Hi All,

Working offlist with Steve Maser, I found a solution that should allow
to batch process files that refuse to open through a Double-click with
the Service Pack 1 for Office 2008.

 The problem appears to be related to the file Type and Creator.
  Wiping out the file and creator for these files fixes the issue and
allows you to open them through a regular double-click again,

There are several utilities that allow you to batch process files to
wipe out the file Type and Creator. The first one that immediately comes
to my mind is File Buddy. It's a little bit on the pricey side for
performing just this task unfortunately ($39.95).
FileXaminer <http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/filexaminer.html>
can do the same thing and is a lot cheaper ($6). It can also run in demo
mode for 14 days.

        Corentin

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_________________________________We__________

One think to be careful about.
If you wipe out the type and creator, the Finder has to rely on the
extension of the file to figure out what application should open it (and
that's why this workaround works). If some of your files don't have an
extension (not even the invisible one you can reveal selecting the file
in the Finder and pressing command-i), then the Finder won't know what
application to use to open it.
All you ned to do though is to add the extension back (eg: .doc for a
Word document, .xls for Excel, etc).

Corentin

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Inquiring from a position of ignorance--

FileXaminer says it can change file types.  Why can't it do a sort of
find-and-replace rather than a wipe to null?  Alternatively, if one
knows that a folder has nothing but Word documents in it, would be
feasible to tell FileXaminer or FileBuddy to reset all the file types to
a more modern Word one?

You can, but it's a lot more work.
This solution allows you to fix together all Word, Excel and PPT files
affected. Easier than having to sort them out, then apply the proper
file type and creator to the Word files, then the same on PPT and Excel
files.

Absolutely
Word: W8BN/MSWD for instance.

But what's the point?? The Type and Creators are completely depreciated
nowadays and the system favors file extensions.

Corentin

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I see. Thanks, Corentin.