How To Open MS Office 2007 / 2010 (Word / Excel / Power Point) files in MS Office 2003

Ever since MS office 2007 was launched, there was not much of a file format change resulting a default file format compatibility between all versions of Office (98 / 2000 / XP / 2003).

The default extension for saving a file in MS office (98 / 2k / XP / 2k3) are same,

• .doc for office word
• .xls for office excel
• .ppt for office power point

Since Office 2007 is launched a new file format has been introduced which takes and extra 'x' in the extension. As for example,

• .docx for office word (2007 / 2010)
• .xlsx for office excel (2007 / 2010)
• .pptx for office power point (2007 / 2010)

In Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010, the default save format is the new, above mentioned file extensions.

Off late the users of new and old versions are facing a compatibility problem. The new .DOCX files do not open in older version of office. We can save the office 2007 file in older version formats but most of the users do not follow this creating confusion and incompatibility between these versions.

To solve this incompatibility issue, Microsoft is offering a free compatibility pack for Microsoft Office 2000, XP and 2003.

One may download the Office 2010 / 2007 compatibility pack for free and install in a PC running any of these following version of Microsoft Office.

• Microsoft Office 2000
• Microsoft Office XP
• Microsoft Office 2003

Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

Download Office Compatibility Pack Here

Download High Priority Updates Here 

Recommended Microsoft Office versions:

• 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