Fixes: Word Experienced an Error Trying to Open the File

The “Word experienced an error trying to open the file” issue can be caused by several reasons, the following are the methods to fix it.

Guide - How to Turn off Dark Mode on Word (Windows and Mac)

How to turn off dark mode on Word for Windows and Mac? This post provides a step-by-step guide for you. Continue to read this post.

Read More

Method 1: Unblock the Word File

If you don’t create the Word file yourself, maybe the file will be blocked. Then Word document won’t open. When you receive the word file via Outlook or a similar email client, this issue will occur. Here is how to fix it:

Step 1: Right-click the file that can’t be opened to choose Properties.

Step 2: Then, in the General tab, click the Unblock button in Security. Then, click Apply and

OK.

Once the file has been unlocked, check to see if the “Word experienced an error trying to open the file” issue has been resolved. If not, you can move down to the next method.

Method 2: Disable the Protected View

If the problem is not restricted to Word or you have many Word files with the same behavior, then the issue is caused by a Trust Center setting. You can try disabling the Protected view to fix the “can’t open Word document” issue. Here’s a quick guide with the modifications.

Step 1: Open Word. Click the File tab from the ribbon and click Options.

Step 2: In Options, click Trust Center. Then click Trust Center Settings.

Step 3: In Trust Center settings, select Protected view and uncheck the following boxes:

Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet

Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations

Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments

Save the changes and check to see if the issue still exists. If yes, try the final method.

Method 3: Add a New Trusted Location

If the first two methods have proved to be ineffective, there is the last method for you- add a new trusted location. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Open Word. Click the File tab from the ribbon and click Options.

Step 2: In Options, click Trust Center. Then click Trust Center Settings.

Step 3: In Trust Center Settings, select Trusted Locations and click the Add new location button on the bottom of the screen.

Step 4: Select the drive in which you saved your word files and check the Subfolders of this location are also trusted box and press OK to save your changes.

You should now be able to open Word without issues.

Final Words

To sum up, this post has introduced 3 useful and feasible methods to fix the “Word experienced an error trying to open the file” error. If you encounter the same issue, you can try the methods mentioned above.