A common error for Office 2003 users is Word's "Error opening
the file" message when trying to open a Word 2007 document, and the
"Excel is Waiting for another Application to complete OLE Action"
message when trying to open a 2007 excel document.
There are a few bits of information here and there on the
internet about resolution of this problem, but here is the
information collated:
Solution
- Download the "File Format Converter" plugin from the link
below
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
- Run the program it downloads
- If a "User Account Control" popup shows, click continue
- Accept the terms and conditions and click continue
- Let it install then click OK
- Now, click Start logo at the bottom left of the screen
- In the search box, type "Windows Update"
- Run the "Windows Update" search result
- If the window that opens says "You are up to date", click
"Check for updates" on the left hand side
- There will be at least 4 important updates listed. Install all
of them (or only the ones specifically for Office)
- Close all instances of Office (Word, Excel etc)
- You should now be able to proceed with your original task
without seeing the error message you were getting originally.