Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org: Compatibility Issues
Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility with Office 2003 and Prior Office Software
With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft has changed the default format in which Office files, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are saved. The new format, an industry standard known as XML, reduces the size of the documents, thereby saving space on your hard drives and flash drives.
Without patching the default software, Office XP (2002) and Office 2003 cannot read documents produced by Office 2007; however, Office 2007 can read documents created on any past version of Office since Office 97.
The Office of Information Technology plans to begin deployment of Microsoft Office 2007 during the summer of 2008. As students, faculty and staff purchase new computers, they are likely to have Office 2007 installed on those computers.
To better facilitate this transition, Information Technology recommends two options.
Make Your Default "Save As" to Save Documents in the Office 97-2003 Format
With this setting, Microsoft Office 2007 will save documents in a format that can be read by Office 2003 and prior versions. Until Office 2007 or a compatibility pack is deployed throughout the campus, we recommend saving all documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. in a compatibility mode to 2003 when using 2007.
- To save a particular document in this format, press the "Office Button" on the top left of the Office program, and then scroll down to "Save As." Once there, you will find a selection to save your document in a format compatible with Office 97-2003.
- To save documents compatible with Office 97-2003 by default in Word, click on the "Office Button" in the upper left hand corner of your screen, and then click "Word Options" toward the bottom right of the menu that appeared. From there, simply choose "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)" next to "Save files in this format."
Similar instructions apply to all other Office 2007 applications.
Install Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
Microsoft released a compatibility pack for users of Office XP (2002) or Office 2003, so Word, Excel and PowerPoint can read and write files in the Office 2007 format.
Information Technology will install this pack on all computer labs and all multimedia stations, but some labs and stations—and all staff computers—will not have this compatibility pack installed prior to the Fall 2007 semester.
If you would like to install this pack on your PC, visit http://update.microsoft.com and install all updates for Windows XP and for your version of Microsoft Office.
Once all updates are installed, visit the APPS directory on \\MC (which usually appears as your J: drive) or visit ftp.marietta.edu and download the file FileFormatConverter.
Install the file onto your computer and you can then read and write Office 2007 files.
OpenOffice.org: Change Default Saving Format
Open Office, or OpenOffice.org as it is officially known, is a free alternative to Microsoft Office, containing a word processor, a slideshow presenter, and a spreadsheet application. (Check the license to be sure it’s free for you.)
Open Office is a useful, cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Office, but Information Technology will not install nor support Open Office on College-owned computers, and IT cannot offer support on student-owned computers.
By default, Open Office saves files in an open document format. Although Office 2007 uses an open format (XML), we have seen many occasions that documents composed in Open Office and saved in open format simply will not open in Office 2007—and prior versions of Microsoft Office will not open these files.
While using Open Office, we suggest saving all documents as compatible with Microsoft Office.
To change the default save format in OpenOffice.org, click on Tools on the menu bar and then go down to options.
Then, click the + beside "Load/Save" and then click on "general."
A section on the right-hand pane will say, "Default file format."
Click on the pull-down box for Document Type and choose how you want the document saved (Microsoft Word).
Repeat for each OpenOffice.org program including spreadsheet and presentation.
Please Note: A document composed in OpenOffice.org that contains formatting will lose its formatting when opened in Microsoft Word. This is unavoidable, and IT strongly suggest that you allow time to check your document, presentation, etc. with Microsoft software prior before considering the project to be complete.
