Sending, receiving and opening up documents as email attachments is as common as opening and closing doors on a daily basis. But sometimes documents do not open up and can cause much frustration to someone who is expecting an important document so that they can proceed with their business of the day.

If you are having problems opening file attachments then you might be in need of a converter or viewer. Microsoft has many converters and viewers to help you with opening up a variety of documents attached to emails.

There are even Microsoft-supplied import/export converters which support the ability to open non-Outlook mail. Converters allow you to open up documents created by other programs and to save Outlook files in other file formats.  Converters exist to allow you to open up such files from common time and information management programs.

Microsoft has a Network Conversion Utility that allows you to search Outlook email items for email addresses in the MSNINET (Microsoft Network-only) format. The utility can convert these addresses into an Internet domain name format which can speed up delivery.

If you are  having a problem opening a Microsoft Office file or importing information from another product into your Office program then you may be in need of a converter or  viewer.

The most obvious solution is that you do not have Microsoft Office. Another possibility is that you have a version incompatibility issue – your version of Office is older than the version used to create the document you received. Or vice-versa. Maybe the recipent of the document you sent has an older version of software than that which you used to create the document. Versioning problems and incompatibility issues are very commonplace in the world of software.

A quick solution is to ask the sender what version of software they were using when they created your email attachment. Then you can determine if they need to upgrade their software or if they have a copy of a version compatible with the software you use to open their email attachment.

If the sender or the receiver do not have compatible versions they can go to a Microsoft site that has online file converters and viewers available.

Many file converters and viewers are available at the Office section of the Microsoft site:  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/HA010449811033.aspx

Such viewers and converters are available for the following products:

• Access viewers – Access 97, Access 2000 and Access 2002
• Excel converters and viewers – Excel 2003 viewers, Excel 2000 converters and viewers and Excel 97 converters
• Outlook converters and viewers – Outlook 2000 converters and Outlook 97/98 converters
• Word converters and viewers – Word 2003 viewers, Word 2002 converters, Word 2000 viewers and converters, and Word 97 viewers and converters
• PowerPoint converters and viewers – PowerPoint 2003 viewers, PowerPoint 2002 viewers, PowerPoint 2000 converters and viewers, and PowerPoint 97 converters and viewers
• Microsoft Project converters – Microsoft Project 2000 converters
• Visio converters and viewers – Visio 2003 viewers, Visio 2002 viewers and Visio 2000 converters
• Converters and viewers for Macintosh users – Mactopia downloads

After you have found the correct converter or viewer for the file you are having trouble with you can then download it.

Let’s say you need an Outlook 97/98 converter. Scroll down the page until you find the link “Outlook 97/98 converters”. This will bring up a web page with converters available for download which will allow you to open documents created by other programs and to save Outlook 97/98 files in other file formats. The converters listed include:

• Outlook 97 Converter: Import/Export Converters
• Outlook 97 Converter: Import/Export Converters for NT
• Outlook Microsoft Network E-Mail Conversion Utility

Below each link there is a description of the converter’s functionality. You can find the system requirements, instructions and related resources for each converter on their respective web pages once you have clicked on the link to the converter you need.

After downloading and installing the Microsoft file converter/viewer you will then be able to open the file that you received or are trying to convert.
Converters for Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices are not available from Microsoft but may be available from other companies. You should check with your appropriate vendor for additional converters or viewers for your respective devices.

Converters for Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices are not available from Microsoft but may be available from other companies. You should check with your appropriate vendor for additional converters or viewers for your respective devices.