Easy question re Word 2003/10

For what it's worth, when I open an old document, I AM given options, which are

1. Microsoft Rod

2. Wordicon

No idea what Wordicon is

Google says

wordicon.exe is digitally signed by Microsoft Corporation.

wordicon.exe is usually located in the 'c:\WINDOWS\Installer\{90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}\' folder

Microsoft Word is 2010 - not sure why Microsoft Word 2003 isn't showing.

 Word 2003 is no longer supported.  If you continue to use it, you do so at your own risk.  You'll likely see more and more problems if you try.  I know you can't install it with Windows 10.  If you have Office 2010, you should use that.  If you don't like the ribbons, there's a 3rd party program called UBITMENU that you can install which will give you back most of the old style menu items.  

 Good luck.

Hi,

By what your saying, the easiest way would be to set Word 2003 as the default word editing document. 

First of all, press the Windows button and "R" on your keyboard. 

Then type in this: control /name Microsoft.DefaultPrograms

Click on "Set your default programs"

Select "Word 2003" from the side menu, and then click "Set this program as default". 

I would also do this with all the file types aswell by doing this:

Pressing Win+R and typing in control /name Microsoft.DefaultPrograms again. 

Then associate a file type with a program, then select the extensions you want to use to open Word 2003.

Hope this helps ;) 

The problem is 2003 doesn't support the xml format utilized by .docx, .xlsx, etc. unless you have the compatibility pack installed.

And as Niweg noted, 2003 is no longer supported, which means no more security updates and fixes from Microsoft. Plus you may not be able to find a safe copy of the compatibility pack to download if you don't already have it.

Ah I see, I don't use 2003, the earliest version I use is 2010 so I wouldn't know.

Sorry 

I typed in what you suggested, but the window that came up but got an error message from Microsoft - it couldnt even find "set on your default programs"

OK you win, I should stick with Word 10, - but tell me this.    I do a newsletter every month in Publisher (2003) - is there a very similar program (free) that I can download?    Publisher did not come with my 2010 programs.

Ok, will look into those - and thanks.

You have to pay for PagePlus, but you can get the free edition, but lose most of the features that Publisher has. 

I would also check if the file .pub (Publisher document) will open alright in PagePlus if you choose to get it, or any of the other software.

My recommendation would be Open Office as you can use that to edit your file, and then save as a .pub file if you need to send to anyone. 

Hope this helps. 

A couple of other free alternatives

Libre Office

Free Office by SoftMaker

Thanks will try those, I can't really understand Scribus

Free Office is very compatible with Windows Office.

Another one to look at = WPS Office Free  I never ran into a Watermark as shown on the webpage.

Edited by JohnC_21, 25 April 2016 - 05:52 PM.

As long as they have a publisher program - not power point?

PowerPoint is proprietary to Windows. I don't believe the programs I and others linked to can open PowerPoint files.

Edit: I take that back. I was able to open powerpoint files with WPS. Publisher is Windows proprietary. You can't open Publisher files in any of the above office suites.

Edited by JohnC_21, 25 April 2016 - 06:15 PM.