by David Hakala
There is a bit of a battle going on among Microsoft Office users worldwide. Some have upgraded to Office 2007 while others stick with Office 2003. The problem is that the default file format in which Office documents are saved is not the same for both versions. So users of Office 2003 cannot open documents created and saved by Office 2003.
“Save it in 2003 format!” they cry.
“No, you upgrade!” reply the state-of-the-art crowd.
There is a free fix for this incompatibility: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. You can download it here:
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
Note that you will also have to download and install any updates for Office 2003 that you have not already installed before you can install the Compatibility Pack.
The Compatibility Pack allows Office 2003 versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to open edit, and save documents, worksheets, and presentations created in Office 2007 formats.
However, there are limitations to the Compatibility Pack. Microsoft wants to encourage upgrades to Office 2007, after all. Here is a list of document elements that are changed when a Word 2007 document is opened in a previous version of Word:
| Office Word 2007 element | Change when opened in a previous version |
|---|---|
| Equations | Become graphics and cannot be changed. |
| Themes | Permanently converted to styles. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, you cannot automatically change the style by using themes. |
| Theme colors | Permanently converted to styles. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, you cannot automatically change the style by using theme colors. |
| Theme fonts | Permanently converted to styles. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, you cannot automatically change the style by using theme fonts. |
| Theme effects | Permanently converted to styles. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, you cannot automatically change the style by using theme effects. |
| Content controls | Permanently converted to static text. |
| Tracked moves | Permanently converted to insertions and deletions. |
| Heading and body fonts | Permanently converted to static formatting. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, heading and body fonts won’t automatically change if you use a different style. |
| Relative text boxes | Permanently converted to absolute positioning. |
| Margins | Permanently converted to absolute positioning. If the file is later opened in Office Word 2007, the margins won’t automatically change if you use a different style. |
| Bibliography | Permanently converted to static text. |
| Citations | Permanently converted to static text. |
| Placeholder text in citations | Permanently converted to static text. |
| Placeholder text in content controls | Permanently converted to static text. |
| Office Art | Only a small subset of illustrations are available. |
| Charts and diagrams | Some charts and diagrams will be converted to images that cannot be changed. |
| Custom XML | Not supported. |
David Hakala has perpetrated technology tutorials since 1988 in addition to committing tech journalism, documentation, Web sites, marketing collateral, and profitable prose in general. His complete rap sheet can be seen at http://www.linkedin.com/in/dhakala