Vista/XP

Genera heading ............................

To be more precise '''''''''''''''''''''''


Office and Windows 2007

As pre-installed in my daughter's laptop.

Can't transfer any word docs from it to  desktop PC running XP and MS Word ....................... .docx against .doc ?i  

Incryption or gobbledegook ?

Do you mean transfer, as in copy from another machine to the one with Office and Windows 2007 (I don't think you do, but ask just in case)

Or...

I suspect you are trapped by Microsoft usual overly heavy handed use of 'force' to get users to work they want them to.

As I understand things, with Office 2007 you have a choice of using the document format that was used by Word in all previous version of Word up until this version, or NOT!

YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE BOTH!

So, you have to chose to convert all your old documents to the new format, and carry on from there.

AGAIN, another warning, as I understand this change is NOT REVERSIBLE, so if you choose to use the 2007 format, you CAN'T go back to the old software.

Great way of ensuring that people buy the new version.

Why not give MS the big heave, and switch to the free Jarte word processor that was given in here as a 'Christmas Pressy'?

I haven't fired up my Word for 2 years now, and use Jarte all the time, see this post...

http://secretscotland.org.uk/forum/m-1198524998/s-0/highlight-jarte/#num0

Opens files with file extension RTF, file extension DOC, and file extension DOCX (new default format in Word 2007)

Firstly my apologies for posting on the wrong board.

Its my daughter's laptop, she's used to MS Word - its what she uses at school - and I can't imagine me persuading her to move to another program. She's studying for her highers and so is busy with lots of things on an almost nightly basis and needs to print.

I'll recap the chain of events.

1. installed our printer on laptop, insatlled okay but wouldn't print anything, uninstalled it.

2. Burned work from MS Office 2007 to disc and tried to print off on this machine [which runs XP] - the result was the work appearing as an encrypted code of some kind and no matter what I tried I couldn't find a way of converting it to English so it could be printed. Tried [in vain] loading same onto a stick, same result.

3. She typed up an essay and emailed it to me so I could print it, same as above, the attachment appeared as gobbledy gook.

My original idea was to buy a wireless printer so both machines could share it but it looks like I'll have to settle with buying £40 3 in one just for the laptop. It looks to me like 2007 word program will not communicate with an older word program like MS Word 2000. and with the 2007 program installed by the OEM on a 40 day trial basis I might just uninstall it and load the old one I have on this machine - though that looks like a retograde step backwards, not for me personally but my daughter.
I've looked around but can't see any help on this.

According to the Jarte page .docx is the default of Win 2007 and I'm wondering if I can change that ..........

because as Jarte also says:

File extension DOCX represents document files created with Microsoft's Word 2007 word processor. File extension DOCX is a new format created by Microsoft and first used in Word 2007. DOCX is differs from file extension DOC in that DOCX is a non-proprietary1 XML based document file format. Older versions of Word can not open DOCX files unless they are supplemented with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 files.

At this moment I've got the laptop in front of me too, and I'm approaching the problem on the assumption that a default file extension might have alternatives .............

Microsoft changes the format of Word files every few years, presumably just to screw with everybody tied into corporate software rules, or like daughter, scared by teachers to change to something else.

I've never touched Word 2007 (never will either probably) but since MS want you to use the docx format which they have not included compatability with the doc format, I'd reckon you're wasting your time looking for an alternative default - they do not want you to use doc, rather they want to force the upgrade to 2007 and have you buy or upgrade, not keep using the old one. That'll also be why they made the doc to docx conversion a one-way, no undo option, conversion so that you are locked into 2007 once you've done the conversion.

As you've found now, the reason for the odd appearance of the files you were sent is that older Word can't read Word 2007.

There are a couple of solutions (or use Jarte as it will read either! how come it can do this simple task, yet MS kicks its customers in the groin and doesn't?)

One option is to install Microsoft’s Office Compatibility Pack, which enables older versions of Word to open Docx files. (It also allows older versions of Excel and PowerPoint to open documents created by their Office 2007 counterparts.) Get it at:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100444731033.aspx

If you just need a quicker solution for a few files, try Docx2doc.com. Just upload a Docx file to this free Web service and it’ll convert it to the more universally compatible Doc format. Get it at:

http://www.docx2doc.com/

Personally, I just use RTF format now for anything that isn't a plain text (or .txt) type of file, as RTF handles all the formatting that needs to be saved with the document, and can then be read and saved by all word processors. THAT'S the sort of thing teachers should be teaching, not corporate fear and lock-in to MS (although the sad thing is they probably haven't been taught any better themselves).

I was shocked when my neighbour told me he was going to night school to learn how to use Internet Explorer. With the best will in the world, 10-15 minutes is all you should need to learn how to use a utility like this, but he was signed up for a number of weeks for the 'IE Course'. I dread to think what they spent the time on.

Oh...

Search using something like the following if you want more info:

word 2007 doc format problem

I have an acquaintance who went on a course for Skype.  I just down loaded it and plugged in a headset.  Am I missing something here.

In what seems like another life in another world on another forum, I once had a friend who would have answered that one with...

Yes, the blonde gene.  

(And yes... she was).

I know us techie-types can be guilty of making too many assumptions of what the non-techie finds obvious, but one of the most savvy non-techies I had in a forum was happy to put her hand up and say she knew nothing, but could follow instructions, and understood more than she would admit, and used webcams for keeping in touch with others, together with various chat options. Why do I mention her? Simply because in 'real' life she was not involved in anything remotely technical, being an unskilled carer of geriatrics in homes, and was herself only a year or two short of retiring, but had gone and done the classes for learning how to master basic PC operations.