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Summary: ".docx" is the new extension used by Microsoft Word 2007. There are a couple of approaches if you're exchanging documents with users of older versions.
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When I try to attach a document to emails I have discovered that the recipients cannot open them. They're telling me that there's a 'docx' on the end of the subject. I didn't have this problem with my old computer, I now have a gateway XP Pro. |
I'm going to guess that with your new computer you also got some new software. In fact, I'm going to further guess one of those new software packages is Microsoft Office 2007.
If that's the case, then what we have here is a classic cross-version compatibility issue. Fortunately there are two ways to solve the problem.
You can solve it, or your recipients can.
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".docx" is the new file extension that Microsoft Word 2007 uses when it saves documents in the new default format. So you might save your document as "letter", but what Word 2007 writes to disk is "letter.docx" where previous versions would write "letter.doc". (I assume that ".docx" means .doc "extended", but that's an unimportant assumption.)
As I said there are two possible solutions.
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Save in the old format
In Word 2007, rather than just hitting Save, click on the "Office Button" to drop down what we used to think of as the "File" menu, and hover the mouse over Save As:
Note that I've called out the option so save as a Word 97-2003 Document. This will save the file in the format used by these earlier versions of Word, and will do so with the normal ".doc" extension.
If you always want to save in the older compatible format you can click on the Word Options button (always visible at the bottom of the menu displayed with the "Office Button"), and then click on Save at the left of the resulting dialog:
As you can see, you can select the Save files in this format dropdown. The default, as you might expect, is Word Document (*.docx). Change that to Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) and your documents will be saved in the old compatible way.
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Open in the new format
I actually covered this in a previous article: there is a "compatibility pack" that users of older versions of Word (and Excel and PowerPoint) can download and install to enable those versions of the product to read the newer file formats directly.
In your scenario you would do nothing different. You'd keep sending out the new ".docx" documents. Your recipients, however, would all need to download and install the converters to be able to read what you've sent; or upgrade to Office 2007.
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Which is the right solution for you depends on your situation. If your recipients expect to have lots of .docx files coming their way or just want to be ready if and when they do, then perhaps asking them to install the converter isn't that big a deal. On the other hand saving in the older formats to begin with minimizes the impact on them - at least for documents that you send.
Related:
Ask Leo! - How can I open Office 2007 files in older versions of Office?
Ask Leo! - Why does my Microsoft Word document display differently on different computers?
Ask Leo! - How do I convert a Word document into a PDF file?
Article C3038 - May 28, 2007
Hi Leo. I love your site! I just wanted to let you know that we recently encountered this problem and our solution was to open it in Pages on the Mac. My husband is a teacher and unfortunately he is stuck using a PC the school provides with next to no tech support. So, he would not be allowed to install the MS update (or any other software) and it would be difficult for him to get ALL of his students and colleagues to convert their files so that his old computer can read them. However, I told him to reference the link to this page when and if he does request the sender to convert the file. (But thats like, you know, following instructions and that is usually a lot to ask of most! ha ha ha)
In the meantime, for us at least, it's much easier for my husband to forward to me the email from his PC at school, I open the attachments on my Mac at home using iWork Pages, export them to Word, then re-attach them and send them back to my husband. It only takes seconds to do and is much more efficient than waiting for the response from the original sender. I just wanted to share this trick with you. Thanks again for such a wonderful reference! I share it any chance I get!
Posted by: Melissa at January 23, 2008 9:52 PMInformative article, but it would be extra helpful if you included a link to where I could download the compatibility pack.
Posted by: Jeffrey Mehr at January 25, 2008 5:14 AMThanks.
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The "previous article" that this article links to is about,
and has the link to, the compatibility pack.
Thanks,
Leo
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at January 25, 2008 4:11 PMtWjli53uJQsEsZUPK8Tsv4M=
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First time on your site. Quick question, I upgarded to 2007 office and for some reason my clients can not open my emails, it put my text like it is an attachment and also sends a wmv. file and another attachement. I never had a problem with office 2000. can is send my e-mail in a lower format or something??? I know about saving in WoRD and Excel to a lower version but cant figure this out. Help
Posted by: dan fuchslin at February 13, 2008 10:42 PMYou can also use http://www.zamzar.com, which is an online converter and here is a review: http://www.oooninja.com/2008/02/zamzarcom-docx-odt-converter-review.html
Another way is OxygenOffice, which is a special edition of OpenOffice.org. You can use OO to convert to older formats such as .doc: http://www.oooninja.com/2008/02/installing-oxygenoffice-fedora-7.html
Posted by: Andrew Z at February 24, 2008 8:58 PMHi Leo
Posted by: Barbara at March 31, 2008 7:24 PMCould you please advise me on sending emails regarding attachement, i send files regarding applying for employment positions and i have difficulty in knowing if the recipient will receive ok and is readable, i have XP and email is outlook express 6, when sending files what format do i send them in could you please help with this problem - i was asked to send in Word Format to job application and was not sure of format.... please help
Barbara
I have Word 2007 installed on my laptop. Why can't I open a docx file? What do I need to do?
Any help you can give would be appreciated.
Betty
Posted by: Betty J. Klein at May 27, 2008 8:07 PMHi,
I have to open MS Word 2000 document in MS Word 2003 without formatting changes.
How can i do.
what are the steps to be done for that.
I need the formatting to be displayed as in MS Word 2000 documents.
My friend told me to save the MS Word 2000 document as .docx extension will this be useful for this.
please response.
Thanks & Regards,
Posted by: chitra devi at June 24, 2008 4:26 AMChitra.
I have vista and the computer won't open any doc files. How do I get the doc file extension? Pleae help
01-Jan-2009
I needed some answers as to why I was unable to attach many of my Word files as they were the docx files. Your website was SUPER easy to understand and I got the answers to my questions right away.
Posted by: Big Lou at January 8, 2009 10:55 PMThanks