View DOCX with Word 2007 or 2010

• 1). Click "Start," "All Programs," "Microsoft Office," and then open your version of Word.
  
  
• 2). Click on the MS Office button or the "File" menu and then click "Open."
  
  
• 3). Browse your computer for the DOCX file you wish to open, click on it, and then click "Open."
  
  

Use the MS Compatibility Pack

• 1). Go to the "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats" page (see resources).
  
  
• 2). Click "Download" and save the installer to your desktop.
  
  
• 3). Run "FileFormatConverters.exe" (the downloaded file) after the download is complete and follow the setup wizard instructions to install the compatibility pack.
  
  
• 4). Follow the instructions from section one to open the DOCX file. After the compatibility pack is installed you will be able to view DOCX files normally with Word 2003 and Word 2000.
  
  

Open DOCX with Open Office

• 1). Go to the "Open Office: The Free and Open Productivity Suite" page (see resources). Open Office is a free software package.
  
  
• 2). Click the "I want to download OpenOffice.org" link, click "Download Now!" and choose to save the Open Office installer to your hard drive.
  
  
• 3). Run the Open Office installer after the download is complete and follow the instructions of the installer to complete installation (click "Next" and agree to the license agreement as necessary).
  
  
• 4). Click "Start," "All Programs," "Open Office," and then "Open Office Writer." Writer is Open Office's word processing program. The latest versions of Writer can open and edit DOCX files.
  
  
• 5). Click "File," "Open," select the DOCX file you wish to open (you may have to change the dropdown value called "Files of Type" to "All Files" to allow DOCX files to show in the window) and click "Open."