Converting really old word files

[Aidoscuz]

I need to convert some ancient word documents into a format that's readable in Office 2007. I'm working on someone's computer which is running Windows 3.1 and Office 4.3 (or maybe 4.0, I'm not sure). She's got around 150 word documents she needs transferred to a new computer.

The word files are still .doc but I'm guessing that new versions of word won't be able to read them. I know I could open each file individually and save it as a plain text file, but that would take forever, especially on a computer this old and slow. Is there any way of batch converting lots of files at a time?

Also, if I get the files onto my current computer, would that give me more options? Anyone know of any programs that can convert old word files to current versions?

 

[Aidoscuz]

Why won't Word/Office 2007 see the documents?
Has she tried?

I haven't tried opening the files in Word 2007 yet since getting the files off the computer is a bit of a hassle as well - it's a gateway from 1994 that has no USB ports, no internet connectivity and a floppy drive that only takes DD disks rather than the HD ones that are used now. I'm probably going to have to take the hard drive out and plug it into my computer to get the files off it. I want to convert the files to plain text when I'm definitely able to open them in case my computer can't read them.