Word 2003 files the same?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brett Baisley
  • Start date Start date
B

Brett Baisley

Hey

I just got my copy of Office 2003. I would really like to test it out right
now, but I am in the last week of school and I really want to make sure that
if I install it, that my Word 2003 files will be able to open and look
correctly in Word XP (which is what they still are using at school).

Can someone confirm this. I hate to have to retype all of my reports or go
to school to finish them with just a week left of classes.

Thanks!
 
Brett said:
I just got my copy of Office 2003. I would really like to test it out
right now, but I am in the last week of school and I really want to
make sure that if I install it, that my Word 2003 files will be able
to open and look correctly in Word XP (which is what they still are
using at school).

Can someone confirm this. I hate to have to retype all of my reports
or go to school to finish them with just a week left of classes.
Click to expand...


Word's file format has not changed since Office 97.


Mike Williams - Office MVP http://www.mvps.org/faq/
If something doesn't make sense, it could be worse e.g.
http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

Please respond in the same thread on this newsgroup - not by email!
Include details of your application and Windows versions, plus any
service pack updates. Answers may also be found by reading recent
posts, checking the FAQs or searching the relevant Google archive at.
http://groups.google.com/groups?group=microsoft.public
 
Mike Williams said:
Word's file format has not changed since Office 97.
Mike Williams - Office MVP
Click to expand...

Are you saying, Mike, that Word 97 could open and read Word 2000 files?
Evi
 
Certainly. Some features will be degraded, but the files will open.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
That's amazing! And to think that I've been saving them as Word 97 and
suffering the horrendous file bloat!
Evi
 
I'm surprised that you're seeing file bloat saving from Word 2003 to Word 97
format; as a general rule, each higher version creates larger files. Perhaps
Word 2003 has finally reversed the trend?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
That's from Word XP to Word 97, and yes, the file becomes really big. From
200kb to more than1.44MB so that it didn't fit on a floppy without being
zipped. Perhaps it stores some kind of formatting details within the file so
that it will look as near as possible to Word XP.
Evi
 
That's quite large for a Word file, but if there are graphics, the
difference might be that at some point (Word 2000 or 2002) a compressed
format for images was adopted, and this would not be used for Word 97, I
guess.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Evi said:
That's from Word XP to Word 97, and yes, the file becomes really big. From
200kb to more than1.44MB so that it didn't fit on a floppy without being
zipped. Perhaps it stores some kind of formatting details within the file so
that it will look as near as possible to Word XP.
Evi
Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
I'm surprised that you're seeing file bloat saving from Word 2003 to
Click to expand...
Word
97
format; as a general rule, each higher version creates larger files. Perhaps
Word 2003 has finally reversed the trend?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
Click to expand...
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yes, it did contain some screen prints. That could explain it.
Evi

Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
That's quite large for a Word file, but if there are graphics, the
difference might be that at some point (Word 2000 or 2002) a compressed
format for images was adopted, and this would not be used for Word 97, I
guess.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Evi said:
That's from Word XP to Word 97, and yes, the file becomes really big. From
200kb to more than1.44MB so that it didn't fit on a floppy without being
zipped. Perhaps it stores some kind of formatting details within the
Click to expand...
file
Click to expand...
 
Hi Suzanne,
I'm surprised that you're seeing file bloat saving from Word 2003 to Word 97
format
Click to expand...
Is there even such a option? The only ones I see are for *.rtf file format,
and RTF is always "bulkier" than true *.doc format.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
I wondered about that, too (haven't yet installed 2003 so couldn't check).
But RTF is not *always* bulkier. In earlier versions I've saved as RTF when
my document was pure text or perhaps a table (and probably all in Normal
style with no special formatting), and the RTF file was significantly
smaller. I'm sure that adding formatting complexity makes a difference.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Hi Suzanne,
But RTF is not *always* bulkier. In earlier versions I've saved as RTF when
my document was pure text or perhaps a table (and probably all in Normal
style with no special formatting), and the RTF file was significantly
smaller. I'm sure that adding formatting complexity makes a difference.
Click to expand...
Especially graphics files! I recall some of the discussions when Word97
replaced 6/95 and there was no true file format converter, just an RTF
coverter back to the older formats. Incredible file sizes...

Cindy Meister
 
Back
Top