I’ve received a lot of questions lately about Microsoft Office files. Most of these questions point back to the same answer so I’m going to discuss it here today.
How do you know what type of file you have? Every computer filename has two parts separated by a period. The first part is the file’s name and it comes before the period. The second part, following the period, is the file extension. This file extension, usually 3-4 characters in length, will identify what type of file it is. For example, Microsoft Word files often end in .doc, whereas Excel and PowerPoint files end in .xls or .ppt respectively. These extensions tell your computer how to open the file, or which application to use to read the data it holds.
Did you catch that I said ‘often’ above in regards to the Word file extension? The reason I said ‘often’ is because the newest versions of the Microsoft Office suite have actually added an ‘x’ to its file extensions, both Windows and Mac versions. This is where the questions are generated.
If you try to open a Word file with the .docx extension using an earlier version of MS Word (2003), you may run in to trouble. The same is true with the other office applications, as well. There is a way to resolve this problem, however, and it does not require an upgrade purchase!
Microsoft has created a Compatibility Pack available for free download on their site. This download will enable users to open these new files in older versions of Office with no trouble. Note: Some features of the new applications may be lost even when using the Compatibility Pack.
For those of you that blamed these troubles on the Windows/Mac conversion, that has nothing to do with it! So, if you’ve had trouble with these files and couldn’t figure out why, try the download and see if that takes care of it.
Click here to learn more about the Compatibility Pack and to find the download link.
“Tech Tuesday” is published every Tuesday. To reach Tracy with comments or questions, email her here.
