Can't open Word attachments. How to fix?

When someone sends me a Word document in an email, I can't open it on my IPhone or IPad. It asks me if I want to open it in an app called The Vault, which is not a word document. How do I fix this?

Show more Less

Posted on Feb 10, 2014 5:23 PM

Me too (185) Me too Me too (185) Me too Reply Question marked as Top-ranking reply User level: Level 10 166,567 points

Posted on Feb 10, 2014 5:38 PM

Is this the "Vault" app that you are talking about?

You should not have to open it in any app at all in order to read the attachment. It should download nd open right in the mail app. After the document opens, you should have the option to "open in" any other apps that you have on your devices that will save/edit/view Word documents.

Show more Less 11 replies

Loading page content

Page content loaded

Question marked as Top-ranking reply User level: Level 10 166,567 points

Is this the "Vault" app that you are talking about?

You should not have to open it in any app at all in order to read the attachment. It should download nd open right in the mail app. After the document opens, you should have the option to "open in" any other apps that you have on your devices that will save/edit/view Word documents.

Show more Less User level: Level 8 41,369 points

I found a thread somewhere here (think it was in an iPhone forum. ) about .docm files not opening properly - hence my question.

I've also found that third-party mail apps (such as Mailbox & the Gmail app), don't always play nice with certain types of attachments. The built-in Mail app tends to handle attachments in general a bit better.

Show more Less User level: Level 8 41,369 points

Does the attachment include the name of the document? Usually the very end will have the extension.

The name should be something like Laundry list.doc.

What happens if you press and hold a finger on the attachment? Do you get a list of options for what you can use to open the attachment? If so, and one of them is Mail, try picking it to see if that helps.

If your'e not seeing the name of the file and the extension, it may be worth removing The Vault from one device, just to see if you can open the attachments as usual. If so, that suggests a problem with how the app was designed to work with iOS.