Why are some recipients unable to open my Works attachments?

Q  I use Microsoft Works 9 for writing messages before sending the documents as email attachments. I like to do things this way because it allows me to control how the document looks and to check the spelling more easily.

However, some people tell me that they are unable to open (and thus read) the attachments I send. Is this their error or mine?
Janice Hollis

A  Without knowing more about the recipients’ computer and software setups, it is hard to give a precise answer. However, the fact that you’re using Works does provide us with some clues.

By default, the word processor built into Works – which just happens to be called Word Processor – does not save in the same document format as its big brother Microsoft Word. Instead of creating document files that end in a .doc (or more recently .docx) file extension, Works saves your work as .wps files.

However, this should not generally present a problem, because both Word and Works are able to open and display each other’s file types.

So, if you email a .wps file to someone who uses Word 2003, say, then they should be able to open and read the document without problem. Similarly, if a Word 2007 user were to send you a document saved in that program’s .docx file format, then you should be able to view it in Word Processor.

In short, then, Microsoft programs tend to be pretty good at opening documents created by other Microsoft programs, regardless of the specific file format.

All this leads us to believe that those recipients who are unable to open your .wps attachments must be using some software other than Microsoft Word or Works. If so, there are a couple of solutions.

If you wish to continue using Works to create messages, one very simple option would be to copy and paste the finished document into the email message window: in Word Processor, press Control (Ctrl) and A to select all the text, then Control and C to copy it to the Windows Clipboard. Now switch to the email message window and use the Control and V keyboard shortcut to paste the document’s text.

However, bear in mind that while this will allow you to continue taking advantage of Word Processor’s spell-checking tool and layout tools, any formatting – such as bold or italics – may be lost when pasting the text into the email message window (because the email program could be set up to send messages only in plain text).

Another option is to have Word Processor save the file in a document format that your recipients are able to open and view. Microsoft Word’s .doc format is a popular choice, but for the reasons discussed above, if your recipients are using Word, then they should be able to open a .wps anyway.

Instead, try saving the document as an RTF (Rich Text Format) file, with a .rtf file extension: this is a file format that retains most common document formatting and can be opened by most word processing and text-editing tools (including Wordpad, which is built into Windows).

To do this, in Word Processor, open the File menu, choose Save As and, from the ‘Save as type’ dropdown list, choose ‘Rich Text Format (*.rtf)’ and click Save. If even that fails, then try saving the document as HTML instead – this will allow your recipients to view the file in any web browser.