Are Office 2007 and 2010 files compatible?

[lopdog]

Hi!

I have office 2010 ready to install on my computer, but many people I work with still use office 2007. Am I likely to get into compatibility issues when we exchange files (mostly Word and Excel, btw)?

Thanks

 

[LNCPapa]

You are very unlikely to have any issues exchanging those file types. I use both versions on different machines and have had no issues opening files I've created on either machine with the other machines.

 

[mike1959]

Office files

I don't think you will have any problems either. Many people have used Office 2003 for many years, and 'Word' saved in .doc format, 'Excel' in .xls. When Office 2007 was released, a new format was introduced for MS 'Word' as the default saving format, that is .docx Of course that will not open in Office 2003. The answer is, when working in Office 2007, or 2010, is to 'Save as..Word 97-2003'. That will be fine with Office 2003, 2007 & 2010. Same applies to 'Excel 2007 & 2010' the default is .xlsx, so just 'Save as Excel 97-2003'.(.xls) But note that you won't have the advantages of saving in the new formats, i.e. smaller files saved. But no problems between 2007 & 2010. Hope that makes sense!

 

[techsuitor]

Good answer mike1959 .

*You can open lower version formats of file on higher version of MS Office. But opening the higher version format in lower version won't work, unless you have a "file format converter" installed in your PC.


After all, it all depends on what format will you choose before you save your file.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well thats mostly true. Office 2003 saved files would still work in Office 97. Just like (presumably from my knowledge and from what Papa said) 2010 saved files will open in 2007. Like said above the problem is when there was a big format change like from 2003 to 2007. 2007 had some features that will be lost if you try to save as a .xls. So if you are doing anything new that you couldn't do in 2003, saving as .xls isn't a good idea.

 

[techsuitor]

Right.

hope that all the information above made this issue clear ..

 

[lopdog]

Thanks for all your answers. I'm aware that I can save to a previous version, my question was more about opening 2010-files with office 2007, like sngx1275 said. So maybe my question should have been: "Are Office 2007 and 2010-files the same, just like office 97-2003?"

I have updated now, I guess I'll use "save as 2007" for a while, just in case.

 

[techsuitor]

ok... just keep us updated ... good luck

 

[BW_NBay]

I have an Excel 2007 workbook with drop-down lists that I defined with named ranges. When I opened the file with Excel 2010, the file opens with errors and the drop-downs disappear.

The only solution I have found so far is to redo the drop down lists in Excel 2010 and have the users upgrade to Excel 2010 as well.

No fun...

 

[isiahsee]

Office 2010 can open 2007, bt office 2007 cant open 2010

 

[SNGX1275]

@isiahsee - what? no that is not correct.

There are very very few instances when a 2010 file can not be opened by 2007 Office. "Sparklines" for example, and some odd pivot-table stuff: http://office2010.microsoft.com/en-...arlier-versions-of-excel-HA010342994.aspx#BM3

This is a good site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178998(v=office.14).aspx

Essentially, nearly everyone is going to have 0 issues between 2010 and 2007. If you are utilizing the few new features of 2010 over 2007 you are going to know that, which is the reason you are on 2010. So you would already be aware of those specific instances, and thus not need to ask. If you have to ask, the answer is yes, they are compatible.