Problems Opening and Editing MathType Equations in Microsoft Office Documents

The information in this document applies to:

Issue

Users may receive one of the following error messages when double-clicking on an equation inserted in a Word document or PowerPoint presentation:

In Microsoft Word 2002:

In Microsoft PowerPoint 2002:

In Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, users may also receive this message when trying to insert a MathType equation:

Users of Microsoft Office 2003 may see a message similar to the following:

¨Word cannot open the document: User does not have access privileges¨.

Reason

This behavior may occur if you install Office 2003, Service Pack 2 (SP-2) for Office XP or Service Pack 3 (SP-3) for Office 2000 on a computer in which Norton AntiVirus 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, Norton SystemWorks 2000, 2001, 2002 or 2003 is installed. It may also occur on systems that include one of the other major anti-virus packages (McAfee VirusScan, etc.).

Solution

Upgrade your anti-virus software to that version supported by your Office version or to the latest version available.

Microsoft and Symantec have both addressed these issues in their respective Knowledge Bases:

1. Microsoft's Knowledge Base article:
   OFFXP: Cannot Edit Inserted Objects After You Install Office XP Service Pack 2
    
2. Symantec's Knowledge Base article:
   Error: "This object is corrupt or is no longer available" when opening an attachment in Outlook
    
3. A Microsoft Knowledge Base article regarding the Office 2003 error:
   You receive a "File is not available" (or User does not have access privileges) error message when you try to open an Office 2003 document