With the release of Office 2007, there are some compatibility issues of which instructors and students should be aware. Office 2007 saves documents in a new format; a Word document, for example, is saved with a file extension of .docx instead of .doc; an Excel document is saved with a file extension of .xlsx instead of .xls; and a PowerPoint document is saved with an extension of .pptx instead of .ppt. The instructions below outline these issues and provide workarounds.
These instructions pertain to users running Windows XP; instructions for other operating systems will be added as they become available.
Opening Office 2007 Documents with Previous Office Versions
Documents saved in Office 2007 may be opened with previous versions of Office (Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003) by using a document converter: the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The compatibility pack allows Office 2003 programs (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) to open, view, and save in the new Office 2007 formats (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx, respectively). This converter is available free from Microsoft and may be downloaded from the NAU ITS Software Downloads site (http://www.nau.edu/its/software); a direct link to Microsoft’s download site is http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en.
A second option for those using Office 2007 is to save files as a previous version, allowing those with older versions of Office to open the documents without converting them. Instead of using Save from the Office button in Office 2007, use Save As. Choose Word 97-2003 Document instead of Word Document (using similar options for Excel and PowerPoint):
This will save a Word document with an extension of .doc instead of .docx and it may be opened with older versions of Office, with no document conversion necessary.
Filename Extension Problems in Bb Vista with Internet Explorer
A second problem with Office 2007 documents uploaded into Bb Vista occurs if the document is opened or downloaded from Bb Vista using Internet Explorer (IE). IE interprets the new Office 2007 file extension (.docx, .xlsx or .pptx) as a Zip file, and will rename the file with the .zip extension. Users will have to rename the file with the correct file extension in order to open it.
First, you will need to make sure your computer will show the file extension (many systems are set up to hide the file extension if it is known to the system):
- Open My Computer
- From the Tools menu, select Folder Options…
- Select the View tab
- Deselect the checkbox next to Hide extensions for known file types (if it is already unchecked, leave it unchecked) then select OK.
Next, you will need to change the file extension of the document you have downloaded.
- Navigate to the location on your computer where you saved the document. If the file has a file extension of .zip instead of .docx (Word), .xlsx (Excel) or .pptx (PowerPoint), the file has been renamed.
- Right click the document and select Rename from the menu.
- Change .zip to .docx (Word), .xlsx (Excel) or .pptx (PowerPoint)
- The file now has the correction extension and may be opened properly using Office 2007, or using an older version of Office if the Compatibility Pack has been installed (see above for directions on how to do this).
