Question

Office 2010 backwards compatible?

Asked by: Etce

Will any and all files saved in Excel 2010 be possible to open in Excel 2007 without problems?  And same question for Word, will files saved by 2010 be readable by 2007?

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Asked On
2009-10-06 at 10:35:53ID24789762
Tags

Microsoft Office 2010

Topics

Microsoft Office Suite

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

,

Microsoft Word

Participating Experts
5
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: 930913Posted on 2009-10-06 at 10:38:54ID: 25507622

When saving, select the older file version just under where you type the file name.

 

by: gtglonerPosted on 2009-10-06 at 10:40:44ID: 25507644

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-06 at 10:43:22ID: 25507663

Yes I know you can save using older formats, thanks.  But I was wondering, if you are in Excel 2010 and save in the newest file format available, will it be readable by Excel 2007 (and similar for Word)

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-06 at 11:16:48ID: 25508041

gtgloner thanks, although I feel that the link doesn't fully answer the question

 

by: lorendaPosted on 2009-10-06 at 12:10:11ID: 25508627

I am assuming it works like the 2003 to 2007, just download the compatibility pack

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-06 at 12:19:54ID: 25508751

lorenda, I am not comfortable to just make the assumption that 2010 vs. 2007 will be analogue to 2007 vs. 2003.  Office 2007 introduced new extensions (.xlsx, .docx etc.) - from what I understand, these extensions are still the same in Office 2010.

Besides, I want to know if it will work for 2007 users who do not install any compatibility pack.  (I'm guessing most won't.)

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-06 at 12:23:33ID: 25508804

The whole point of this is, I would like to know if I can use Office 2010 and save files in the latest format and just e-mail them off to Office 2007 users with no hassle or considerations or things to remember for any party?

 

by: harr22Posted on 2009-10-06 at 13:48:29ID: 25509797

That is very unlikely.  2010 will contain features that do not exist in 2007. Without you saving down from 2010 to 2007 to remove those features, or a compatibility pack on 2007 telling it how to handle them, the old version will not know what to do with the new features.

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-06 at 15:05:28ID: 25510417

Thanks harr22, that seems to makes a lot of sense.  Will keep the question open for a bit longer though to allow for further comments, but yep this seems good.

 

by: 930913Posted on 2009-10-06 at 15:23:09ID: 25510555

I've scoured the web for anything suggesting that it would be fully compatible with 2007 and can't find anything to suggest that it does.

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-07 at 01:41:59ID: 25513199

930913, thanks, I tried the same earlier  and like you found very little to suggest it would be fully compatible.  I think you're right that that is a good indication it won't be.

With this supplementing the reasoning from harr22 I consider the question answered.

 

by: EtcePosted on 2009-10-07 at 01:45:58ID: 31637835

Although technically not a 100% definite answer, I am quite satisfied.

 

by: HairbrushPosted on 2009-10-22 at 05:17:21ID: 25633181

Hi, you can find specific details of the differences between Office 2010 and Office 2007's implementation of the Open XML file formats here: http://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh/archive/2009/09/23/dii-workshop-on-office-2010-extensions.aspx

Hope this helps!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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