unable to open office documents

Dan Weer 1 Reputation point
2022-03-17T22:53:13.307+00:00

I have Windows 10 20H2 and Office 2019 installed.
On Tuesday night the latest patch, KB5011487, was installed on my computer.
Since the patch was installed, I'm unable to open office documents like xlsx, docx, and pptx.
Even older office files like xls, doc, ppt do not open.
The error I get is: 

Word experienced an error trying to open the file. Try the following suggestions:

    Check the file permissions for the document or drive.
    Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space.
    Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.
    (C:\Users...\my_file.xlsx)

I did some searching online and found a couple of articles but my problem is not fixed.
Any help would be appreciated.
Best regards.
Dan

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
10,705 questions
Word Management
Word Management
Word: A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
897 questions
Excel Management
Excel Management
Excel: A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
1,649 questions
0 comments

3 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Emily Hua-MSFT 27,546 Reputation points
    2022-03-18T08:45:34.7+00:00

    Hi @Dan Weer

    > I did some searching online and found a couple of articles but my problem is not fixed.

    Could you please tell us which steps have you tried?
    Here is 2 links, please check whether the suggestions that mentioned have been done. Such as adding trusted location, temporarily closing Protected View, repairing Office.
    "Word experienced an error trying to open the file."
    How to resolve the problem "Word experienced an error trying to open the file" when opening a Word 2007/2010 file (Easy Fix Article)

    If the steps above do not work, I suggest you send one file to others to check whether the file is broken.

    I also suggest you uninstall the KB temporarily to check this issue.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

  2. Stefan Blom 2,091 Reputation points MVP
    2022-03-18T20:46:45.02+00:00

    I take it you are double-clicking the icons for the files.

    Are you able to open a Word document, for example, if you start Word first and then browse to the document via File > Open > Browse?

    0 comments
  3. S.Sengupta 15,516 Reputation points MVP
    2022-03-19T23:38:50.333+00:00

    You may uninstall KB5011487 and check the issue.

    See also:

    Repair an Office application

    0 comments