With any software upgrade or release there are compatibility issues that have to be addressed. Word 2007 is no exception – due to reasons such as phased or staggered roll out, some users will be with Word 2007 while others with Word 2003.   What are the precautions to be taken to address compatibility and ensure that there are no issues when the document is opened with different versions. For the purpose of this illustration, it is assumed that you are using Word 2007 and the other users’ in the group are using Word 2003.

• Ensure that the word document is saved in Word 97-2003 format.
• You can also specify the default format the document is saved. For example, if all the documents have to be saved in Word 2003 format, why not set that as the default one?

The following are the steps to set default format

• Select Office Button > Word Options . Select Save in the Word Options window

• Select Word 97- 2003 Document (*.doc) in Save files in this format field. Click OK

Compatibility Mode

When you open a document in Word 2007, which was created using an earlier version of Microsoft Word such as Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000 the document is opened in Compatibility Mode. The title bar also displays that the document is in Compatibility Mode

This ensures that while editing the document, Word 2007 features are not available.

Compatibility Pack

Using Office 2003, Office 2000, or Office XP but would like to open, edit, and save documents created out of Office 2007 or later, download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack from Microsoft website

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