Save As 2007 with Maintain compatibility checked

[Office Productivity Consultant]

What is actually happening when you choose to save a file as a 2007 file and
turn on the check box that says "Maintain compatibility with 97-2003"

What kind of compatibility issues are there?
What is it actually doing to the file?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Judy,

In general, that choice in the 'Save As' dialog box, saves the file in the Office 2007 zipped-XML. Office Open XML (OOXML) file
formats such as .docX, .xlsX, .pptX, but still limits use of some of the features within the apps to those of their 2003
counterparts, much the same as if you had saved in the legacy version formats (.doc, .xls or .ppt).

For example, in Word 2007:

1. Create a new blank document and use
Office Button=>Save As=>Word 97-2003 Document
to save a document named Test.doc .

2. Then use
Office Button=>Save As=>Word Document
to resave the same document as Test.docX, checking the box for
[x] Maintain compatibility with Word 97-2003

3. Now use
Insert=>SmartArt
and you should see the Word 2003 'Diagram Gallery' choices, rather than the Word 2007 SmartArt.

4. If you then now use
Office Button=>Convert
Word updates the document to use the full 2007 feature set.

5. Then use
Insert=>SmartArt
and you should now have access to the Office 2007 feature
Choose a SmartArt Graphic
Go ahead and insert one in the document.

6. If you then use
Office Button=>Save
you should see the advisory box for
"Microsoft OFfice Word Compatibility Checker"
to remind you that you had chosen to watch for compatibility issue.

===========
What is actually happening when you choose to save a file as a 2007 file and
turn on the check box that says "Maintain compatibility with 97-2003"

What kind of compatibility issues are there?
What is it actually doing to the file?
--
Judy L <<
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Office Productivity Consultant]

Thanks. So, basically, the file will be in XML format and take advantage of
the XML tags, etc and be smaller but still won't have the features available
like Smart Art like it would if you converted the file or saved it as a 2007
file without the compatibility checkbox checked. Good to know.

I noticed that a 2002 file converted using the Convert feature is a slightly
different size than if you use Save As on that 2002 file and save it as a
2007 file. Is this a related thing?