Every so often, a student sends me a paper electronically and it’s a docx file. I believe that comes from an updated version of Word that may be bundled with Vista. Whatever. I don’t seem to have anything in my computer that can open it. Or do I? I usually ask them to convert it to a Word doc file and resend it. But is there anything I can do to read this format? I have Windows XP. I think I have Office 2000. (How do I find this out for sure?)
.docx is the new file format extension for Word 2007. You can download a free converter from Microsoft here. Or you can ask your students to save their files as “.doc”, which the new software certainly is capable of.
You can find out what version of Word you have by clicking help > about.
But that is not merely an extension change. They need to make the extra effort to save it in (what is it?) Word 2003 format.
Or they could do what I do, which is to save everything in RTF format. That can be read by just about anything, including my old, pre-linux Sharp Zaurus PDA. And I have software to convert it to Wordstar. The files can be EVEN BIGGER than Word DOC or DOCX files, but the format is almost as portable as ASCII.
As an aside, when I was job hunting last Winter most places required resumes in either DOC (usually Word 97 or later) or RTF.
If you’d like to avoid some security hassles, tell them to convert to .doc or .rtf–anyways, they should learn how to change formats since some of their faculty won’t take .docx and some will not be using programs that are compatible with the converter anyway.
Great! Thank you, RandySeltzer. I did download that little program and was able to open those papers. Now, of course, I have to read them. I usually do ask them to resend them as .doc files, but this is much better. Now I can just open them myself. Still, I have to be up all night reading this stuff. Remind me to go back into shoe sales. 
I agree the best thing is to tell them to save in the older 2003 format and that’s just what I do because I do not want to use the new xml format.
But you can install a pack:
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats
How to open and save Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 files in earlier versions of Office programs
Given how easy it is get older versiosn to both read & write the new version, why this big desire to stick with the old?
From a technical perspective (trust me on this one) there is nothing better about the old format. Many weird glitches that occurred in the old format are simply impossible in the new.
So the only reason left to object to the new ones is human-side, i.e. business need or cultural convenience. And with the ease of using new formats in old apps, plus zero learning curve, these kinds of objections ought to go away pretty quickly. Yet they seem to hang on and on.
A lot of the things we moan about in MSFT products are caused by the marketplace’s misplaced desire to stick with as much old stuff as possible for as long as possible.
Security problems. Directives from management re: security problems.
I’m curious LSLGuy, could you elaborate a bit on those glitches that are now impossible?
Because I have no need to change and many other people feel the same way. For now the old file formats are much more widespread than the new and I have zero need for whatever it is that the new format offers.
Oh–and I hate the animations. I want to type, not be entertained by fade-outs.