Seems odd that you cannot open a shared file on the network?
Double click a Word or Excel document on a shared drive and you get “Word Experienced An Error Trying To Open The File.” The fix is below the picture.
File –> Options –> Trust Center –> Trust Center Settings… –> Protected View –> Uncheck Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet and uncheck Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments –> OK –> OK.
Security can be a pain.