Best Solution to Fix MS Word Document Not Found Error
Microsoft Word is a popular file format for saving word documents. This comes with all Microsoft Office package as the default document file format. Like other files, Word files may produce different error messages when users try to open them. One such error is Word Document Not Found.
This error may occur when users try to open any Word document file from its location or opening a Word attachment that came as an email attachment. However, when users find Microsoft Word error this file could not be found error message, they fail to open the document files & encounter an array of error messages. Clicking these messages will only result in more error messages or a blank Word document. However, there are some techniques that can help users get rid of this annoying error. In this post, we will discuss all of these methods.
How to Resolve Microsoft Office Word 2007/ 2010 this File Could Not be Found Error?
If you have encountered the error message Word Document Not Found while opening any Word file try any of these methods.
Methods 1: Re-register Word
The very first thing you should try while encountering the error file not found in Microsoft Word is to re-register the Word file.
a) For that, close both MS Word and MS Outlook. Then, click on Win + R keys together to the open Run box.
b) Type “C:\ Program Files (x86) \ Microsoft Office \ Office15 \ WINWORD.EXE” /r in that box and enter.
c) If there are multiple MS Word installed on your system, registry changes are needed for their peaceful co-existence.
d) Office configuration dialog box will appear on the screen. Wait till the configuration is over and then restart Word.
e)If you see that DOCX, DOCM, DOTX and DOTM files are being opened by Word 2007/ 2010 but you want Word 2003 to open DOC or DOT files, re-register Word 2007/ 2010 and Word 2003 respectively.
Method 2: Open with WinWord.exe
If the first method does not solve the Word Document Not Found error message. Then, users can try this solution to resolve Microsoft word error this file could not be found error.
a) Go to the location of any MS Word file and select any Word file you wish to open.
b) Right click on it and select Open with an option from the list.
c) Then you need to click on Choose program option to get the list of available applications.
d) Select Microsoft Office Word and also tick the box “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.” before clicking OK.
Method 3: Edit Registry File
Even method 2 may fail to fix this Word Document Not Found error, there might be Word application related registry entry problem. To fix it, open Run dialog box and type regedit in it to launch registry editor.
For different Word versions, there will be two different registry entries:
Word 97-2003 doc
Registry: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.8\shell\Open
Word 2007 docx
Registry: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.12\shell\Open
However, ddexec sub key and command sub key will be the same in both the cases
Ddexec sub key: [REM _DDE_Direct][FileOpen(“%1”)]
Command sub key: “C:\ Program Files \ Microsoft Office \ Office12 \ WINWORD.EXE” /n /dde %1
The “%1” at the end of the command subkey is the main problem here. So for the next steps, you have to remove it or put it within quotation marks. Also, remember that Office 12 signifies the Word 2003. For Word 2003 or 2010, use office11 or office14.
Select the command subkey and right-click on its value in the detail pane to choose Modify.
In the Edit String box, when the text is selected, click on End key. Now place a quotation mark around %1 and then click OK.
The registry entry will get revised and the error Microsoft Office Word 2007/ 2010 this file could not be found gets resolved.
The Ultimate Way to Fix Word Document Not Found Error
It is quite possible that your MS Word files got damaged or corrupt because of different reasons. If that is the case, then none of the manual methods will be able to resolve the Microsoft Word error this file could not be found. The user will need to have a sure-shot solution that will solve the problem “file not found in Microsoft Word”. Therefore, in such cases use SysTools DOCX Recovery Software to fix Word Document Not Found error permanently by removing all the corruptions. This utility is applicable only for MS Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019. During repairing, it recovers all of its components including the Rich Text items. Here is how you can run this application:
- Launch the software and add all the corrupt DOCX files (Word files created in MS Word 2007 and above).
- You can also Search for these files in any drive of your system.
- Select any DOCX file to see its preview with its original formatting.
- Save the files in any preferred location.
Conclusion
It is normal for MS Word users to get the error Word Document Not Found while opening the document file. Word file corruption, registry issues, or absence of Word file in the location are the main causes of this error. If you are getting this error, try the manual solutions provided here. However, after using manual approaches if you still find Microsoft Word Error this file could not be found then, opt for the suggested tool. This software will resolve file not found error in Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2019 versions. Thus, enables the user to open the Word document files without any trouble.