You may already know that along with Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a new file format that is not compatible with older versions of Office. If you haven’t upgraded to Office 2007 or are using Mac OSX then you won’t be able to automatically open Word documents that carry the .docx extension or PowerPoint Presentations (.pptx). If you are using an older version of Office in Windows and attempt to open a .docx or .pptx file, you may be prompted with a message to install the Microsoft Compatibly Pack (which you should do) or you could get an error message. On a Mac, a .docx file will show up as a .zip file that you won’t be able to open in Word. This means that an instructor using Office 2003 could have trouble opening a Word 2007 document that a student submits in Blackboard.

For file sharing between Office 2007 and older versions, one solution is for the Office 2007 user to save documents as compatible .doc or .ppt formats. Understandably, it might not always be convenient to request that an Office 2007 user resave all of the documents they’ve sent you. If you are using an older version of Office and need to open or convert .docx or .pptx files then you have the option to install Microsoft’s Compatibility Pack, File Format Converter for Mac, or Word or PowerPoint Viewers.

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Windows
Installing the Compatibility Pack will enable Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003 users to be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Microsoft Office 2007.

Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 0.2.1 (Beta)
With the Open XML Converter, you can convert Open XML files to a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Office v. X for Mac. You can choose to convert and open one file, or convert a large number of files.

Word 2007 Viewer for Windows
View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don’t have Word installed. This download is a replacement for Word Viewer 2003 and all previous Word Viewer versions.

PowerPoint 2007 Viewer for Windows
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007 lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions.

Download pdf How to Open Microsoft Office 2007 Files