See old .doc files when saving as .docx

[OrderedChaos]

We have just swapped from Word 2003 to Word 2007 and are now starting to save
files with the .docx extension. Is there a way to set the default to see all
the files when going to save a file?

e.g. we have file letter1 to letter5 as .doc's in the folder already but now
we save as .docx we can no longer see these letters so there is the potential
to save another letter1.docx and not as letter6.docx.

Thanks

 

[Graham Mayor]

The short answer is no. There are a couple of things that you can do. Why
not save your doc and docx files in different folders.
If you are numbering documents in the manner described rather than providing
more meaningful filenames, you could automatically number the new documents
based on your letter template. The process would be similar to that shown at
http://www.gmayor.com/save_numbered_versions.htm.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[OrderedChaos]

Thanks Graham but that dosn't help. Why would you save in different folders?
you still can not see the old files or which number you are up to. The
example given was a simplified one. Our company file naming is our project
number followed by and letters denoting if it is a letter, report, fax etc
and then the next number in sequence. ie 100589_LET_002.doc (that is the 2nd
letter for this project), 100589_RPT_004.doc (would be the fourth report for
that project). If we now convert to saving as a .docx when staff go to save
the next letter for this project they do not see ANY! other files so they
would start saving at 100589_LET_001.docx instead of 100589_LET_003.docx. The
only way to check is to first open with the folder then select all files from
the drop down, have a look and then cancel and save. Or alternatively have a
windows explorer window open on the folder - which all takes time and WONT BE
DONE. This then causes serious issues with our Quality Assurance with
duplicated file names.

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix on news.microsoft.com]

Open all the .doc files and re-save them with the same filename but in .docx
format? Yes, I know it's probably not practical, but I can't think of any
other way around the problem. Maybe you could find a high school or
university student who wants to make a bit of extra cash for the summer. Or
maybe some clever person could write a little batch process to do it.

Of course, the ultimate solution is to stop trying to build intelligence
into your filenames and use a real document management system, but again it's
probably not practical. I guess it all depends on how important QA is...
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup.

Read the original version of this post in the Office Discussion Groups - no
membership required!

 

[OrderedChaos]

Thanks for the response but you have got to be joking! For a few hundred
projects with a few thousand files! Great!

And yes I would love to have another system to manage our documents! Just
another expense that make the whole process another layer more difficult that
staff dont use. What happened to the good old "KISS" Keep It Simple Stupid!

 

[Graham Mayor]

The add-in http://www.gmayor.com/Works_Batch_Converter.htm with a simple
modification can be used to convert doc files to docx files (*provided they
don't have password protection*).

Change the line
Const FileType = "*.wps"
in the macro Sub ConvertWPSTODOCX()
to
Const FileType = "*.doc"

The dialogs will still refer to Works, but the macro will when so modified
convert doc to docx.

A simple solution to your numbering issue would be to setup a macro in your
document template(s) to prompt for the project when the document is created
and provide the next number automatically.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

Hey don't shoot the messenger! I *said* it probably wasn't practical. ;-)
Besides, it looks like Graham's solution pretty much does this anyway - just
with automation instead of a warm body clicking the buttons. I don't see
what other choices you have since Word isn't going to a way to see all of
the filenames natively.

BTW, it's been my experience - and I have a lot of it - that a properly
implemented document management system actually removes layers from the
process and makes it easier - especially compared to the process that you're
using now. And staff *will* use it if they don't have a choice. (And after
they get over the initial resistance, they'll wonder how they ever got along
without it.) The only barrier is cost, and even that falls if you measure it
against things like the cost of lost productivity, the cost of
non-compliance, etc.

Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Although Graham has provided a solution, note that there won't really be any
duplication of filenames, as the difference in file extension will ensure
that (provided file extensions are displayed) there will be a distinction.
Certainly there will be no confusion as far as Word and Windows are
concerned; I won't say that you and your employees might not be confused. If
the Modified date is also displayed, however, files can be sorted in date
order, and the sequence would be clear.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org