Q: (from Otto)
Sorry to bother you with this, but I need advice on where to turn.
As you know I've been writing a book. We upgraded to Office 2007 and I accidentally started saving the files in XML format. Now it won't open, and we get an error message of "expecting an = sign". I've exhausted most of the Internet solutions including "load the XML converted into a version of Office 2003. None work.
A:
Sorry to hear about the failed file format. The good news is that the new format is just a ZIP of an XML structure. Change the extension to ZIP and you will be able to read the raw XLM structure. The content would be found under the folder “Word” and the file “Document.xml”
You will have to recreate all of the formatting, but at least you will have access to the content. There is also the possibility of "Frankensteining" the Document.xml file from one .DOCX to another. But that will probably take a lot of effort with very little payoff.