This is a detail file belonging to this error report about Deja Vu X 7.5.303, which resulted in an RTF file that various Word versions could not open. This page is about the cryptic, or rather: downright incorrect and confusing error messages supplied by these pieces of Microsoft software.
All the Office programs I used were always in Dutch. I translated the messages back to English, so the actual wording may differ.
Dutch message:
Het bestand kan niet worden geopend. Doe een van de volgende dingen: * Kies Bestand, Openen om het bestand te openen. * Controleer of het bestand de extensie .doc heeft.
My English:
The file could not be opened. Try one of the following: * Use File, Open to open the file. * Check if the file name has the extension ".doc".
My comments:
Of course I opened the file via the file menu. I always do. Although I am aware of the possibility, I never (well, hardly ever) use the possibility to click a file in Windows Explorer (or a similar file manager), to have it opened by the application associated with the file type (as indicated by the file name extension, i.e. the part of the file name after the rightmost dot).
Just a personal preference.
Also, it is beyond me how the method of activating an application to perform an action (open that file), could influence the result of that action.
The file didn't have the extension .doc, because it is an RTF file. However, after I renamed it to .doc, Word still recognised it as the RTF file it was (of course), and the problem remained the same (of course).
So the error message doesn't reveal the true nature of the problem (corrupted file format) and the recommendations do not make sense at all. Such messages and recommendations are unacceptable and user-unfriendly. Sloppy programming by Microsoft.
Dutch message:
De documentnaam of het documentpad is niet geldig. Probeer de volgende suggesties uit te voeren: * Controleer de bestandsmachtigingen van het document of het station. * Zoek het bestand met behulp van het dialoogvenster Bestand Open.
My English:
The document name or the document path isn't valid. Try to perform one of the following suggestions: * Check the file permissions of the document or the disk drive. * Find the file using the dialog window File Open.
My comments:
Windows Millennium edition doesn't even have a system of file permissions, other than the Read Only attribute. Word has no problem in opening Read Only file. Moreover this file didn't have that attribute set.
About File Open, see above.
So here too, the error messages give no indication of the actual problem. It seems Microsoft's programmers just haphazardly threw in a random error code, without checking if it made any sense at all.
This is unacceptable.
Dutch message:
Dit document kan niet door Word worden gelezen. Het is mogelijk beschadigd Probeer een of meer van de volgende mogelijkheden: * Open het bestand met Openen en herstellen * Open het bestand met de conversiefunctie voor tekstherstel
My English:
This document cannot be read by Word. Perhaps it is damaged. Try one or more of the following possibilities: * Open the file using Open and Repair * Open the file using the Recover Text Converter.
My comments:
The error message is now more to the point than in earlier Word version.
The recommended Recovery functions are not in the menu and aren't explained in the help texts.
© 2008 R. Harmsen