Lion OS - I cannot open old Word Documents

I have recently installed Lion OS. I can no longer open old versions of Word Documents (.doc) in Office 2011
I have tried to install the Service Packs 14.0 and 14.02 but I get the message that "essential software is missing." I have tried to run Software Update, but "all my software is up to date". I have also tried to re-install Microsoft AutoUpdate (successfully). But still no joy....
What do I do?

Pages 5 will not open Pages '08 files or earlier.
Pages '08/'09 should still be in your Applications/iWork folder. Use that.
Peter

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Open a Finder window and choose Applications in the sidebar. Then, look for the Pages, Numbers and Keynote icons with the new icon, and open them. You should be able to open your documents without any problem.
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Will Pages under Lion be able to open old AppleWorks documents in the way that it does under Snow Leopard?

I've just read a thread that suggested that Pages will be able to open AppleWorks documents under Lion, is this correct?
I understood from discussions last month that one had to convert all old AppleWorks documents to Pages or Word or some other format BEFORE upgrading to Lion as Pages would not be able to read them afterwards.
I wanted to pass on a tip that if you have used the AppleWorks password protect on your files, you will not be able to open them in Pages, so you need to open them in AppleWorks first, and take the password off, or save them as a file which is not protected, or some similar work around.

The Apple Support Community (us) just calmed me right down! Hi everyone. I just down loaded Lion through the Apple Apps Store and blindly went ahead and installed it, putting my mental well being in Apple's hands, having trusted Apple since my first Apple II (1974?). But ... "What do you mean, Appleworks isn't supported?" In a bit of a panic, wondering what was to happen to my vast (really) stock of AW documents I came to Apple Support for help. Thanks to the input from Sue, Cornelius, Jonanna and others I took the leap and, clicking on the "OpenApple"-I, accessed the "Open With" switching the AW document to open with Pages. In a word, perfect. And, it looks like Lion has already told itself to open all AW (remember Claris?) documents with Pages. CM
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Locked by: another user
Filename: "insert name"
You can open file in read only"
When I click "read only" I get:
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http://www.microsoft.com/mac/support

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Duncan,
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Hi,
Do you have Microsoft Word installed on your machine ? If NO, you can use Word viewer to view (& print) Word documents.
Regards.
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Can't open a Word document in Pages '09

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Hey,
Was wondering if someone can provide me guidance as to why I cannot open a Word document sent to me (the file is received and downloaded by email).
The error message that I get whenever trying to open the document is as follow:
Tried opening the document using other software but without success. Also tried the suggested in the error message (i.e. repaired the file, open with text recovery... no success)
I previously used PCs to open the same document. I notice that PCs from Asia are able in opening the file, while PCs in North America weren't... Very confused about the file type.
Appreciate all your help!
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Hi Csound1,
I do agree that it has to do with the file itself. As far as I can see, the file itself is a .doc (Word document).
I attached a document info screen shot here:
Thanks again.

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I installed Lion and now I can't open my old Word documents. Any idea how I can do this?

You'll want to get a newer version of Word or Pages so you can open them properly. It's possible to open them with TextEdit, but the formatting is not going to work out very well.
You can download the latest Pages using the App Store icon on the doc (It looks like an A in a blue circle).
You can download the latest Word by purchasing it from microsoft.com/mac
You might get a better deal buying Microsoft Office 2011 from a retail store, but it's nice to get the software immediately if you need it right away.
Lastly, you could also get OpenOffice by going to openoffice.org however it all depends on how much you use Word and whether that program will do what you need Word for. The plus side, is that OpenOffice is free, but the downside is that both Pages and Word provide a more user-friendly environment (in my opinion) and are worth the cost.

Lion OS - I cannot open old Word Documents

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