CNET'S QUICK GUIDE: Reading the new Office 2007 files

Working in the Compatibility Mode of Office 2007

When Office 2007 opens older Office files, the software shuts off some dynamic features that aren't available in the older software. The Ribbon toolbar within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 looks different when the software runs in Compatibility Mode and some of the features are disabled.

When you're editing a Word 2007 DOCX file with Word 2007, for example, you'll get all of the new features, such as those for applying styles and shapes to an image. But if you open an older, DOC file, Word 2007 runs in Compatibility Mode. The galleries of styles and shapes from Office 2007 are gone, although you can still adjust the image in other ways.

If you'd like to use all of the features available within Office 2007, you can convert a file from the older type to the new, Open XML format. To do that, click the Microsoft Office button in the upper left corner of the interface, and select Convert. Compatibility Mode ends.

If you created a file using an Office 2007 application, later saved that work in an older format to use in Office 2003 or 2000, and then converted the file back to the 2007 format, all of the original elements from the 2007 version should remain intact.

There are many options for opening, editing, and saving work in several versions of Microsoft Office. Nevertheless, we expect the steps required to deal with the new file formats outside of Office 2007 will trigger some headaches.

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