Open a .docx File With Older Version of MS Office

By: Karan Goel | 23rd June 2010

By now many people have discovered that new versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint save to a slightly different file format than they used to. By default, old versions of Word saved .doc files, old versions of Excel saved .xls files, and old versions of PowerPoint saved .ppt files. With the advent of Microsoft Office 2007, however, these were changed to .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx respectively.

At first glance, this would appear to be anything but a concern. A new file format, so what? Sadly, these new document types are incompatible with older, pre-2007, versions of Microsoft Office. Therefore, if a friend or colleague sends you a new Word file you will be unable to open it unless you have Office 2007 or later.

Luckily there is an easy, free fix provided by Microsoft themselves.

I know the words Microsoft and free typically don’t go together; however, in this case it is true. If you have Office 2000, XP, or 2003 then you

can head on over and download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.

The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack is an add-on which, upon installation, allows you to open, modify, and save the new formats (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx).

If you don’t happen to own a version of Microsoft Office don’t fret. You can still read and print out these new types of files for free.

First of all go and grab Word Viewer, Excel Viewer, or PowerPoint Viewer depending upon what you want to be able to open.

Secondly, grab and install the Compatibility Pack discussed above. Although you can not create or edit documents using this method, it is

docx with older version of office

beneficial for individuals who simply want to read other people’s stuff.

If you do want to be able to open and edit these types of files for free then you will have to download a free processing suite such as Open Office

(note that Open Office can open a .docx file, but it can’t save as .docx).

Keith is a computer technician who hosts two computing advice blogs: Computer Repair Vancouver where he focuses on software issues and Computer Repair Calgary where he focuses on hardware issues.