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Error message "Do you want to download the converter?" when you try to open a file in Excel, Word or PowerPoint

Article ID: 967950 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

When you try to open a Microsoft Office Excel workbook (.xlsx), a Microsoft Office Word document (.docx), or a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation (.pptx), you may receive one of the following error messages and you may not be able to open the file:

This file was created by a newer version of Microsoft Excel and a converter is needed to open it. Do you want to download the converter from the Microsoft Office Web site?

This file cannot be opened by using Microsoft Excel. Do you want to search the Microsoft Office Online Web site for a converter that can open the file?

Note The above messages are displayed when you try to open an Excel file. When you try to open a Word or PowerPoint file, the product names in the message are replaced accordingly.

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Cause

The file that you are trying to open may have been created by a third-party (non-Microsoft) software product in compliance with the International Standard ISO/IEC 29500 Office Open XML (OOXML). Microsoft Excel 2007, Excel 2010, Word 2007, Word 2010, PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010 do not support all the standards that are outlined by ISO/IEC 29500.

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Resolution

To resolve this issue, download the OOXML Strict Converter for Office 2010 from the following Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38828

(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38828)

Then, follow these steps as appropriate for the program that you are using to open the file.

Excel 2010, Word 2010 or PowerPoint 2010

Open the file using Excel 2010, Word 2010 or PowerPoint 2010. Click Open when the following message is displayed. When the file opens, save the file in Excel 2010, Word 2010 or PowerPoint 2010. The screen shot for this step is listed below.

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Excel 2007, Word 2007 or PowerPoint 2007

Note If you do not have an application that created the file, you cannot open the file.

If you have an application that you used to create the file, try Method 1 first:

Method 1

Open the file using the application that you used to create the file.
Save the file by selecting Excel 97-2003 (.xls), Word 97-2003 (.doc), or PowerPoint 97-2003 (.ppt) file format in the Save As Type list.

If you cannot change the file format when you save the file, use Method 2.

Method 2

Open the file using the application that you used to create the file.
Depending on the file type, create a new file using Word 2007, Excel 2007 or PowerPoint 2007.
Copy the content of the file you opened in Step 1 and paste it onto the file you opened in Step 2.
Note Depending on compatibility between the application and Microsoft Office 2007 products, the formatting of the original content may collapse in the copied content.

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More information

An Excel workbook (.xlsx), a Word document (.docx), or PowerPoint presentation (.pptx) files can now be created by non-Microsoft software products by using the standards that are outlined by ISO/IEC 29500. Therefore, Office versions released after 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) have supported many of the requirements of the ISO/IEC 29500 standard. However, some of the standards have not been supported in Microsoft Office.

For more information about the adoption of the ISO 29500 standard by Microsoft, see the following Web sites:

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