Office 2007 Known Issues & Troubleshooting Tips
New Interface
Office 2007 includes a new user interface designed to make navigation more intuitive. However, like most improvements, it requires a good deal of adjustment. Those skilled with using older versions of Microsoft Office will confront the largest learning curve since navigating Office 2007 will be quite different. Keystroke shortcuts have not changed, however, and function just as they did in previous versions of Office.
The Ribbon
A “Ribbon” graphical interface has been installed in Word, replacing
familiar toolbars and pull-down menus.
It has eight tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings,
Review, and View. These are subdivided into categories, all designed to
facilitate the writing and editing of documents.
The Office Button
In the upper-left hand corner of the program window is the "Office Button".
This button is used for various functions including: opening, saving,
faxing, emailing and printing documents.
File Extensions & Compatibility
Since Office 2007 files are XML files, the file extension names have changed. Office 2007 document filenames have 4 letter extensions, formed by adding an x on the end (e.g., document.docx) of the old file extensions.
Compatibility with Macs
Macintosh Office 2004 need to download a converter (Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 0.2) to open Office 2007 Word files. This converter only converts Word files to Rich Text Format (RTF).
Stay tuned for Office 2008 for Macintosh! Due in stores in January 2008.
Opening Office 2007 Files in Older Versions of Office
To open Office 2007 files in older versions of Office for Windows (2000 and later), you must download and install a compatibility patch. To download the patch, go to Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.
Opening Files from Older Versions of Office in Office 2007
When you open a file in Office 2007 that was created in an older version of Office, it will appear in Compatibility Mode. Compatibility Mode will not allow you to access any features of Office 2007 unavailable in older versions of Office. To learn how to convert this document to Office 2007 format, go to Opening Older Word Documents in Word 2007.
Sharing Office 2007 Documents with Users of Older Versions of Office
If you know that you will be sharing Office 2007 documents with someone using an older version of Office, you can save the document in a compatible format by selecting the Office Button > Save As > Tools > Save Options. Then set the file format drop down window to .doc.
Office 2007 and SPARK
Since SPARK does not currently recognize XML files, Office 2007 files cannot be successfully uploaded to SPARK. If you are using Office 2007 and would like to upload these files to SPARK, you should save the document in a compatible format by selecting the Office Button > Save As > Tools > Save Options. Then set the file format drop down window to .doc .
Windows Vista and XP
Office 2007 is compatible with Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 2. Note that office 2007 will not install or function on PCs running Windows 2000 Professional or any non-SP2 version of Windows XP.
