100% Backwards compatible my ass.

[DVK916]

According to M$ it is 100% backwards compatible if you save docs in compatibility mode, any older version of office should open it perfectly. What a bunch of crap, I made a bunch of spreadsheets in excel and saved them in compatibility mode, and they don?t open right in office 2003 or Mac Office. The borders are and sizes of the fields are all wrong. Damn M$, they claim 100% backwards compatible, and it isn?t.

 

[irishScott]

Wait... you were actually expecting it to work?

 

[Spineshank]

Im glad i got mine free. Id be pissed if i bought it and had it not work correctly like that. But it has done what i need it to do so far.

 

[BoomerD]

I've had similar problems with this. The software usually gives you warnings that certain features aren't gonna work right in previous versions though.
My comp-lit class was based on Office 2003, so every project I did in Office 2007 had potential errors that might not make things work/look as good. I always proofed them on a different computer before submitting them.

 

[purbeast0]

Just remember ... they also said the Xbox360 was backwards compatible!

 

[Phokus]

Thank god my work still uses Office 2003... i think everyone should wait a few years before upgrading to Office 2007.

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: DVK916
According to M$ it is 100% backwards compatible if you save docs in compatibility mode, any older version of office should open it perfectly. What a bunch of crap, I made a bunch of spreadsheets in excel and saved them in compatibility mode, and they don?t open right in office 2003 or Mac Office. The borders are and sizes of the fields are all wrong. Damn M$, they claim 100% backwards compatible, and it isn?t.

Some of the exclusive formating features of Office 2007 are NOT backwards compatible.

From MS Help:
To ensure that a Excel 2007 workbook does not have compatibility issues that cause a significant loss of functionality or a minor loss of fidelity in an earlier version of Excel, you can run the Compatibility Checker. The Compatibility Checker finds any potential compatibility issues and helps you create a report so that you can resolve them.

Important When you work on a workbook in Compatibility Mode, where the workbook is in Excel 97-2003 file format (.xls) instead of the new Excel 2007 XML-based file format (.xlsx) or binary file format (.xlsb), the Compatibility Checker runs automatically when you save a workbook.


In Excel 2007, open the workbook that you want to check for compatibility.

Click Microsoft Office Button , click Prepare, and then click Run Compatibility Checker.

To check the workbook for compatibility every time that you save it, select the Check compatibility when saving workbook check box.

To create a report in a separate worksheet of all the issues that are listed in the Summary box, click Copy to New Sheet.

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: Phokus
Thank god my work still uses Office 2003... i think everyone should wait a few years before upgrading to Office 2007.

I don't. Office 2007 is one of the better office products MS has put out in a long time. Once you get used to the new ribbon style, it is much quicker to use.

Most of the pretty features in 07 are not backwards compatible.

 

[sdifox]

Doesn't Backward Compatible mean it is compatible only if it is backwards?

My favorite MS excuse is "This behaviour is as designed"

 

[Kaido]

Yeah my brother got a Vista laptop and Office 2007 recently. He is pretty ticked off because none of his so-called "backwards compatible" documents will work at his job or college classes.

 

[DVK916]

Originally posted by: jhayx7

Originally posted by: DVK916
According to M$ it is 100% backwards compatible if you save docs in compatibility mode, any older version of office should open it perfectly. What a bunch of crap, I made a bunch of spreadsheets in excel and saved them in compatibility mode, and they don?t open right in office 2003 or Mac Office. The borders are and sizes of the fields are all wrong. Damn M$, they claim 100% backwards compatible, and it isn?t.

Some of the exclusive formating features of Office 2007 are NOT backwards compatible.

From MS Help:
To ensure that a Excel 2007 workbook does not have compatibility issues that cause a significant loss of functionality or a minor loss of fidelity in an earlier version of Excel, you can run the Compatibility Checker. The Compatibility Checker finds any potential compatibility issues and helps you create a report so that you can resolve them.

Important When you work on a workbook in Compatibility Mode, where the workbook is in Excel 97-2003 file format (.xls) instead of the new Excel 2007 XML-based file format (.xlsx) or binary file format (.xlsb), the Compatibility Checker runs automatically when you save a workbook.


In Excel 2007, open the workbook that you want to check for compatibility.

Click Microsoft Office Button , click Prepare, and then click Run Compatibility Checker.

To check the workbook for compatibility every time that you save it, select the Check compatibility when saving workbook check box.

To create a report in a separate worksheet of all the issues that are listed in the Summary box, click Copy to New Sheet.

I did and it said no compatability issues were found, lies. The size is all wrong, as are the borders.

 

[kranky]

Obviously the problem is that you need to redefine your understanding of "100%". It certainly couldn't be that Microsoft was wrong!

 

[zoiks]

I use OpenOffice and it does pretty much everything I need it to do. Free software FTW.

 

[OutHouse]

i dont like word 07 at all. they took all the common task and fricken hid them, while locking all the stuff i never use to the big ass toolbar.

outlook 07 is pretty sweet though.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Citrix
i dont like word 07 at all. they took all the common task and fricken hid them, while locking all the stuff i never use to the big ass toolbar.

outlook 07 is pretty sweet though.

Would I be able to use Outlook 2007 without the rest of the suite? I don't want to move to 2007, but Outlook has a lot of improvements from what I hear and want to use that.

 

[OutHouse]

yes i belive you can pick what app to isntall.

 

[Captante]

Sounds like one more good reason to stick with Office 2000.

 

[phreaqe]

i personally love office 07. it took some time to get used to the new ribbons. it was hard to find things at first but now that i have used it for a while everything is just laid out so much better. I also have not had any problems with the compatibility mode other then when i used some of the new features of word and it warned me that they would not work in older version. If you don't need to edit it when you take it to school or whatever just save it as a PDF. there is a free download from microsoft's site that lets you add that functionality.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: Citrix
i dont like word 07 at all. they took all the common task and fricken hid them, while locking all the stuff i never use to the big ass toolbar.

outlook 07 is pretty sweet though.

Would I be able to use Outlook 2007 without the rest of the suite? I don't want to move to 2007, but Outlook has a lot of improvements from what I hear and want to use that.

You can install just it. Outlook 2003 and 2007 cannot co-exist, but office 2003 and Outlook 2007 can.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: zoiks
I use OpenOffice and it does pretty much everything I need it to do. Free software FTW.

QFT.

 

[SilthDraeth]

Technically it is compatible. It opened the documents. Compatible doesn't mean that it will preserve all levels of formatting. Men and women are sexually compatible. It doesn't mean that you can get with any woman you want. 100% compatible in this case just means that a previous version of office will open the documents.

Besides, "backwards compatibility" actually means that your new office will open your old office documents, not the other way around. So technically Office 2007 is still backwards compatible. Office 2003 isn't 100% forward compatible.