DOCUMENT:Q157616  14-NOV-2000  [word97]
TITLE   :WD97: Error Using Documents.Open to Open Non-Word File
PRODUCT :Word 97 for Windows
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:97
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Word 97 for Windows 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you run the following statement,

   Documents.Open FileName:= "test", Format:= wdOpenFormatRTF

to open the file "test.rtf", the following error message may appear:

   Run-time error '5174': This file could not be found.

Or, if the file "test.doc" exists in the same folder as "test.rtf":

   Run-time error '5121': Word cannot open this document.

CAUSE
=====

If a file extension is not specified when using the FileName argument, Word
tries to open the file assuming a .doc extension, not by what is specified in
the Format argument. The Format argument does not specify the file extension or
type of file to open; instead, it specifies the file converter to use to open
the file. In this example:

   "Format:= wdOpenFormatRTF"

opens the file using the Rich Text Format (RTF) converter.

WORKAROUND
==========

Specify the file name and extension when using the statement:

   Documents.Open FileName:= "test.rtf", Format:= wdOpenFormatRTF

MORE INFORMATION
================

The same problem arises when using:

   Application.Options.DefaultOpenFormat = wdOpenFormatRTF
   Documents.Open FileName:= "test"

STATUS
======

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Word and Visual Basic for Applications.


Additional query words: macro debug method vba vbe visual basic word97

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbWordSearch kbWord97 kbWord97Search kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : WINDOWS:97

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