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Word experienced an error when trying to open the file - from Office 365 or SharePoint

by Mark Jones | Feb 19, 2012

If you receive the 'Word experienced an error when trying to open the file' (as below), it's highly likely you are running Office 2010 in protected mode.

Word experienced an error when trying to open the file image

How to solve this issue?

There 2 ways that I know of detailing how to solve it.

  1. Add the Office 365 or SharePoint site as a 'Trusted Site' in Internet Explorer
  2. Amend your Office 2010 settings in the 'Trust Center'

Add the Office 365 or SharePoint site as a 'Trusted Site' in Internet Explorer (recommended).

  1.  Launch Internet Explorer (IE).
  2. Select 'Tools' from the menu. (Press 'Alt' to get the options to show).
  3. Choose 'Internet Options'.
  4. Choose ' Security' tab.
  5. Click 'Sites'.
  6. Click the 'Trusted Sites' green tick.
  7. Type your domain into the text box and click 'Add'. (You domain will be something like : http://yourorg.sharepoint.com'.
  8. Click 'Ok'.

Amend your Office 2010 settings in the 'Trust Center'

Please Note : If you do it this way - then 'any' file that you download from 'anywhere' could harm your computer. If you can, use the previous method.

  1. Launch Microsoft Word (or Excel, Powerpoint, etc).
  2. Click the 'File' menu
  3. Choose 'Options'
  4. Choose 'Trust Center'
  5. Choose 'Trust Center Settings'
  6. Choose 'Protected View'
  7. Unselect the 'Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet'

Compliance using DocRead

DocRead logoDocRead for SharePoint can help you manage policy compliance by:

  • Targeting documents or policies at specific groups of users
  • Allowing a specific amount of time for users to confirm agreement 
  • Sending email reminders when policy compliance is overdue
  • Users self-certify that they have read and fully understood the policy details
  • Securely storing records of confirmed policy acceptance
  • Monitoring the user acceptance of policies via a reporting suite
  • Providing detailed reading reports and statistics
  • Report drill through to show who has not accepted the policy
  • Automatically sending historic compliance tasks and policies to new users when they are added to a group
  • Bringing policy compliance requests immediately to users attention when they log on

DocRead is simple to install and configure. It seamlessly integrates with SharePoint and can be added to any existing SharePoint site.

To find out more, visit the DocRead product site.


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