If I don't have Office 2007, how can I open Office 2007 documents?

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The Open XML document formats introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 are not compatible with earlier versions, including Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac OS X and Microsoft Office 2003 for Windows.

Opening Office 2007 documents using Office for Mac OS X

Office 2008 uses the Open XML format, and allows you to open Word 2007 documents without a converter.

For Office 2004, Microsoft has released the Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, a utility that turns Office 2007 documents into the older formats. The utility is still in beta and may not work on all documents. It is available from Microsoft's Macintosh web site.

Opening Office 2007 documents using Office 2000, XP, or 2003 for Windows

If you have Microsoft Office 2000, XP, or 2003, you can download the Office 2007 compatibility pack from the Microsoft Download Center (search for "office 2007 compatibility pack" to find the appropriate download).

Indiana University students, faculty, and staff can download the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack for Office 2003 from IUware Online.

After installing the compatibility pack, you'll be able to open Office 2007 documents and save documents in Office 2007 format.

Opening Office 2007 using alternative office suites

Another option is to use an alternative office suite to open the new Open XML files. OpenOffice.org is an open-source product that's free for anyone to use, and compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Additionally, the version of TextEdit included in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) can open Word 2007 documents.

Transferring Office 2007 files between platforms

If you need to move your Office 2007 documents between Windows and Macintosh platforms, the simplest solution available currently is to save your Office 2007 documents as Office 97-2003 documents.

Note: At IU, if you use both Macintosh and Windows computers in the Student Technology Centers (STCs), this is your best option.

From within Office 2007:

Prepare your document as you normally would.
Select the Office button at the upper left.
From the drop-down menu, roll over Save As.
Select 97-2003 Document.

Note: Documents saved in the "97-2003 Document" format will not preserve features unique to Office 2007.

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Last modified on May 13, 2009.