If you’re using the newer Office file formats in older versions of Office, the Compatibility Pack is going away in April

Topic

New Reply

As many of you know, Microsoft changed the format of Office documents in Office 2007. The old DOC documents became DOCX, XLS workbooks became XLSX, PP
[See the full post at: If you’re using the newer Office file formats in older versions of Office, the Compatibility Pack is going away in April]

6 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, laidbacktokyo, wdburt1, Elly, RamRod, WildBill

Reply | Quote

Replies

Plenty of options from there too…obviously the recommended path would be to dump everything in Google Drive and use Docs/Sheets/Slides instead, but you can also just grab a free copy of LibreOffice and keep on truckin’ if you want to keep your files locally.

4 users thanked author for this post.

johnf, AlphaCharlie, Elly, BobbyB

Reply | Quote

I plan to use Office 2003 as long as I have an OS that supports it. 2003 won’t stop working, the OCP is simply not going to be available from that time on. The real question is being able to procure a machine and OS that is capable of installing and running 2003 well into the future. That option failing, then it’s on to Linux and Libre Office.

3 users thanked author for this post.

johnf, AlphaCharlie, ryegrass

Reply | Quote

I would assume you could run O2K3 in Linux with WINE, but I’ve never attempted that firsthand.
(I know WINE does run newer Office’s fine, so I’d imagine 2003 would be no problem.)
Worst case, run a VM of XP within whatever you get next – VirtualBox is cross platform, easy to use, and free.

Reply | Quote

It seems it works well enough (silver):

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=3214

Reply | Quote

Make a few backup copies of your Office 2003 install media, and write down the activation code in a few different places. You can’t get that stuff again, so you don’t want to lose the only copy you have.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

Reply | Quote

Thanks Woody. I’ve saved a copy of the pack in my archive along with many other since “no longer available” Microsoft downloads.

At least half my clients are using Office 2003 and are quite contented with it. I doubt very much they will ever buy another Microsoft Office, especially after the latest design fiasco was unleashed. Come to think of it, I doubt any of them will ever buy another Windows computer ever again. They will keep using Window 7 with Office 2003, 2007 or 2010 until their current computers die. However, I expect to be a lot of maintenance on those systems to extend their lives as much as possible. So, having a copy of this on file will permit re-installs.

CT

5 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Cybertooth, AlphaCharlie, BobbyB, wdburt1

Reply | Quote

I was prompted by WordPerfect to make sure the conversion tool was installed before it was discontinued by Microsoft in April.  So, the logical conclusion is that, at least in some instances, WordPerfect needs this installed for file conversion or saving/opening.  This raises the possible question as to whether other office suites need this program in some situations?  It also “may” raise the question as to whether, at some point in time, Microsoft intends to become more protective of its proprietary software and ability of other programs to access/save, etc. documents created by that proprietary software?  I could be wrong about these questions.  Perhaps “anonymous” has a more evolved legal perspective than mine.

Reply | Quote

JNP, my thought is that WordPerfect uses Microsoft’s conversion tool in order to get perfect conversion to and from the Microsoft format. They could develop their own conversion tool, but they likely would get better results from using a Microsoft tool for this purpose.

Libre Office is highly compatible with Microsoft Office, but it is not 100% compatible. Apparently Libre Office has developed their own conversion tool, which would be my guess as to why it is not 100% compatible with Microsoft Office.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

1 user thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam

Reply | Quote

JNP, there is another important part to this story:

.doc is an international standard used by many document management systems. .docx is unique to Microsoft. Just as .jpg and .wav have become international standards.

At this point, I doubt that Microsoft can operate as the leader in this field, any longer. If it drops support for .doc, it will do nothing but hurt their market position. I can tell you for sure, it would be one more good reason to not recommend Microsoft Office.

For some years now, whenever I worked on a client computer that had Office 2007 or 2010 on it, I changed the default file format save to .doc to avoid problems so many people had experienced.

CT

6 users thanked author for this post.

johnf, SueW, lurks about, wdburt1, Elly, jelson

Reply | Quote

CT, Now, I think it is coming back to me.  If we go the other way, perhaps we see where the problem may occur: documents saved in .docx, which is where nearly everybody saves documents created in Word these days.  Therefore, couldn’t Microsoft freeze-out other Office Suites from accessing documents created, or saving, in .docx if Microsoft so desires?  I think this is why WordPerfect wants to make sure people have the compatibility package installed before it is put out to pasture.  JNP

Reply | Quote

Archive all software you think you will need to rebuild your system.

Write complete installation instructions and park them on your computer or with the software.

Depreciated and disappeared happens fairly frequently with Microsoft software. Anybody remember Mr.Fixit?

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

5 users thanked author for this post.

johnf, SueW, Cybertooth, wdburt1, Elly

Reply | Quote

Speaking as another ‘contented’ Windows 7 / Office 2003 user, could somebody please give instructions on how to go about archiving software. Thanks in advance!

 

Reply | Quote

What they mean is to download the install files and copy them to some storag where you keep a backup – an external hard drive, CD/DVD, etc. In other words, put it somewhere safe as a backup.

3 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, wdburt1, Elly

Reply | Quote

Find the download site and download then save it using a folder name that will be meaningful to you.

There is a problem you need to look out for. Sometimes all that downloads is a program that then does the actual downloading. Java works that way and most of the Adobe stuff. You need to search out the offline version of the program you want to save.

CT

2 users thanked author for this post.

wdburt1, Elly

Reply | Quote

• Just be sure to clearly label any created subdirectories and keep them orderly.
• Delete really old versions of program installers unless it is software that cannot be easily replaced by another product. Contrarily you may need keep an old program installer version for purchased software products.
• Also copy it to several different storage devices, it may become tedious but you’ll have to the keep copies up-to-date with the master file collection.
• Make sure the curated master file collection is apart of your system backup image.

3 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Canadian Tech, Elly

Reply | Quote

Truth is that I have assembled 37 Gigabytes of stuff like this. It is what I call my treasure trove. I have found it to be immensely valuable. The key is to develop a system of labeling that is useful in finding something 5 years later. In addition to my 37 G, I have about 50 DVD’s of installers like various versions of Office and Windows. My usual custom is to label a folder and include in it several versions (if there are more than one) with a meaningful title. Then include in that folder both the software itself and a URL that I got it from. Sometimes I add a document to the folder that explains what it is and how to use it.

Also in that folder are hundreds, if not thousands of problem solutions.

I have given copies of this to two colleagues who I think can respect its value.

I have this stuff on my main drive as well as backup drives and in some cases DVDs. I also have a high capacity USB thumb drive of this stuff that I carry with me.

CT

4 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, SkipH, wdburt1, Elly

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the advice – something else for the ‘to (must) do’ list!

Reply | Quote

I use Office 2003 all day long.  I have a 2010 retail version stored if I need it, but really 2003 gets the job done.  I’ll check whether I have the Compatibility Pack installer saved on both computers.  The only time I need it is to open stuff other people send me in Word or Excel, which is declining anyway in favor of PDF, which for a historian is an essential format.

I never understood why .docx replaced .doc (and .xlsx replaced .xls), so insights shared here will be of interest.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobbyB

Reply | Quote

I can’t speak to the technical details much, but I can say that .docx documents are smaller (in bytes) than word-for-word identical .doc documents. They seem to be compressed in some way.

On the other hand, .docx files take longer to open, probably because the computer needs to uncompress the contents.

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

Reply | Quote

DOCX files are actually ZIP files.  Rename the .docx extension to .zip and open in Windows (which is naturally able to open ZIP files).  Browse around and you can see the contents.

2 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, wdburt1

Reply | Quote

Old vs. new Microsoft Office file formats

5 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Cascadian, wdburt1, Elly, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

Thanks, I did not know that.  Nor do I prefer my Word and Excel files to be compressed.  I would much rather add memory and/or storage space.  Glad to know that I am avoiding potential problems, and am avoiding what can happen when decompressing a 700-page document opened each morning and saved X times during the day.

Reply | Quote

I have Office 2007 but I have old word documents in doc format. My question is, do I need to have this compatibility pack if I want to open and be able to read them after april 18? Now if I open them my system don’t change them to docx

Reply | Quote

My hard drive recently failed and I have reistalled office 2003 but I have been unable to find anywhere to download the converter. I can see from the above thread that some people have archived the file for their own use. Is anyone able to send a copy to me.

 

Reply | Quote

The converter pack still available:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=27836

Converts files from docx format to doc

CT

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

Reply | Quote