Fix: Can’t Open a Downloaded Word/Excel File

Windows users may encounter the following error when trying to open a Word or Excel document downloaded from the internet in the Microsoft Office app:

Word experienced an error trying to open the file.
Try these suggestions:
* Check the file permissions for the document or drive,
* Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space, o
* Open the file with the Text Recovery converter

How can you open such documents?

The reason is that modern browsers add the Zone.Identifier alternate data stream to the NTFS metadata of files downloaded from the Internet, indicating that the files originate from the Internet security zone. This enables Windows and other apps to recognize that the file originated from an external untrusted source and apply appropriate security restrictions when a user attempts to open or execute it.

To unblock a DOC/DOCX/XLS/XLSX file, open its properties in File Explorer, check the Unblock box, and click OK. Or run the PowerShell command:

Unblock-File .\document.docx

This will remove the zone security identifier from the Office file, enabling Word to open it without prompting the user.

MS Office apps have a special setting that restricts opening files that are downloaded from the internet. To completely disable checking the zone security labels when opening a file (not secure!):

1. Open the Word app
2. Click File -> Options -> Trust Center -> Trust Center Settings
3. Navigate to the Protected View section and disable the option
   Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet

Outlook also has several options that allow users to open files from unsafe directories and email attachments:

• Enable Protected View for files located on potentially unsafe locations
• Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments

Adding the folder path containing frequently opened Word and Excel documents to trusted locations provides greater security. In the Trust Center settings in Word, go to the Trusted Locations section. Click Add new location and add the path to the directory from which you want to open files without warnings. In this example, the Downloads folder (%UserProfile%\Downloads) has been added to trusted locations, though this is not entirely secure.

In the File Block Settings section, you can allow files of certain template formats to open directly or without using Protected View. By default, Word blocks legacy document formats, such as Word 95 binary documents and templates.

Latest versions of Microsoft Office (Office 2019 and newer, including Microsoft 365) open downloaded document files in Protected View by default. Instead of displaying an error message, such files open in read-only mode within a protected sandbox (Protected View mode).