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General discussion

files forwarded from Vista pc to XP pc not able to be opened

Jul 21, 2007 6:38PM PDT

I often forward Yahoo emails, with attachments(sent by friends),to other members of the family.They are each using XP while I have Vista Home Premium.They are unable to open the attachments included with the forwarded emails.Does anyone have any ideas about what is happening? Apart from this,I'm enjoying my new computer and Vista.

Discussion is locked

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What Kind Of Attachments?
Jul 22, 2007 5:26AM PDT

Remember, if you send an attachment which has a specific program requirement for opening, then the receiver must also have that specific program.. Right now, something that comes to mind is the newest version of Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint.. If you've got Word 2007 and you send it to a user which does not have that version, they won't be able to open it unless they install the new Office 2007 compatibility pack.

The same thing applies with other attachments and associated programs as well.

HOpe this helps.

Grif

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What kind of Attachments?
Jul 22, 2007 10:46AM PDT

Thanks Grif. I meant to say that I have Word/Office 2007,and also using IE7.No one else in the family is this up to date.I was wondering if the problem had an answer as simple as this.
The attachments are both photos and text.

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But what formats/extensions?
Jul 22, 2007 11:14AM PDT

If it's a .txt file it can be opened using the standard Notepad/Wordpad programs included with Windows. However, if they are .docx text documents created with Word 2007 they will need to get the Word 2007 viewer Grif mentioned. Remember, if they have older versions of Word/Office you'll need to save the documents in the 97/2003 .doc format instead of the new XML-based file format used by Office 2007.

John

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Share your frustration
Oct 2, 2007 1:54AM PDT

Aless6, I just replaced my XP desktop w/a Sony laptop w/Vista Home Premium & recently discovered that I can't open text attachments that I create & send to myself! The only advice from Sony was somewhat convoluted but does work is to save (not open) the attachment, rename it and then voila, it opens! So much for progress!

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file frustration
Oct 4, 2007 6:06PM PDT

Thanks for that information, too. I'll get my family members to try that method.Hopefully it will work.