How to Overcome .docx Issues

Make sure your document recipent can read what you're sending.

Starting with Microsoft Office 2007, traditional file extensions used in the popular office suite changed. For example, Word documents are now saved by default as .docx instead of .doc. This creates a potential problem. If you send someone a document saved in this new format he may not be able to open it. You can avert this problem by changing the default format your document is saving in. Conversely, if you have an older version of MS Word and you receive of one of these files, you may not be able to open it. Download a patch from Microsoft that will allow older versions of Word to open the new file format.

Things You'll Need

• Internet Connection

Instructions

1. Launch Microsoft Word 2007 or newer on your computer.

2. Click on the multicolored Office button at the top left corner of the screen. Click on the "Word options" button at the bottom of the menu panel that drops down.

3. Select "Save" in the left-hand column to choose options for how to save Word documents.

4. Select "Word 97-2003 document (*.doc)" from the drop-down list by the "Save files in this format" option.

5. Click "OK." Files you save from now on are saved as .doc instead of .docx.

Tips & Warnings

• This article is aimed at Microsoft Word but the principles apply and can be used to fix the file formats of all applications in the Microsoft Office Suite.

• If you need to view a .docx document with an older version of Microsoft Office you will need to download and install the compatibility pack from Microsoft.

References

• Microsoft: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats