Microsoft has given added compatibility to it’s earlier versions of Office that struggle to open the new files formats of Office 2007. This is good news for teachers in districts that still use the earlier version and have not yet made the jump to 2007(most haven’t). Instructions follow after the jump.

Anyone using Office 2003 and earlier editions will notice it’s inability to open files saved with default settings in the latest version. This is because Microsoft has created a new file type that it saves to by default. Anyone can set it to save as a file that can open in all versions of Office, but most won’t immediately know to do it. To fix this problem Microsoft has released an extension that allows compatibility if you are running an earlier version.

To gain this compatibility you will need to go to microsoft’s website and grab the setup program. Installs in a couple of easy steps by following the on-screen instructions. After doing this you can open all 2007 files without worry.

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