Office 2003, XP Backwards Compatible to Office 97?

[B. DeFreeze]

Is Office 2003 or Office XP backwards compatible to Office
97? I just got a brand new home computer with Win XP Pro
on it. Most of my office documents (word, excel,
powerpoint, access) are Office 97. I was originally
thinking of buying Office 2000 Pro Full (as that's what my
work office just migrated to (from Office 97)) but after
searching various sites I found that Office 2000 Pro is
actually more expensive that the newer latest Office 2003
Pro or Office XP Pro. However on one of the Amazon
reviews someone stated Office 2003 is not backwards
compatible with Office 2000 say nothing about Office 97.
Does that mean I would have a lot of problems with
opening, loosing formatting, etc all of my Office 97 word
docs, excel sheets, ppt and access in Office 2003?

 

[Cerridwen]

Is Office 2003 or Office XP backwards compatible to Office
97? I just got a brand new home computer with Win XP Pro
on it. Most of my office documents (word, excel,
powerpoint, access) are Office 97. I was originally
thinking of buying Office 2000 Pro Full (as that's what my
work office just migrated to (from Office 97)) but after
searching various sites I found that Office 2000 Pro is
actually more expensive that the newer latest Office 2003
Pro or Office XP Pro. However on one of the Amazon
reviews someone stated Office 2003 is not backwards
compatible with Office 2000 say nothing about Office 97.
Does that mean I would have a lot of problems with
opening, loosing formatting, etc all of my Office 97 word
docs, excel sheets, ppt and access in Office 2003?

That's forwards compatible ;o) Backwards compatible means opening a file
from a newer version in an older one (and that only applies to 2003 and XP
(2002)). Office 2003 will open any older format file you throw at it.