How can I open old Microsoft Word files that will not open now that I have installed Catalina on my Mac?

Catalina shouldn't block Word documents from opening. I use Word and Excel every day on Catalina.

I suspect the problem is that you don't have an up-to-date version of Word. You need at least Word 2016. If you don't want to buy a new standalone version of Word and/or don't want to subscribe to Office 365, you can try something like LibreOffice.

https://www.libreoffice.org

rkaufmann87 wrote:

In addition, if you don't want to buy an up-to-date version of MS Word then you can open Word files in the Pages app which is preinstalled on your computer.

D'oh! I never think of Pages!

I have to presume you mean your old versions of Office won't run (Office 2011 or older). Catalina requires all apps to be 64 bit. Office 2011 and older are 32 bit.

The documents themselves aren't affected, just the old apps. If you require genuine Office for your usage, you can purchase Office 365 (subscription), or the one-time cost Office 2019.

VikingOSX wrote:

There is a reaon for that … 😎 and I am not being critical of you either.

Ha! I don't hate Pages the way some people do. My word processing needs are rarely complex enough that I exceed its capabilities. But, I'm just not used to it so it takes me forever to do anything. And, I get Microsoft 365 through work so, why not?

In addition, if you don't want to buy an up-to-date version of MS Word then you can open Word files in the Pages app which is preinstalled on your computer.

In a previous post, I outlined all of the Microsoft, and compatible toys options for Catalina and Big Sur.

There is a reaon for that … 😎 and I am not being critical of you either.