Office 2007 compatability issues

There is a lot of talk around the internet regarding backward compatability for Office 2007 document formats. With Office 2007, comes a brand new document format and frustrations for users.

Since a lot of folks are dowloading the trials and beginning to share those documents, I thought a post on this issue would be in order.

Carrying a lot of voice this week is the compatability issues for folks ( like me! ) who use Office 2004 for Mac. Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit has announced that they will not be coming out with a compatability filter until the middle of 2007. In addition, there is also the issue of Office 2003 and Office XP users. Fortunately for them, there are at least viewers available. CNET is also reporting that Office 2007 support in Windows Mobile won’t be coming until the middle of 2007.

So what is a good early adopter to do? I would suggest setting the default save behavior in your Office 2007 applications to save to the 97 – 2003 document formats. To do this, click the Office button, click on Word / Excel / PowerPoint Options, then choose “Save”. Then set the default save format to 97 – 2003.

My suggestion is to leave it at this setting throughout next year until these compatability issues get resolved across the board. It will simplify your file sharing amongst peers greatly.

Thanks to James Kendrick for the CNET link.