Step 1
Locate a .docx file on your hard drive. Note: If you haven’t already, you need to Configure Windows 7 to Display File Extensions.
Step 2
Right-click the document and choose Rename.
Step 3
Add the .zip extension to the filename. Leave the rest of the filename intact.
Step 4
When Windows asks you: Click Yes.
Step 5
You’ll notice that the file’s icon will change to that of a compressed (zipped) folder. Double-click it to explore it.
You’ll now be viewing the contents of the .docx file. There will be a couple of folders here, including _rels, docProps and word. Most of the good stuff is in word.
Step 6
If you want to edit any of the .xml files, you should extract a copy of the .xml file by dragging and dropping it to another folder, such as the desktop.
Use a program like Notepad.exe or Notepad++ to edit it in plain text.
Note: You can open and view .xml files without extracting them from the .docx file, but when you go to save the changes, you’ll have to do it outside of the archive anyway. After you’ve made your changes to the .xml file, drag and drop the edited file from your deskop back into the folder it came from in the .docx folder.
When prompted, choose Copy and Replace.
Step 7
When you are done fiddling around in the .docx file, go back and rename it again, but this time remove the .zip extension.
You can now open it in Word or Open Office. So, now you know how to rummage around in a .docx file. Stay tuned for the next groovyPost, where I’ll show you some useful ways to edit .docx and .xml files manually. Comment Name * Email *
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