Converting Microsoft Office 2007 Documents

Microsoft has recently released Microsoft Office Professional 2007 for Windows, an application suite that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, and Outlook.

Unfortunately, Office 2007 is not backward-compatible with the versions of Office currently in use on campus: Office XP/2000 for Windows and Office 2004 for Mac.

This document contains instructions for dealing with file incompatibilities. Click on the link that describes your situation:

• You are an Office 2007 user, and you wish to share or send a document to someone who does not use Office 2007.
  
  
• You are an Office XP/2000 for Windows user, and you have received, or expect to receive, documents saved in one of the new Office 2007 file formats. These documents will have an unfamiliar file extension, as described below.
  
  
• You are an Office 2004 for Mac user, and you have received, or expect to receive, documents saved in one of the new Office 2007 file formats.

1. Open Word 2007.
   
   
2. Click on the Office icon in the upper left corner of the window (highlighted in red below) to open the Office menu.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on the Word Options button in the lower right corner of the menu.
   
   
   
   
4. In the Options list on the left, click on Save.
   
   
5. In the Save documents area, use the drop-down menu to change the Save files in this format setting to:   Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)
   
   

Follow the same steps above to change the Save files in this format setting in Excel and PowerPoint.

If you RARELY send or share files with someone who uses Office XP, 2000, or 2004 for Mac, you can save a copy of your documents in an earlier format as needed.  Here's the procedure for a Word document:

1. Open your original Word 2007 file.
   
   
2. Click on the Office button, and select Save As.
   
   
3. Change the Save as type setting to:
   Word 97-2003 Document
   
   

Follow the same steps above to create shareable versions of your Excel and PowerPoint documents.

Using the Office 2007 Compatibility Checker

When you use certain new features in the Office 2007 programs, a Compatibility Checker window will open if any of your changes have made your document incompatible with earlier versions of Office.

In the example below, a Word 2007 user has used the new "SmartArt" feature to create a graphic. The Compatability Checker is informing the user that saving the document now will convert the graphic into an object that cannot be edited using previous versions of Word. 

The user has the option to click Cancel if they don't want to lose compatibility with earlier versions of Word, or Continue if they aren't concerned about this.



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Office XP/2000 Users

If you are an Office XP or 2000 user, and you receive a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document saved in one of the new Office 2007 file formats (see below), you will not be able to open the file until you install the Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility Pack.  Installation instructions are provided below.


New File Formats and Their Extensions

Office 2007 files use new Open XML formats. The file extensions for the new formats include the document extension types you already know, plus an extra character to differentiate between files that do not have macros and files that do have macros.  The new file extensions are shown below:

Installing the Microsoft Compatibility Pack

The conversion software in the Compatibility Pack allows your computer to automatically open, edit, and save Office 2007 documents just as you would other Office documents. To install the Compatibility Pack:

1. You must have all High Priority Windows updates installed on your computer before you install the Compatibility Pack. To check your update status:
   
   
   1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Tools menu, and select Windows Update.
      
      
   2. On the Welcome to Windows Update page, click the Express button to scan your computer for missing updates.
      
      
   3. If the scan finds any missing High Priority updates, follow the directions to download and install those updates. When all updates are installed, proceed to step 2.
      
      
   4. If the scans finds that your computer is not missing any High Priority updates, proceed to step 2.
      
      
2. To install the Compatibility Pack, click here to go to the Microsoft Download Center website.
   
   
3. On the Download Center page, click on the Download button in the shaded blue area.

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Microsoft released a public beta file format converter for Macs on July 31, 2007. The converter enables Office 2004 for the Mac to use the Open XML format that is now standard for Office 2007 documents; it is available for download on VersionTracker.

(The program is included on the latest FCAP image; if you are in a lab or have a newer Mac, it may already be installed.)

1. Download and run the Microsoft Office Open XML Converter installer.
   
   
2. Open the Microsoft Office Open XML Converter (in the Applications folder).

To convert one file at a time:

1. If the document is an email attachment, save it to your desktop.
   
   
2. Locate the .docx file to be converted and drag it into the Converter window.
   
   
3. Once the conversion is complete, the Converter will create an .rtf version of the original file and open the converted file in word.

To convert many files at once:

1. Select the Convert Many Files icon at the top of the Converter window.
   
   
2. Select the Add icon at the top of the Converter window and navigate to the .docx files you want to convert. Click Open.
   
   
3. When you are done selecting files, click Convert.
   
   
4. Once the conversion is complete, the Converter will create .rtf versions of the original files and open the converted files in word.

If you have problems converting files using the Microsoft Office Open XML Converter, please refer to the "known bugs and issues" published on the VersionTracker release page. The Converter cannot convert Excel 2007 files. If you are having problems converting files on a network drive or flash drive, try copying them to your desktop and convert them from there.

Office 2008 for the Mac is scheduled for release in early 2008. This latest version of the Office suite for the Mac will use the Office Open XML formats natively, making it compatible with Office 2007. See an article in MacWorld about the release here.