Microsoft Office LogoIf you have an older version of Microsoft Office – for example, Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), or even older (Microsoft Office XP) you might have problems opening the new file formats, introduced with the new Office 2007 (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, and others).

To fix this issue, without necessarily upgrading to the 2007 Office, you may download the following update from Microsoft:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

It supports the following versions of Windows: Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP SP1 (or higher, SP2 included), and the following versions of Microsoft Office:

  • Microsoft Word 2000 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2000 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 with Service Pack 3
  • Microsoft Word 2002 with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2002 with Service Pack 3, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 with Service Pack 3
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, Microsoft Office Excel 2003 with at least Service Pack 1, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 with at least Service Pack 1

and also the following Office viewers:

  • Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2003

So, if you have one of the above, you can download and install the update, and then open and even save in the new file formats without a problem, even if you still continue to use an older version of MS Office:)

2 thoughts on “MS Office 2007 – MS Office 2003 compatibility issue (fix)

  1. I installed this and have installed all Windows updates and it still does not work. Can someone send any other suggestions.

    Windows XP running MO 2003 version software.

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