Word, Excel, or Powerpoint Compatibility Issues?

Mon, 04/21/2008 - 12:45pm — Chris Shipley

Have you encountered a friend, coworker, colleague, or client that has a different version of Microsoft Office than you do?

For example, maybe your lawyer purchased a brand new computer and it came with Word 2007, but you're still using Word 2003. Maybe she sends you a document you should really be able to read, but you can't because your version of Word won't open it.

You could call the lawyer and ask her to save it in a different format, you could upgrade your version of Office for a few hundred dollars — or you could do what I'd prefer and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. This software will upgrade your current installation of MS Office to include support for the new file formats that are used by default for Office 2007.

You can read, edit, and create files in these new formats and not have to worry about which version you have, which version the person you're trying to communicate has, etc., etc. There are Office Compatibility Packs for Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003. I don't believe they are supporting any versions of MS Office prior to Office 2000, so if you're still using Office 97 you could be in trouble.

Microsoft recommends that you install all available security patches for your version of Office before trying to install the Office Compatibility Pack. You can do this by going to the Microsoft Office Update Web site (please use Internet Explorer, not Firefox, when going to this site).