The problem is that WordPad is a very simple word processor that is only compatible with the folloiwng formats: • Rich Text Format (*.rtf) • Word Document (*.doc) - Word 6.0 format only • Text Document (*.txt) • Windows Write (*.wri) If you try to open a document from a newer version of Word, you get the kind of error you're getting. Unfortunately, there is no fix for the problem, but you do have a couple of options for getting around it. Microsoft suggests opening the document in Word 2000 and saving it in either Rich Text Format or as a Word 6.0/95 document. (This is a typical example of Microsoft's thinking. It doesn't seem to occur to them that if you HAD Word 2000, you almost certainly wouldn't be trying to open the document in WordPad. Or maybe it DOES occur to them, and this is their way of saying "yes, we know, now you have to buy new software.") Microsoft also makes an import convertor but I've never used it and after reading about it I can't honestly say I recommend it. They also make a Word viewer which would do the trick if all you want is view the document, but it doesn't seem to be available for ME. (More typical MS BS.) The easiest and best solution that I can recommend is to get either AbiWord or OpenOffice. Both are free open source programs that come highly recommended. AbiWord is a word processor that's very similar to the MS Word interface. You can read about it and download from http://www.abisource.com/ OpenOffice is a "productivity suite" that includes a word processor, spreadsheets, a calculator module, a multimedia presentation editor, a drawing program, and database user tolls. It's compatible with all major office suites and can be found at http://www.openoffice.org/product/