With the Launch of Microsoft Windows Vista, the Microsoft team has changed the format code to a XML (ADMX) based format. This provides smoother graphics and an overall better look.

This affects the user based on their file saving and file name. In older versions of Microsoft Windows (primarily XP) the Microsoft Office suite saved documents in .doc format for Word and .xls format for Excel. With the new Microsoft Office suite all files are defaulted to save with the same extensions, but with an 'x' at the end. For example, Microsoft Word 2007 now saves as .docx and Excel 2007 now saves as .xlsx

The different extensions cause a conflict with previous versions of Microsoft Office. In order to ensure that files can be opened in older versions of Microsoft Office, there are two steps that the user must do.

Step 1: Download the Office 2003 Compatibility Patch from Microsoft Online

This patch will allow users to open/edit/save documents in Microsoft Office 2003 that were created in Microsoft 2007

Step 2: (For Windows 2007 Office users) To ensure that your document is fully compatible with all versions of Microsoft Office suite, you will need to change the file save type to reflect these changes.

The supported setting for the older Microsoft Office suite is called Microsoft Office 97-2003. (See images below)

Saving in Word 2007

Saving in Excel 2007