We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
Free Microsoft software compatibility pack
MSE_Martin
Posts: 8,268 Money Saving Expert
in Techie Stuff
What's this about?
Microsoft's new Office 2007 software has been released, which includes new versions of word processer Word, spreadsheet Excel and presentation program PowerPoint.
Yet if like many people you still have Word or Office 2003 and someone send you one of the new files, you can't be able to open, edit or save it. However Microsoft has a free download which you can add to Office or Word 2003 which will enable you to do just that.
Where do I get this download?
If your computer is using Microsoft Office 2003, XP or 2000 programs, just get the Compatibility Pack from Microsoft. This is totally free, Download it here
You may also need to install software updates before the compatibility pack, more information about this is explained in the compatibility pack overview section.
Do i need this software?
If you try to open a file that was saved in the new version and you get an error message to say “Windows cannot open this file” or “The file is not in a recognisable format” you will need to install the free software.
Martin
Microsoft's new Office 2007 software has been released, which includes new versions of word processer Word, spreadsheet Excel and presentation program PowerPoint.
Yet if like many people you still have Word or Office 2003 and someone send you one of the new files, you can't be able to open, edit or save it. However Microsoft has a free download which you can add to Office or Word 2003 which will enable you to do just that.
Where do I get this download?
If your computer is using Microsoft Office 2003, XP or 2000 programs, just get the Compatibility Pack from Microsoft. This is totally free, Download it here
You may also need to install software updates before the compatibility pack, more information about this is explained in the compatibility pack overview section.
Do i need this software?
If you try to open a file that was saved in the new version and you get an error message to say “Windows cannot open this file” or “The file is not in a recognisable format” you will need to install the free software.
Martin
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
0
Comments
-
Or better still, the document creator will save the document in Office 2k3 format.0
-
Or better still, the document creator will save the document in Office 2k3 format.
Or routinely (can be set as default) save documents as **.rtf (rich text format). RTF files can be viewed and edited across a wide range of word processors, including OpenOffice, MAC OS X,TextEdit; backward and forward compatible; results in smaller files - not such an issue in these days of broadband - and (to the best of my knowledge) rtf files are safe to open as viruses etc cannot be included in the code. This last point I am open to correction.[FONT="]si talia jungere possis sit tibi scire satis [/FONT]0 -
I have Office 2000 (I know, I know ....) is there any help for me?0
-
- and (to the best of my knowledge) rtf files are safe to open as viruses etc cannot be included in the code. This last point I am open to correction.
I don't know if it's still the case but there was a danger that the .doc suffix could be changed to .rtf on a file and so you would open what you thought was an rtf file but it was in fact a word file. I should have thought they'd taken care of this by now, but you never know.
Edit : A quick google found nothing on rtf virus later than about 2004.0 -
What about the other way round:
I have a "library" of old documentation, mostly written on "Word 97" (if there was such a release) and an old back-up PC, that can still read and update such stuff. (I know....................... in a perfect world we all religiously say to ourselves "What shall I do over the Xmas holidays - let's clean up the !!!!!! :rolleyes:") .
Can the new "Word 2007" open and convert these and other obsolete word processing files to the new format ("Oh s0d it, I've saved it in the new format!") .
Harry.0 -
Unless the document has macros and then you're stuffed *. Yes Oo does macros but they are not compatible with Microsoft VBA so they won't necessarily work with Oo.Or, even better (particularly if you're still using MS Office 2003), download the free OpenOffice from http://www.openoffice.org/ - it reads all MS formats and give you the option to save documents in a properly open-standard format instead of the secretive MS formats.
You'll never need to buy any Microsoft office software ever again :beer:
Though on everything else I totally agree, Oo is free and amazingly good.
* and bear in mind that if the document has macros written in 2007 then there's every possibility they won't work if converted to 2003 either (though I may be wrong about this as I haven't checked).0 -
Something kinda related I found out last week. If you use Outlook XP(2002)/2003 or 2007 and send a meeting request to someone using Outlook 2000... they don't receive it as a meeting request. They get an email of cr4p.
To get around the problem, when you send the request, untick the box that reminds you before the appointment...works fine then.
It's caused by a bug in Outlook 2000, but when you email a meeting request from 2000 to 2003, it works fine because the newer versions understand the older wrongings.0 -
I don't know about Word 2007, but it certainly isn't true that RTF files always take up less space than Word 2003 ones - in one extreme case a file with a graphic saved in about 100K in Word, but took several megabytes in RTF! It's also worth noting that, unlike the new ODF formats (which Microsoft haven't implemented yet, AFAIK) RTF is still not exactly an open format, being created by Microsoft.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.4K Spending & Discounts
- 247.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.4K Life & Family
- 261.5K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards