For the actual file access, use java.io methods. However, there are "doc" files and there are ".doc" files. If you're asking how to read a Microsoft
Word document, that's a harder question, since you need software that can parse Word binary file format.
The secret of how to be miserable is to constantly expect things are going to happen the way that they are "supposed" to happen.
You can have faith, which carries the understanding that you may be disappointed. Then there's being a willfully-blind idiot, which virtually guarantees it.