Share Word 2003 documents with Word 2002 and Word 97 users

by Mary Ann Richardson | May 29, 2007 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Word processors, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Word 97, Mary Ann Richardson, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Office Suite Word Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: Each time you save a Word 2003 document for users still running older versions, you don't need to manually "save down" -- simply set Word to automatically save your documents to a more universal format.

If you are a Word 2003 user, but some of your colleagues are still using Word 2002 or even Word 97, you can share your documents with them as long as you save them in the standard Word document format. By having Word 2003 save your documents in this format, you can disable features not supported by the earlier versions and allow users to open your documents on their PCs.

If you don't want to do this every time you save a document, you can have Word automatically save your new documents in the correct format. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools | Options.
2. Click the Save tab.
3. Under Default Format, click the drop-down arrow in the Save Word Files As box and select Word 97-2003 Document(*.doc).
4. Click OK.

When you save your Word 2003 document, you will get a dialog box warning that some of the features that you used may not be available in the earlier versions. Click Yes to save it in the standard format that you'll share with the other users.

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Sharing at what cost?GraemeS  | 05/30/07