I am not able to open docx files

Question

I have some docx files (on dvd) from days gone by (good-bye to Windows&Word), and I can't get Pages '09 to open them. It just stalls, it has the progress bar and the beach ball is spinning, but nothing happens. I have to go to the dock and force quit.
I've read in the forums of other people opening docx files, what am I doing wrong? some of these are not complicated files, one page of text and such. only some do have clipart, but that's about it.
is there some setting I could check??
*Did some more testing. These files were copied to my desktop, and I was clicking and right-clicking and opening them from the desktop. And, Pages would not open them. I then opened Pages and chose File, Open and opened them from within Pages, and just like that they open! only errors are missing font errors. Why would Pages have this behavior? What's so different about opening them by clicking on them or right-clicking Open??
Well, at least I got them open. maybe this will help someone else.
thanks
Message was edited by: linda2009

Answer 1

Okay, I never really found an answer, but at this point Pages is opening when I click on docx files.
Here's what I did and found out:
FIRST, thank you to all the suggestions and thoughts! Most of them I had already tried, but this is what the forum is for, and most of the time it's what solves things for me, so a big thank you!
I tried deleting the plist and cache files for Pages. (I use TinkerTool) That did not help, problem still existed. So I completely deleted/uninstalled Pages (TinkerTool). - I always try rebooting between troubleshooting - Then re-installed Pages, and tested before I made any changes/customizations. Here's where I saw a ray of hope; it worked! So then I made a few customizations, minor ones, such as which template, zoom size, ruler, etc. Then exit Pages. Try from opening docx from desktop...spinning ball again.
At that point, I decided to go as fruhulda mentioned and reinstall the OS. I always do regular backups and Time Machine is going, but I looked around and backed up some stuff. Was not exited about having to reinstall all my software, but it bugs me when something is not working as intended (what else could be goofy in the background?). After reinstalling OS and downloading any updates, first thing I installed was iWorks. Tested opening docx, issue gone! Did some Pages customizations, and tried again...still working. Add a personal template for Pages to open with, and tested again...still working.
As I go through and add my applications and customizations, I stop briefly and test Pages with docx files, so far it continues to open.
There must have been some file(s) somewhere in the system or system library that was messing with Pages. It's the kind of thing you never find out. However, fresh and clean did the trick.
Again, thank you to all who read and posted; I appreciate it all!
Linda