[Allipops]

Hi,
I have a publisher 97 or 98 (not sure which) file that I am desparate to open. I have two computers one with Office 2003 the other office 2007, neither will open my file. Can anyone suggest how I can open this file?
The only help on microsoft website says to disable Norton but Iam Not using Norton antivirus,

Edited by Allipops, 20 March 2010 - 09:29 AM.

[Advertisements]

Publisher files are not backwards compatible.
If you've saved a file in Publisher 2007, it will only be readable by Publisher 2007, and all older versions cannot read it.

On the other hand, if it is a Publisher file, there's no real reason why 2003 or 2007 will not read it. Therefore I can only assume it isn't a publisher file. Are you sure it's a Publisher file?

[Neil Jones]

Publisher files are not backwards compatible.
If you've saved a file in Publisher 2007, it will only be readable by Publisher 2007, and all older versions cannot read it.

On the other hand, if it is a Publisher file, there's no real reason why 2003 or 2007 will not read it. Therefore I can only assume it isn't a publisher file. Are you sure it's a Publisher file?

[Allipops]

Iam not trying to open a newer file in an older version, it the other way round. It's a 97/98 file I am trying to open and it is definately a publisher file.

[Neil Jones]

For Office 2007, this might be of interest as it's a known issue with Office 2007 Service Pack 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972566

For Office 2003, this also might be of interest:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928890

[Allipops]

Thanks for you reply, I have altered that setting and it still wont open.
The message coming up is....

Publisher cannot open this file, This file was saved in a previous version of publisher. Publisher no longer supprts files that were saved in this version.

[Neil Jones]

That error comes back for Publisher 2003 when you try to open Publisher 2.0 files, which date from 1996. Therefore I would say your Publisher file is older than you think. It seems it can apply to Publisher 2007 with the recent service pack and updates

The only option you probably have now is uninstall Office completely, then reinstall it and hope that your file is openable before any service packs and what not get applied again. If that fails then the only other option is another entirely separate system. Failing that the file is either not a Publisher file in the first place or it is a corrupt file that's no longer usable.