You receive an error message when you try to open a file or to save a file after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3

After you install Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3), you can no longer open files that you could open before you installed Office 2003 SP3. When you try to open these files in Microsoft Office Excel 2003, in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, or in Microsoft Office Word 2003, you receive one of the following error messages:

• Error message 1
  You are attempting to open a file type that has been blocked by your registry policy setting.
• Error message 2
  You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.
• Error message 3
  You are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by your registry policy setting.

When you try to open Corel Draw (.cdr) files, a red "X" is displayed.

Additionally, after you install Office 2003 SP3, you can no longer save files that you could save before you installed Office 2003 SP3. When you try to save these files, you receive the following error message: Note To complete the troubleshooting steps in this article, you may need access to a computer that can share files. For example, you may need access to a computer that has a CD-RW drive, a floppy drive, or a DVD-RW drive. Additionally, you may need access to a computer that does not have Office 2003 SP3 installed.

This issue occurs because Office 2003 SP3 blocks the ability to open files and to save files that may pose a security risk.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods, as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1

To resolve the issue when someone else created the file that you cannot open, follow these steps:

1. Ask the person who created the file to save the file in a file format that is not blocked by Office 2003 SP3.
2. After the file is saved in a different file format, open the new file to confirm that it was saved in a file format that is not blocked by Office 2003 SP3.

Method 2

1. Locate a computer that does not have Office 2003 SP3 installed.
   
   Note We recommend that you install the latest updates and service packs for Office 2003 as soon as possible.
2. Open the file, and then save the file in a file format that is not blocked by Office 2003 SP3.
3. Transfer the file to the computer that has Office 2003 SP3 installed.
4. Open the file to confirm that you successfully saved the file in a file format that is not blocked by Office 2003 SP3.

Method 3

You can use batch conversion tools to convert multiple files to file formats that are not blocked by Office 2003 SP3.

You can convert older Word files to the latest Word 2003 document file format (.doc) by using the batch conversion wizard in Word 2003. For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You can use the Office File Converter to convert batches of Office files to the 2007 Office file formats. The Office File Converter is a component of the Microsoft Office Migration Planning Manager. For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about the Office Migration Planning Manager, see the Microsoft TechNet article that is titled "Introduction to OMPM." To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Note The following workaround is intended for advanced users.

To work around this issue on a computer that has Office 2003 SP3 installed, you can modify the registry to disable the Office 2003 SP3 security feature that blocks certain file types.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about the file formats that are blocked by Office 2003 SP3, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: