Saving Office 2007 Documents

When you save a document in MSWord 2007, it is saved as a .docx file. Word 2003 and previous versions cannot read these files. When submitting assignments or sharing your documents, make sure you save them as a Word 97-2003 document (*.doc).

You can do this when you begin a document and it will then be in compatibility mode which ensures no new or enhanced features of Word 2007 are available.

If you prefer, you can save the document as Word 2007 for your own use and then perform a SAVE AS function to save a separate version in Word 97-2003. The SAVE AS function is under the Office Button in Word 2007.

To save a document as 97-2003 compatible

• Go to the Save or Save As dialogue box,

• Click on the pull down list next to “Save as Type” as shown below.

• Save the document as Word 97-2003 document (*.doc).

If you frequently save MS Word 2007 documents at Word 97-2003 (.doc) files, you can change the settings so that Word saves documents in that file format by default. To do this:

• Click the MS Office button and then click Word Options

• Click Save

• Under Save documents, next to Save files in this format

• Select Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)

Note: It is advisable to use fonts which are available in both 2007 and 2003 and earlier versions, ie, Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica etc.

For Excel files, use the same method and choose Excel 97-2003 (*.xls)

For PowerPoint files, use the same method and choose Powerpoint 97-3003 (*.ppt)