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Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility

If you have tried to open an Office Document / Spreadsheet / PowerPoint and received a compatibility error which kept you from opening the document, it was probably created in Office 2007 without being saved in Compatibility Mode. Microsoft Office 2007 is not automatically set to be backward compatible with older versions of Microsoft Office. Here are 2 ways to solve this issue:

  •            Have the person who sent you the file save the file in Compatibility Mode in Office 2007 and then resend it to you. Saving in Compatibility Mode is done in Office 2007 by clicking the Office button in the upper left corner, clicking on Save As, and then clicking Word / Excel / PowerPoint 97 – 2003 Document.

OR

  •             Download the File Format Converters executable from Microsoft which will allow you to open all Office 2007 products on older versions of Microsoft Office. This way is preferable because once you install the file you will not have the compatibility issue again.  The link to the executable from Microsoft is listed on the right under Important Links.  

The file is a very small executable, accept the license terms, then install and you will immediately be able to open Office 2007 documents.