Earlier versions Office users reading Office 2003 files

[IanWhit]

To what extent can Office 2000 (and also other versions) users really read /
use Office 2003 files without problem? I have a Word 2003 document made up
of a table (approx ten pages) which looks and prints fine in Word 2003 but
when saved and read using Word 2000 only shows (and prints) the first page -
the following pages in the table are hidden and don't print?! Is there a
checklist / guidance showing what should / shouldn't be used in Office 2003
documents for ealeir versions to read?

 

[Bob I]

Tools, Options, Compatibility, pick the desired level.

 

[ianwhit]

Thanks Bob - I was aware of this but my problem is that pre-2003 users can be
receiving 2003 documents (e.g. Word / Excel / PowerPoint) and rather than
make them go through the process of loading on a 2003 machine, saving as
pre-2003 etc I wanted to identify exactly what those features shoudl be
avoided in 2003 (without examining everything on the Tools, Options,
Compatibility lists). Is there not a detailed list available anywhere?

NB When you save the example mentioned before in a pre-2003 format it just
replicates the problem mentioned!!

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Ian,

There isn't a really detailed list of each thing that was
tweaked/fixed/improved

Word 2000 was the first to change the Word table structures
and its implementation isn't as strong and stable as those
in Word 2002 and 2003, especially if the person using Word 2000
may not have installed the Service Packs.

From your description I'd suspect there is some corruption
in the Word .doc file, especially if you're using the
'disable features not available in Word97' choice,
or that a row is breaking across
a page in Word and that it may be a problem for 2000 to handle.
It sometimes happen if the table was accidentally 'moved'
at one time when wrapping was set to 'around' rather than 'none'.

For that one you may want to also check with the folks in
the MS Word Tables newsgroup
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.tables

One of the changes that can get you with Word's tables is
the change in 'anchoring' rules. i.e. an object/graphic
can be anchored to a table cell now, couldn't in earlier
versions and when the anchor moves Word keeps the distance from
the anchor to the object steady which means that the object
appears on screen/print somewhere other than what you expected.

======
Thanks Bob - I was aware of this but my problem is that pre-2003 users can be
receiving 2003 documents (e.g. Word / Excel / PowerPoint) and rather than
make them go through the process of loading on a 2003 machine, saving as
pre-2003 etc I wanted to identify exactly what those features shoudl be
avoided in 2003 (without examining everything on the Tools, Options,
Compatibility lists). Is there not a detailed list available anywhere?

NB When you save the example mentioned before in a pre-2003 format it just
replicates the problem mentioned!! >>
--
I hope this helps you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 explained
http://microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.asp