Open MS Word 2003 File In 2007 And Other Higher Versions Of Office
Though the discussion here is made on the query as how to open MS Word 2003 file in 2007; the discourse applies for other Office files such as Power Point Presentation and Excel documents also. As support for MS Office 2003 has already ended; compatibility issues may arise when files created in Office 2003 are opened in MS Office 2007-2010. To avoid such compatibility situation in future, many people have quit Office 2003 and are using MS Office 2007 or 2010. But still the problem is not solved, because those people might surely have created Word files in 2003 earlier and would like to view them in the higher version.
How to Open MS Word 2003 File In Office 2007?
MS Word 2003 file can easily be opened in Word 2007 but it has some restrictions too. Read further to know about it! When you open MS Word 2003 file in 2007 Word application; 'Compatibility Mode' is turned on and is seen in the title bar of the of the document window. But the limitation is that the Compatibility Mode does not allow the new or enhanced features of MS Office to be used by the users.
Availing Enhanced Features Of Word 2007: To make use of the enhanced features in Word 2007, it would be good to go for converting option of Word 2003 documents to Word 2007. And to perform the conversion; a 'Convert option' is available in MS Word 2007. Converting grants the use of all new features in Word 2007 and also reduces the size of the file.
Drawback Of The 'Convert' Option In Higher Office Versions
No doubt that the original documents get replaced by latest documents with new file formats. But the major disadvantage of using the Convert feature is that, other than the format, even the layout of the files gets changed completely. And the deformed layout of the Word files changes the arrangement of data against the one you previously did. To resolve the issue, it would take much more time in reformatting and arranging the file all over again to make the document conveniently usable.
Also it is a tedious task to re-arrange data in a file whose layout has been changed completely. Such cases make it necessary to use an external tool for availing a better way to open MS Word 2003 File in 2007.
Note: Once the layout of the file gets changed the data cannot be turned back into its original arrangement even by any tool. So, it is advised to give first preference to the usage of external tools before trying any other manual procedures or hacks to make Office 2003 documents accessible smoothly on higher versions.
Open Word 2003 To 2007 And Open Word 2003 To 2010
To open MS Word 2003 file in 2010 and 2007; an external application called Word 2003 File Opener can be brought into use. It is one such software that can export and upgrade MS Office 95 – 2003 documents to MS Office 2007 – 2010 format.
