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SharePoint 2010: Word Web App cannot open this document for viewing because of an unexpected error

  • Article

Problem

Users experience the following error whilst attempting to view in their web browsers Microsoft Word documents located in SharePoint 2010 document libraries:

Word Web App cannot open this document for viewing because of an unexpected error...

They may also encounter a similar error whilst attempting to view Microsoft PowerPoint documents also located in SharePoint 2010 document libraries:

PowerPoint Web App cannot open this presentation for viewing because of an unexpected error…

TechNet provides a thorough OWA troubleshooting guide for engaging this problem on the server side, and the methods presented in that guide will not be elaborated here.  However, this guide does not discuss client-side issues that can also generate this problem.  These will be presented in this posting.

Troubleshooting

If your users present this error to you then certainly review the troubleshooting methods presented in the TechNet article.  However, it may be useful to also consider the version of Microsoft Office that your users are using and whether their installed Microsoft Office is correctly configured.

Office Web Apps supports browser-based viewing of Microsoft Office 2010 applications.  It does not support browser-based viewing of earlier versions Microsoft Office.  It's not just that your users must have Microsoft Office 2010 installed, but that the version of the Office file that they are viewing must be fully Office 2010 compliant.  For example, Microsoft Office 2007 files can be viewed from within Microsoft Office 2010, but that does not mean that this file supports browser-based viewing.  This can be confusing to users who may not immediately know the difference.  There are also more subtle issues to contend with.

If Microsoft Office 2007 was originally deployed to your users, and your organization subsequently upgraded this in-place to Microsoft office 2010, then features of the 2007 version may still exist among the deployed software base.  For example, the Normal.dot template of Microsoft Office Word 2007 may not be upgraded to 2010 but remain among user installations.  To determine this, have the user launch their Microsoft Word 2010 application, and then note the default document version that is opened.  Is it Word 2003-2007 or simply Word?  Also check the Word title bar, after Word is launched: does it include [Compatibility Mode] in the title?  Or, enter some text into the blank document, and then configure it as Header 1.  Next, change the theme.  Does the header color change or remain the same color?  These are indications that the Normal.Dot template is the Word 2007 version and not the 2010 version.  If your deployed Office base is still using the Word 2007 Normal.dot template, your users will create documents that they think are 2010, upload these to your SharePoint 2010 farm, and then naturally expect to be able to view them through their browsers.  They become understandably confused when they haven't and they can't.

Resolution of these problems is not technically difficult, but it will be time-consuming. There are both admin and user aspects to the resolution.

Solutions

  • SharePoint Administrators
  • Systems Administrators
    • Check the deployed Office 2010 user base default templates:
      • Word: Normal.dotm, Normal.dotx
      • Excel: Book.xlt, Book.xltx, Book.xltm and Sheet.xlt, Sheet.xltx, Sheet.xltm
      • PowerPoint: Blank.pot, Blank.potx
    • Windows 7 default office template location:
      • %Appdata%\Microsoft\Templates\
  • Users
    • Check the application title bar for "[Compatibility Mode]".
    • Go: File > Info, and then click Convert.
    • Save the document as Word Document (.docx) before uploading to a document library.

Summary

This article presented client-side configuration aspects to Office Web Apps troubleshooting.  These client-side configuration aspects can present the same error messages as those presented by server-side configuration aspects.

References