[mkengel]

The office 2007 compatibility pack cannot read dotx files.
(I am using Office 2003 Pro)
It must be a feature because the installer even doesn't register the
file format to Windows.

Very disappointing !

[Jay Freedman]

That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to it,
but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by design.

If you need to use the same template in Word 2003, you'll have to
convert it to .dot format within Word 2007. First open it in Word 2007
and choose (Office button) Save As Word 97-2003 Document, and
select "Word 97-2003 Template (*.dot)" in the "Save as type" dropdown.
Just as for down-level saving of documents, you'll be warned if the
template contains any objects that can't be retained in 2003 -- for
example, Smart Art will be converted to plain pictures.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On 11 Nov 2006 22:29:55 -0800, "mkengel" wrote:

The office 2007 compatibility pack cannot read dotx files.
(I am using Office 2003 Pro)
It must be a feature because the installer even doesn't register the
file format to Windows.

Very disappointing !

[Anders]

Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to it,
but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't be
able to revert back to office 2003 without completely reinstalling the
OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing all the various
dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we actually tried to
manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards compatible
with this additional piece of software?

[Jay Freedman]

Older versions with the compatibility pack can read docx files -- that's the
whole point of the compatibility pack. What they can't do is use *templates*
in dotx format. But Office 2007 users can save their templates in 95-2003
(dot) format if necessary.

BTW, in case you're under the impression that I have any influence on this
issue, that's not true. The MVPs aren't Microsoft employees
(http://word.mvps.org/AboutMVPs/index.htm).

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Anders wrote:
Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to
it, but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by
design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't
be able to revert back to office 2003 without completely reinstalling
the OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing all the
various dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we actually
tried to manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards compatible
with this additional piece of software?

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

There's been enough information about how Office 2007 formats are different
from the previous versions. No one should ever send a file that would
require the recipient to download a converter to read it.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375




"Anders" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to it,
but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't be
able to revert back to office 2003 without completely reinstalling the
OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing all the various
dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we actually tried to
manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards compatible
with this additional piece of software?

[Jay Freedman]

The sender doesn't always know what versions the recipients have. When in
doubt, it's always the sender's responsibility to save in the lowest version
that's likely to be common to all. With templates, that's doubly important
because the converter doesn't handle them at all.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

JoAnn Paules [MVP] wrote:
There's been enough information about how Office 2007 formats are
different from the previous versions. No one should ever send a file
that would require the recipient to download a converter to read it.


"Anders" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to
it, but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by
design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't
be able to revert back to office 2003 without completely
reinstalling the OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing
all the various dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we
actually tried to manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards
compatible with this additional piece of software?

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

With 2007 newly released, I still don't think anyone should send a docx file
to someone unless they KNOW that person also has 2007.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375




"Jay Freedman" wrote in message
...
The sender doesn't always know what versions the recipients have. When in
doubt, it's always the sender's responsibility to save in the lowest
version that's likely to be common to all. With templates, that's doubly
important because the converter doesn't handle them at all.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so all may benefit.

JoAnn Paules [MVP] wrote:
There's been enough information about how Office 2007 formats are
different from the previous versions. No one should ever send a file
that would require the recipient to download a converter to read it.


"Anders" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to
it, but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by
design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't
be able to revert back to office 2003 without completely
reinstalling the OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing
all the various dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we
actually tried to manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards
compatible with this additional piece of software?

[Anders]

Jay Freedman wrote:
That's correct. I'm not sure of all the considerations that led to it,
but the compatibility pack's ignorance of dotx format is by design.


Wow - how incredibly stupid. What about users who have been sent docx
files and don't have access to office 2007? Please don't recommend
installing the office 2007 trial version - if you do that, you won't be
able to revert back to office 2003 without completely reinstalling the
OS, since office 2007 is very sloppy about removing all the various
dlls and resetting the registry on uninstall (we actually tried to
manually clean it up, but it was too big of a mess.

Why in the world can't you make office 2007 files backwards compatible
with this additional piece of software?