How To

How to share MS Word 2003 docs with Word 97 user

Posted on by Jeeves

If you’re sharing documents with people who use Word 97, you can customize new or existing documents by turning off features not supported by that version.

[ad] To do this, select the Disable features introduced after check box

Go to:  Tools menu, Options command, Save tab.

Then select the Disable Features introduced after and select Microsoft Word 97.

word2003to971

When you save the document, if it contains items that will be converted, Word displays a list of the features it will convert so that the document can be used in previous versions.

When you open a Microsoft Office Word 2003 document in Word 2000 or Word 2002, most items in your document will be unchanged.

Therefore, there isn’t an option to disable Word 2000 or Word 2002 features.

Jeeves

7 thoughts on “How to share MS Word 2003 docs with Word 97 user”

  1. BruceP says:

    When I try to follow these instruction, and go to C: Windows , there is no folder named Templates. I cannot get past your first step!

    • Ivan Walsh says:

      Hello Bruce,

      I’ll look into this today. My wife has the Vista laptop – when she’s finished I’ll try to replicate the steps.  
       Regards,

      Ivan Walsh

      ________________________________

    • Ivan Walsh says:

      Hello Bruce,

      Change the Normal template (Normal.dot)  
      The Normal template (Normal template: A global template that you can use for any type of document. You can modify this template to change the default document formatting or content.) opens whenever you start Word, and it includes default styles, AutoText, macros, toolbars, and other customizations that determine the basic look of your document.

      On the File menu, click Open, and then navigate to C:Documents and Settingsuser nameApplication DataMicrosoftTemplates.
      If no templates are listed in the Open dialog box, click the arrow next to the Files of type box, and then click Document Templates.

      Double-click the Normal.dot file to open it. To be certain that you’re working in the default template, check to see that Normal.dot appears in the Word title bar.
      Make any changes you want, using the menus and dialog boxes just as you would to change default settings for a document, but remember that any changes you make to Normal.dot will be applied to documents that you create in the future.
      When you have finished, on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, click Customize on the Tools menu, and then click the Toolbars tab.), click Save .
      Note  If Normal.dot is renamed, damaged, or moved, Word automatically creates a new version (which uses the original default settings) the next time that you start Word. The new version will not include any customizations you made to the version that you renamed or moved.

       Regards,

      Ivan Walsh

      ________________________________

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