded direct from Gmail, then saved in my normal folders by type then open

So nothing new, same as I have always done and still works fine this way on the Laptop with Win 7

Have opened all 3 programmes in safe mode on the Desktop/PC , browsed and opened in safe mode but still get the same identical error messages.

I use Edge and Chrome as browsers but its the same with both

I have not made any changes to the system apart from doing the upgrade to 10

Any more thoughts please ?

 

[Trouble]

Sorry, that didn't help.
IF you wouldn't mind, attempting a small experiment for testing purposes.
Create a new folder in the root of C:\
Name it TEST
Save one of those typical files, from one of those typical sources to that folder
During or immediately after the Save or Save As process give it a simple name like
test.docx (word) or test.xlsx (excel) or test.pptx (or .ppsx which ever is appropriate for the powerpoint file).
See if that has any impact on the issue.

 

[Bernard Plume]

Sorry, that didn't help.
IF you wouldn't mind, attempting a small experiment for testing purposes.
Create a new folder in the root of C:\
Name it TEST
Save one of those typical files, from one of those typical sources to that folder
During or immediately after the Save or Save As process give it a simple name like
test.docx (word) or test.xlsx (excel) or test.pptx (or .ppsx which ever is appropriate for the powerpoint file).
See if that has any impact on the issue.

Hi Thanks for your continued help and patience

I followed above creating a TESTw10 file in the root of C:\ and renamed then cut and paste the offending Word doc from my downloads folder direct into the new folder-- still getting the same error message as before

 

[Trouble]

Can you right click that specific file and choose properties.
Select the "Security" tab and click the "Advanced" button.
And the top, who is listed as "Owner"
In the "Permission entries:" area, which account(s) has what permissions?
IF you change "Owner" explicitly to your account name and then grant your account name full control explicitly....
Does that have any impact on the problem?

 

[Bernard Plume]

Great and thank you -- I have partly solved my problem I went into properties and before I hit the advanced tab there was a check box
that said this file comes from another computer is it from a trusted source , I ticked this as safe , hit apply, I did this for both Word and Ppt downloads and I can now open them both with office 2016 , so were are really on a roll BUT is there anyway I can set up this to happen automatically as it did in W7 or will I have to mark every download as safe via properties before I can open it.
It has caused a minor snag with Excel though-- I have tried to set Excel as the default spreadsheet programme as it is not in the settings list / default list, nor listed , I have tried to set it by file associations same story, I tried to open Excel via C drive and Programmes folder but its not there .
There is talk on the Forum of how to solve this problem-- but the explanation was too complicated for me to follow as it involved registry entries and I do not want to go there.

Sorry if you have become my go to-- but I would welcome any thoughts please ?

 

[Trouble]

I don't have Office 2016 to go by, but....
In 2013 you could use
File -> Options -> Trust Center -> Trust Center Settings (button)
Trusted locations and or Trusted documents.
Perhaps adding the path to your folders to trusted locations might help.

 

[Bernard Plume]

Cheers I will try that , at least its now working I also found a lengthy but workable fix to my Excel progrmme as default it appears its something that MS is still working on but at least I have a workaround for now--THANK YOU for investing your time in helping me I am very grateful for the community as all my Mac owner friends were trying to tempt me to the dark side :-]

 

[Trouble]

my Mac owner friends were trying to tempt me to the dark side

OH.... those guys!!
I don't have anything negative to say about MACs. If they were more affordable I'd likely own one, but......
I'm more about bang for my bucks so I'll stick with what I can afford.