Opening a word doc on a MacBook

Why not? What happens when you try to open them? Do you get an error? If so what does it say?

What App are you using to open Word documents?

If using Microsoft Word, what version do you have installed?

What macOS version are you running?

Have you recently updated your macOS version?

You need provide details about your situation if you want help.

Go to Apple menu -> About This Mac to find out your OS. Your signature says you are running Big Sur. This forum is about Mac OS X Lion. The Big Sur forum is found here.

If you are running Big Sur, Catalina make sure you have a 64 bit version of your Word application.