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2

TextEdit will open them, but often doesn't display them correctly.

I really like QuickLook, but it won't stay open and doesn't allow for copying text.

OpenOffice seems to read the files adequately, but is slow to launch.

The ideal would be something like Preview that can open Word docs.

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What version of Mac OS X are you using? Both Leopard and Snow Leopard's version of TextEdit opens .docx files fine for me. – Chealion Aug 20 '10 at 15:54

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up vote 7 down vote accepted

Try Bean.

The last time I tried it, it was pretty quick (quicker than OpenOffice) and according to the website, can open .docx files.

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+agreed. Bean is very quick + not bloated like openOffice. – Robert S Ciaccio Aug 20 '10 at 14:36
1  
It is quick! I was just looking for something like Preview, but this is great. – g . Aug 22 '10 at 21:43
up vote 1 down vote

Here's an interesting solution I've never seen before. Apparently a .docx is just an .xml file (which I've heard, but never actually investigated lol).

  • Change the .docx extension to .zip
  • Unzip the file. You'll get an .xml
  • Open and read the resulting .xml
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"XML" doesn't really need "human-readable file". – zneak Aug 20 '10 at 14:38
true, but it's still a pretty cool tip... maybe better suited as a comment though :) – Robert S Ciaccio Aug 20 '10 at 23:08

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