Reading Old Mac Word Documents on Windows

[hypehuman]

My aunt had a mac ten years ago, and she has some old word documents that she made on them. She's trying to read them on her Windows XP (she has a machine with Vista too), and she says they're not working. Is this to be expected? If so, what is the best solution? If not, what might be the problem?

Thanks.

PS. Just some specifics, in case they matter:

• She thinks they were made on Word 98 for mac.
• She has the files stored on floppies and externals, and she can see the files with on Windows, but gets an error when she tries to open them.

 

[MisterMe]

You omitted important specifics:

• What do you mean by "they're not working"--doubling-clicking doesn't launch Word and open the document or the documents can't be opened in Word?
• Do your files have the .doc extension?
• Which version of Word is your aunt using?

It is my understanding that Word 2007 cannot open certain very old Word formats, irrespective of where the documents were created. If the files don't have the .doc extension, then append it to each file name.