Save as .doc instead of .docx in Word 2007
While the new .docx format in Word 2007 promises great things, for now most of the people you’ll be working with are still using Word 2003 or (gasp) an even earlier version. The .doc format remained virtually unchanged in Word 97-2003 and is still supported in Word 2007. But Word 2007 by default saves files as .docx documents, meaning that when you need to share with someone using a previous version you have to open the .docx file you created and save it as a .doc file.
If you work with folks that use previous versions of Word, you can change the default format Word 2007 uses to save a file. To do this, use the following steps:
- In Word 2007, click the Office button (the big round button at the top left of the Window) and then click Word Options.
- In the Word Options dialog box, choose the Save category from the list on the left.
- Use the Save files in this format drop-down menu to choose the format you want Word 2007 to use by default. I use Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc).
- Click OK.
When you save a new file, if you really want to save it as a .docx file, you can always choose that format from the list in the Save As dialog box.
Microsoft also has an Office Compatibility Pack available for users of Office XP and Office 2003 for opening documents created in Office 2007 (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
This doesn’t seem to be working as I changed it to 97-03 DOC, but when I save it and try to upload it, it comes up Docx and can’t be loaded.
Thank you. It works.
Yes, this works when using word. However it does not take care of creating documents when right clicking on your desktop. How can we change this?
This works, but on reboot the default changes back to .docx… Any ideas why?
Can I also save as .odt?
I had the same problem as 1 and 4. I did what you said, but it defaults back to .docx.
When i try to save documents as .docx it says that the file name is invalid but when i do equations in word 07 they need to be converted to .docx format and then cannot be viewed in word 97-which is the other microsoft office suite operating in my office
Any suggestions or advice? … other than update all the computers to microsoft 2007
I made these changes in my MS Word software, but my friend says she still cannot open documents that I send to her.
What can I do?
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>Can I also save as .odt?
People in their right minds are using .odt
>I made these changes in my MS Word software, but my friend says she still cannot open documents that I send to her.
>
>What can I do?
Go to OpenOffice.org and download a free office suite that does more of what you tell it to do and less of what it supposes you ought to do. Best of all, it naturally defaults to .odt which is an open document format standard that is more advanced than the old .rtf (.doc for MS users) standard. All modern word processors not made by Microsoft can open and save .odt files. And, OpenOffice.org can read .doc files (.wpd and all of that other junk too) so you can convert all of your old document files over to .odt, a format in which they should be accessible as long as digital computing/you exist.
I had made a small document and still did save as. It did a file and said saved however the info was still on the screen. Does this mean that the document was actually still saved?
if after changing word settings to save as .doc word defaults back to .docx then it worth trying to change registry
start>run
type: regedit
in registry editor open:
/HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Office/12.0/Word/Options/
Change Default format value data to “Doc”
It worked thanks very, very much. I really needed to do that doing an online course and could not submitt assignments. Untill now, difference between pass and fail.
Can’t thank enough.
I still cannot open or save my .efg file, even though Word opened it just an hour ago! Word said I needed updates, which I did, but now, my resume, which is saved in a .efg format, is now unrecognizable. My entire MIT history, plus all of my work history is gone because of this forum!! Grrrr!!! This will take almost a whole day to recompile, and then several hours to retype. I wish there was another way…
“Go to OpenOffice.org and download a free office suite that does more of what you tell it to do and less of what it supposes you ought to do”
Yes, if you really, really want a program that can almost do what Office 97 could ten years ago, openoffice is a great choice. Sorry. Too many missing features and clunky UI choices for my tastes.
I don’t know when you last used OpenOffice Walter. The UI isn’t as clean as Office 2007, if you actually like 2007, but is comparable to 2003 so more familiar for most users.
And regarding features – I actually use OpenOffice for producing scientific posters now instead of Microsoft Office because it actually has far better graphics capabilities.
I have no idea what features you think are missing. The default styles mightn’t be as attractive, but the underlying functionality is in many cases better, probably because fewer resources are put into snazzy marketing gimmicks and more into software development.
Anyone else have a problem, whereby you set the default to .DOC and it magically is set back to .DOCX?
Go to the file save =>word options (lower right)=>save tab on left change the file save as type first line.
Looks like this worked. Checked in regedit like elstron had said but it was already saved as “doc” even when I upload it it’s still saying .docx
This works for me until there is an update, then 2007 loses some of my most important preferences, .doc being one of them. Is there something else I can do to avoid have to reset this at each update?