OL97: Can't Open Word Attachments with Custom Extensions

ID: Q191236

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 97

SYMPTOMS

You are using Microsoft Word and commonly save documents with custom extensions other than the default extension of .doc. When you send these documents as attachments in a mail message using Microsoft Outlook 97, you discover that the recipient is unable to open them directly from the mail message.

Although the Word documents with the custom extension will open directly on the computer where they were created and saved, attempts to open them as an attachment will result in the following error:

   The file, <TEMP directory path to the attached file>, does not have a
   program associated with it. For this action. To create an association,
   double-click My Computer on your desktop. On the View menu, click
   Options, and then Click File Types.

This behavior occurs in Outlook running on both Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98.

CAUSE

The custom extension is not registered with the operating system.

RESOLUTION

There are two methods you can use to successfully open the Word files with custom extensions:

Save the documents to a location on the hard drive and then open them in Word.
Create an association for the custom extension on the computer that receives the Word document.

MORE INFORMATION

To save an attachment from a mail message, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the attachment icon in the mail message and then click Save

   As on the shortcut menu.

2. In the Save Attachment dialog box, select a location to save the file

   and then click Save.

To Create a File Association

To create a file association for the custom file extension, follow these steps:

1. On the Windows desktop, double-click My Computer. On the View menu,

   click Options.

2. On the File Types tab, click New Type.

3. In Description Of Type, type a short description of the new

   association. This may describe your use for the custom extension, such
   as a special project you wish to have identified by the file extension.

4. In Associated Extension, enter the new extension label using the three

   character convention. For example, if the extension is for Word
   documents used in a sales proposal, you might use the extension, ".spr"
   for this document type.

5. In Content Type (MIME) click to select "application/msword" to associate

   Word with the custom extension. In Default Extension for Content Type,
   click to select the extension entered in Step 4.

6. Click New. In the Action box, type Opens. Click Browse to select Word

   as the "Application used to perform action." Navigate to the folder
   where Word is installed. The default is:

      C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\winword.exe

   Click Winword.exe and then click Open.

7. You must now restart your computer to have the new association

   recognized.

Keywords          : kbinterop GnlFilem 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: August 12, 1998