Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 3:39:14 AM12/14/09

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A couple of days ago, I started getting this error message

Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Sometimes it will pop up twice, sometimes 3 times.

I did a search on this phrase and found articles on Lotus Notes and
Mail Merge. I have never used Notes. I have never used Mail Merge on
this PC.

I'm running Office 2007 on Win XP. I believe I have all the latest
updates.

Terry Farrell

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Dec 14, 2009, 4:53:10 AM12/14/09

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See
http://blogs.technet.com/wordonenotesupport/archive/2009/12/10/when-opening-the-word-document-users-are-getting-error-word-cannot-start-the-convertor-mswrd632-wpc-or-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

"Sesquipedalian Sam" <sesq...@nowhere.noway> wrote in message
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Danny

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Dec 14, 2009, 9:39:51 AM12/14/09

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Thanks for the link - I'm having the same problem. I tried to make the registry change described in the article, but did not have Wordpad at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Wordpad

Have you seen anything else that helped with this problem?

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Matthew

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Dec 14, 2009, 10:38:48 AM12/14/09

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The cause of this error, for myself, has had nothing to do with Wordpad. When opening an Office '07 file in Office '03, with the compatibility pack installed on the system, this error is cropping up. The '07 files would open fine up to a couple days ago, so all the right software is on the machine.

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Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 11:24:31 AM12/14/09

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On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:53:10 -0000, "Terry Farrell"
<terryf...@msn.com> wrote:

>See
>http://blogs.technet.com/wordonenotesupport/archive/2009/12/10/when-opening-the-word-document-users-are-getting-error-word-cannot-start-the-convertor-mswrd632-wpc-or-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx

This article asks me to make a Registry change. I'd really rather not
do that. Is there any other fix?

This article says it may be caused by a security update. I suggest
MSFT needs to send out another update to fix the update. And then
actually do a little testing BEFORE they ship the updates. This is the
second time in a year or so that an update broke something that I know
of.

The error only seems to happen when I open a .doc document. I'm
running Office 2007.

Jay Freedman

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Dec 14, 2009, 11:47:36 AM12/14/09

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Sam, did you read the KnowledgeBase article linked from that page? This
isn't an error, it's deliberate; Microsoft wants to prevent you from using
the old WordPad converter because it isn't secure. The registry change is
intended for administrators who consider using the converter more important
than closing the security hole, at least temporarily. Also, because it's a
deliberate change, there is never going to be "another fix" for the security
update.

But your problem is a bit different from what the articles describe. You're
trying to open a .doc file in Word 2007, which should have nothing to do
with WordPad or the old converter. What's happened is that Windows has
associated the .doc extension with WordPad instead of Word. If the security
patch hadn't been applied, the document would have opened in WordPad (which
can also read the .doc format), and you would have been complaining about
that instead. ;-)

Run the winword /r command as described in
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see if that
fixes the problem.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 12:41:48 PM12/14/09

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On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:47:36 -0500, "Jay Freedman"
<jay.fr...@verizon.net> wrote:

>Sesquipedalian Sam wrote:
>> On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:53:10 -0000, "Terry Farrell"
>> <terryf...@msn.com> wrote:
>>
>>> See
>>> http://blogs.technet.com/wordonenotesupport/archive/2009/12/10/when-opening-the-word-document-users-are-getting-error-word-cannot-start-the-convertor-mswrd632-wpc-or-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx
>>
>> This article asks me to make a Registry change. I'd really rather not
>> do that. Is there any other fix?
>>
>> This article says it may be caused by a security update. I suggest
>> MSFT needs to send out another update to fix the update. And then
>> actually do a little testing BEFORE they ship the updates. This is the
>> second time in a year or so that an update broke something that I know
>> of.
>>
>> The error only seems to happen when I open a .doc document. I'm
>> running Office 2007.
>
>Sam, did you read the KnowledgeBase article linked from that page?

Nope.

>This
>isn't an error, it's deliberate; Microsoft wants to prevent you from using
>the old WordPad converter because it isn't secure. The registry change is
>intended for administrators who consider using the converter more important
>than closing the security hole, at least temporarily. Also, because it's a
>deliberate change, there is never going to be "another fix" for the security
>update.
>
>But your problem is a bit different from what the articles describe. You're
>trying to open a .doc file in Word 2007, which should have nothing to do
>with WordPad or the old converter. What's happened is that Windows has
>associated the .doc extension with WordPad instead of Word. If the security
>patch hadn't been applied, the document would have opened in WordPad (which
>can also read the .doc format), and you would have been complaining about
>that instead. ;-)

I pretty sure the .doc extension is associated with Word. If I
double-click a .doc file, it opens in Word, always has. I just tested
it again.

>Run the winword /r command as described in
>http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see if that
>fixes the problem.

Do I need to close Word (all open docs) first?

Do you still think I need to do this even though .doc files are
already associated with Word?

Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 12:45:39 PM12/14/09

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On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:47:36 -0500, "Jay Freedman"
<jay.fr...@verizon.net> wrote:

PS: If this is "deliberate", then the left hand doesn't know what
right hand is doing. When the error pops up, there's a help button,
which says nothing about security or Notepad or anything else useful:

This message can appear if:

* The converter was not properly registered.

* The converter was inadvertently deleted without removing the
registry information.

* The converter support files are corrupt.

* The converter installation was removed and the uninstall tool did
not finish clearing the registry settings.

* The hard disk is damaged where the converter files were stored.

Usually, reinstalling the converter will overcome this problem. If the
converter reports that it is already installed, first uninstall it so
that the setup program can remove the files and registry settings.

If removing and reinstalling the converter is not successful, there
may be a problem with a resource on the computer (for example, an
executable file that is needed to properly register the converters on
the computer has failed or stopped running). In this case, it is best
to turn off the computer and start over.

I particularly like the last suggestion. I would only change it to
"turn the computer off and throw it out the window".

Jay Freedman

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Dec 14, 2009, 2:37:49 PM12/14/09

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OK, maybe I'm wrong about the association -- but if so, I don't understand
how the WordPad converter could get involved in the process. I still think
reregistering Word is worth a try; it's quick, and at worst it won't have
any effect.

>> Run the winword /r command as described in
>> http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see
>> if that fixes the problem.
>
> Do I need to close Word (all open docs) first?
>

Yes, close all open documents and shut down Word. Then run the command from
the Start > Run box or from a command prompt window.

> Do you still think I need to do this even though .doc files are
> already associated with Word?

It can't hurt, and it might help.

Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 3:52:44 PM12/14/09

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On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:37:49 -0500, "Jay Freedman"
<jay.fr...@verizon.net> wrote:

OK. I ran "winword /r" from the DOS box. It took about 30 seconds to
do something. I then tried opening a .doc document. The first 2 I
tried opened without any problems. The third one got the same error.

It didn't happen every time before. I thought it was intermittent, but
apparently it is just certain documents. I now have 2-3 that do not
get the error and 2-3 that do. That is consistent.

Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 4:07:09 PM12/14/09

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On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:37:49 -0500, "Jay Freedman"
<jay.fr...@verizon.net> wrote:

PS: We have two PCs in the office connected by a P2P LAN. I have a
laptop and my admin has a workstation. They have identical software
installed and run the same auto-update facility installed and
maintained by the company that procides tech support.

I just copied one of the documents that fails on my PC to the
workstation and opened it in Word there. No error.

Bob

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Dec 14, 2009, 4:45:10 PM12/14/09

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I am also getting the above error message when I try to run mail merge from full Outlook to word label document for my Christmas cards. Hope we can find a fix before I have to hand address them.
Bob

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Sesquipedalian Sam

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Dec 14, 2009, 4:58:59 PM12/14/09

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Several articles mentioned this being a problem with mail merge, which
I never use. If I recall correctly, they recommended reinstalling the
converter.

I know you really didn't want to send cards to all those ghoofy
relatices anyway. Now you have a good excuse. ;-)

Flip

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Dec 15, 2009, 2:50:24 AM12/15/09

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Hello,
Removing the patch from the software did it for us sofar, it's KB973904.
Just have to await if it comes back with new updates.
Flip

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InfinitiDC

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Dec 15, 2009, 11:18:03 AM12/15/09

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Thanks for the advice.
However, I did not have wordpad in the subdirectory-any other
suggestions?

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

> .
>

Derek

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Dec 15, 2009, 12:58:42 PM12/15/09

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Bob, I'm having the exact same problems with my Christmas cards using outlook mailmerge. Have you found a way round the problem, or did you end up doing them by hand?

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OK!

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Dec 15, 2009, 3:18:29 PM12/15/09

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I am running Windows XP and don't have WordPad in that location. What should I do?

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wheat

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Dec 15, 2009, 3:38:52 PM12/15/09

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We're having it with our ERP app, Datatel Colleague, which launches Word (we're running 2007 on WinXP) during certain processes.

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP

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Dec 15, 2009, 8:13:19 PM12/15/09

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See the Known Issues section of http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904 and
change the 1 to 0

--
Hope this helps,

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Please reply only to the newsgroups unless you wish to obtain my services on
a paid professional basis.

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Derek

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Dec 16, 2009, 2:38:20 AM12/16/09

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I tried to edit the registry as described under 973904 but there is not a \wordpad directory under applets.

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Graham Mayor

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Dec 16, 2009, 3:47:34 AM12/16/09

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You could add it and then create the described entry.
Have you tried simply uninstalling the 973904 update? This will also put
back the older mswrd632.wpc file that the update replaced.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

"Derek" <us...@msgroups.net/> wrote in message

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP

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Dec 16, 2009, 5:23:05 AM12/16/09

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Remove the security update (MS09-073) that caused the problem.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

"InfinitiDC" <Infin...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Terry Farrell

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Dec 16, 2009, 7:29:51 AM12/16/09

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That was the very first help I sent them too. So surely they have followed
and uninstalled it already?

Terry

"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" <d...@REMOVECAPSmvps.org> wrote in message
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Derek

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Dec 16, 2009, 9:15:56 AM12/16/09

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Thanks, Graham. I added the wordpad directory as you suggested and the entry as described in 973904. I can now mailmerge correctly from Outlook.

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Josh

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Dec 16, 2009, 10:46:01 AM12/16/09

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Doug,

I have removed KB973904 which you requested and still having the issue. I
cannot open a 97-2003 file in my office 2007. I can though go file, open and
choose recover text from any file and it will open but adds a bunch of
characters. I even tried open office which someone requested might work but
it didn't. I did not have the registry entry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

\Applets\Wordpad

I did create it and changed it from 0 to 1 and it would open but with alot
of characters added to make it really non readable. I even tried winword /r
and still no luck. Has there been a fix for this????????????????

Josh

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Dec 16, 2009, 11:14:01 AM12/16/09

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"Danny" wrote:

> .
>

I have removed KB973904 which you requested and still having the issue. I
cannot open a 97-2003 file in my office 2007. I can though go file, open and
choose recover text from any file and it will open but adds a bunch of
characters. I even tried open office which someone requested might work but
it didn't. I did not have the registry entry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

\Applets\Wordpad

I did create it and changed it from 0 to 1 and it would open but with alot

M McAllister

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Dec 16, 2009, 12:21:01 PM12/16/09

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Don't believe everything you read. Wordpad was/is not my default for .doc
files. Word 2007 is.

This error came up for me in Microsoft Accounting when I tried to print to
my Word Template for my invoices.

I applied this fix by modifying the registry........I added the Wordpad key
under applets and then added the AllowConversion and now all is well.

Grup

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Dec 16, 2009, 1:48:01 PM12/16/09

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I had the similar problem, with a 3rd party software program called PPM that
uses Word. I re-installed Word and problem solved. The patch 973904 is
still on the computer.
--
Rich

Flip

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Dec 17, 2009, 2:43:42 AM12/17/09

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Hello Josh,
Did you try simply going back to a system restore point?
This worked fine for us.
Flip

"Josh" <Jo...@discussions.microsoft.com> schreef in bericht
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Josh

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Dec 17, 2009, 6:56:01 AM12/17/09

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"Flip" wrote:

> Hello Josh,
> Did you try simply going back to a system restore point?
> This worked fine for us.
> Flip
>

FLIP,

We cant do a system restore on our domain as its blocked by group policy so
there is no way for us to try that. There must be another way though to get
this working but it seems i have tried everything.

Josh

gk

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Dec 18, 2009, 12:56:01 AM12/18/09

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New Here & Im really not sure what to do! I run xp and have the same
troubles with the converter "mswrd632" when I try to print labels from
Outlook with Prowiter which puts them to Word. But Im not a programer but I
got into the regeit and also did not find the wordpad. So how do I add it?
And there was a post just before this talking about uninstalling the 973904
update what is this and how do I uninstall it or even find it? also called a
patch maybe? Any help would be great as I to have Christmas & wedding labels
to make up. Thank You.

"Derek" wrote:

> .
>

Graham Mayor

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Dec 18, 2009, 1:40:31 AM12/18/09

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Run the Windows Control Panel add or remove programs. Check the box at the
top of the dialog to show updates. Locate the update 973904 and uninstall
it..

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

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Monelle

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Dec 27, 2009, 11:23:57 AM12/27/09

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Using Word 2003, I cannot open a .doc file created in 2002 using Word, not WordPad. I get the message "Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc." I also cannot open it with WordPad, and running "winword /r" did nothing. I also made the correction in regedit. The message no longer appears, but all I get is still a page full of y's. Help!!!

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP

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Dec 27, 2009, 5:46:29 PM12/27/09

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Try uninstalling the MS09-073 security update (kb973904)

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

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evil

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Jan 6, 2010, 1:32:29 PM1/6/10

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..and people continue to claim that windows is a superior operating system.

I have a workgroup of 32 windows computers with this problem. Thanks, Microshaft.

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Grrrrr

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Jan 12, 2010, 5:40:33 PM1/12/10

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And I have many, many more affected users. Looks like I'll be sending PDF files to customers instead of Word docs from now on!

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Doug Robbins - Word MVP

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Jan 13, 2010, 5:11:18 AM1/13/10

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KB 973904 is now on its third revision and has a FixIt button.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

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evil03mustang

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Jan 13, 2010, 9:30:02 AM1/13/10

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@ doug - excellent!

Thank you very much, that should take care of it!

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David

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Jan 19, 2010, 12:01:34 AM1/19/10

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i found that my problem was actaually a .docx file that was saved(or renamed) to .doc renaming teh extestio properly fixed it.

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Sesquipedalian Sam

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Jan 31, 2010, 7:41:48 PM1/31/10

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On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:11:18 +1000, "Doug Robbins - Word MVP"
<d...@REMOVECAPSmvps.org> wrote:

>KB 973904 is now on its third revision and has a FixIt button.
>
>See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

Thank you very much.

Tony Wright

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Feb 25, 2010, 12:47:17 AM2/25/10

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I have Word 2003 running on XP Professional with Service Pack 3 and all updates that I have been invited to install. I know this topic is getting old but I have only recently started experiencing the problem. It occurs intermittently and when it does, by the time I have dismissed the message box that appears, either by clicking OK or the close button, the document opens as an empty document in Courier font. The file is reduced to a zero byte file. In other words, the file is destroyed. I would not like this to happen to a document that might have taken days to create. In each case the files were created with Word 2003.

I haven't tried any of the suggestions yet but since nobody else has complained of their files being destroyed, I thought you would like to know. It seems I will have to back up my files on a daily or bi-daily basis until this can be fixed, so that I don't destroy hours of work simply by attempting to open a file. This would be the most serious problem I have encountered in fifteen years of using Word. If Microsoft caused it, they need a good kick in the corporate pants.

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Tony Wright

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Feb 25, 2010, 1:06:04 AM2/25/10

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This is a quick follow up to my last post. I used the Fixit button from KB 973904. I then tried to open the most recently destroyed file and the error message recurred. After shutting down and restarting Word, the same file opened without the error message, as did intact files.

Until I am confident that the Fixit fixed it, I will be backing up religiously and frequently.

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tonyfarr

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Mar 1, 2010, 6:45:01 AM3/1/10

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"Sesquipedalian Sam" wrote:

> A couple of days ago, I started getting this error message

>
> Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc
>

> Can anyone tell me what this is?
>
> Sometimes it will pop up twice, sometimes 3 times.
>
> I did a search on this phrase and found articles on Lotus Notes and
> Mail Merge. I have never used Notes. I have never used Mail Merge on
> this PC.
>
> I'm running Office 2007 on Win XP. I believe I have all the latest
> updates.
> .
>

Amit

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Mar 9, 2010, 5:01:23 AM3/9/10

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Try this link:

http://www.wincert.net/tips/1786-word-cannot-start-the-converter-mswrd632wpc-error.html

This should work. It worked for me :)

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Charles

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Apr 23, 2010, 9:01:01 AM4/23/10

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Try using this site: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904 and then clicking
on "Fix It For Me" that is about half way down the page.

Kelly

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May 4, 2010, 4:25:40 AM5/4/10

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It seems this was a problem for me as well. And after thinking about it, common sense kicked in and told me one thing....DELETE THE WORD PAD DOCUMENT...Ya see, i originally created and saved the document in word pad and then i tried changing it later to a .doc document, just by renaming it. So, i copied the info from the word pad document, opened a new Microsoft "WORD" document, pasted the info into the "WORD" document, and saved it. Then, I deleted the original word pad document that was in word pad. And now, problem solved!!!!!!!!!......Maybe this was easier for me, than it is for some of you?....
Hope it helps though?

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