Word 2007 docx vs 95-2003 doc

[Jeff]

1. What advantages does Microsoft say Word 2007's xml docx has over Word
95-2003 doc format?

2. Is there a way to make Word 2007 saves default to the earlier doc
file type?

Thanks.

 

[Jay Freedman]

1. What advantages does Microsoft say Word 2007's xml docx has over
Word 95-2003 doc format?

The docx format is really a collection of xml and other files compressed
into a zip file. (If you change the extension from .docx to .zip, you can
open it and see what's inside.) One advantage is that compression makes a
docx file much smaller than the equivalent doc file, saving disk space and
transmission time.

Another advantage is that, with a little understanding of the structure, you
can change things in the document without opening it in Word. For example,
if you have a graphic such as a logo in your document, you could open the
zip file and replace the logo with a different graphic that has the same
filename. Along similar lines, it's possible to create entire documents on a
server without having Word installed there (which never worked well in
previous versions).

2. Is there a way to make Word 2007 saves default to the earlier doc
file type?

To change the default format, go to Office button > Word Options > Save and
change the "Save files in this format" dropdown.

For any single document, you can always open the Save As dialog and change
the "Save as type" dropdown at the bottom.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Jeff]

The docx format is really a collection of xml and other files compressed
into a zip file. (If you change the extension from .docx to .zip, you can
open it and see what's inside.) One advantage is that compression makes a
docx file much smaller than the equivalent doc file, saving disk space and
transmission time.

Another advantage is that, with a little understanding of the structure, you
can change things in the document without opening it in Word. For example,
if you have a graphic such as a logo in your document, you could open the
zip file and replace the logo with a different graphic that has the same
filename. Along similar lines, it's possible to create entire documents on a
server without having Word installed there (which never worked well in
previous versions).


To change the default format, go to Office button> Word Options> Save and
change the "Save files in this format" dropdown.

For any single document, you can always open the Save As dialog and change
the "Save as type" dropdown at the bottom.

Thank you Jay. Very helpful indeed.

a) My main problem is that people I send a docx file to cannot seem to
open it in their earlier Word. If they unzipped it could they then open
the Word component in Word 2002?

b) I believe someone said that if Word 2007 saves a file in the 95-2003
format it is still 'not exactly' what an earlier version would be. Is
that true?

Thanks again. You were very helpful.

Jeff

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Although it is a courtesy to your recipients to save it back in the earlier
format, as long as they have Word 2000 or above, they can download the
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007
File Formats from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en.
This will permit them to open .docx files.

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

 

[Jeff]

Although it is a courtesy to your recipients to save it back in the
earlier format, as long as they have Word 2000 or above, they can
download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint 2007 File Formats from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en.
This will permit them to open .docx files.

Thank you.

 

[Gordon]

Thank you.

And AFAIK an added advantage of using the compatibility pack is that you get
all the extra fonts that are in 2007 and not in prior versions...