Save as Word 97-2003 not compatible with older versions of Word

[Foodle]

I have had ongoing problems with documents that I have saved as Word 97-2003
documents using Word 2007. Some of the people that I have sent these
documents to have been unable to open them using earlier versions of Word.
Others have not had a problem. Has anyone else experienced this? Does
anyone know what the problem may be?

 

[Jules]

Foodle,
They need to install Compatibility Pack:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

 

[Graham Mayor]

No they don't! Word versions 97-2003 should be able to open Word 2007
documents saved in that format. That's the whole point of it. Given that
some users are able to open the documents, there appears to be nothing
intrinsically wrong with the documents. It would be interesting to hear what
problems those users who cannot open them are having, specifically what Word
version and the wording of any error messages.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Jules]

True. But I prefer to have it installed.

No they don't! Word versions 97-2003 should be able to open Word 2007
documents saved in that format. That's the whole point of it. Given that
some users are able to open the documents, there appears to be nothing
intrinsically wrong with the documents. It would be interesting to hear
what problems those users who cannot open them are having, specifically
what Word version and the wording of any error messages.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[dama1]

Graham, you may be a Word expert as far as I know, but you're off the mark on
this one. My version of Word (Office 2000) would not open a .docx file until
I downloaded the compatability pack. It was the only solution.

 

[grammatim]

What Graham said is, Word 97-2003 should be able to open Word2007
documents saved in Word 97-2003 format.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Correct! docx was never at issue.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Foodle]

Graham is right. The problem is not docx, the problem is that files saved in
a format intended to be compatible with previous versions of Word are not.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

 

[Jules]

Did you check Word Options>Advanced>Confirm FileConversion on Open
and just say OK regardless of dialogue box on screen when document is
opening.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100444731033.aspx

Hope that helps.

 

[Foodle]

But wouldn't this only effect the ability of Word 2007 to open documents?
The problem is not with Word 2007 opening the documents, but with earlier
versions of Word.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Foodle,

In theory <g>, yes, if you use File=>Save As, and choose the Word 97-2003 (.doc) format the documents should be able to be opened
in Word 97 through Word 2003 or in Windows Wordpad, without needing to have the compatibility pack installed on the older Word
version (Word 2000 or higher on Win 2000 or higher). The compatibility pack does include the newer fonts that would still be the
'callout' in a document saved with Word 2007 defaults, but that should be handled by Word.

Do you know the specifics of documents that can't be opened? It's possible that there is some document corruption. There are a
couple of compatibility settings that might help if set to Word 2000 in
Office Button=>Word Options=>Advanced=>General
but nothing that should keep a document from being opened (Microsoft chose not to keep the 'disable features newer than...' choice
in Word 2007).

If you save a file in Word 97-2003 format then close and reopen it if you go to the Insert=>Illustrations dialog and click on
SmartArt do you get the Word 2007 gallery for SmartArt or the Word 2003 one for Diagrams?

==============
But wouldn't this only effect the ability of Word 2007 to open documents?
The problem is not with Word 2007 opening the documents, but with earlier
versions of Word. >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Jules]

No, it is in most versions of Word that I can remember and I've always used
it.

 

[Foodle]

It does not appear to be a problem with corrupt documents as the documents
continue to open on my computer using Word 2007 without issue. I have also
found that the same people cannot open any of the Word 97-03 files that I
send to them. However, if I open the Word 97-03 file on my machine and save
it as an rtf, they can open the rtf.

The SmartArt button produces a dialogue box titled "Diagram Gallery" when
used on a document saved as compatible. I assume that this is the Word 2003
box. On a Word 2007 file, it opens a Smart Art box.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Foodle,

Yes, the switch to 'diagram' would be the expected behavior in place of Smart Art in compatibility mode.

If you save as RTF or Word Web Document, then resave as a Word 97-2003 document are people able to then open the .doc file?

Do you have a web page/blog/skydrive, etc, that you can provide a link to for both the Word 2007 and Word 97-2003 version of the
same document that some folks are not able to open with an earlier version of Word?


=============
It does not appear to be a problem with corrupt documents as the documents
continue to open on my computer using Word 2007 without issue. I have also
found that the same people cannot open any of the Word 97-03 files that I
send to them. However, if I open the Word 97-03 file on my machine and save
it as an rtf, they can open the rtf.

The SmartArt button produces a dialogue box titled "Diagram Gallery" when
used on a document saved as compatible. I assume that this is the Word 2003
box. On a Word 2007 file, it opens a Smart Art box. >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Foodle]

Bob

I tried saving as Word 97, then rtf then Word 97 again and the second Word
97 document would open.

I have posted copies of the 3 files on http://users.tpg.com.au/foodle/.

If it assists, the document was generated through a template (as most of my
documents are).

Thanks for your help.

Foodle

 

[Jules]

Did you check Word Options>Advanced>Confirm FileConversion on Open
and just say OK regardless of dialogue box on screen when document is
opening.

Select 2007 document and your Word 2003 document will open as stated
previously.