.docx

[Doctordestiny]

I use Vista. How come sometimes when I save a document it saves it as a .docx? Why the X? Sometimes I email these documents to people and they can't open them.

[fredr123]

It's a new file format that the latest version of Microsoft Word uses for it's documents. It is not backwards compatible with previous versions of Word. You can, however, download an add-on for older versions of Word that allows you to view/open/etc the docx documents. You can get it for free from Microsoft here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...444731033.aspx

There are somethings in the docx file that you might not be able to edit in the older versions of Word even with the package installed.

This happens frequently at our office. As our clients seem to have the newest and bestest before we do, there are many a befuddled coworker wandering the halls wondering why they can't open a simple word document.

[llama64]

For the record, Pages (part of iWork) opens .docx perfectly.

I was pleasently surprised by that. It even tracks revisions.

Not sure if it works the other way though (saving to docx). But honestly, no one in their right mind sends a MS Word file out. Use PDF.

[ricosuave]

You can change the way that Word saves those files - you want to change it to the 97-2006 doc format.

Do so under Word options

[sclitheroe]

And didja know: .docx files are actually .zip files, with the various pieces that make up a word doc stored internally as various data and xml files. Rename them to .zip and you can open them up and take a look.

Might be useful info if a docx file were ever to get badly corrupted and you wanted to try and salvage anything of value.

Another interesting idea I've had is to smuggle other files inside these .docx zips, but I'm not sure if Word performs content/integrity checking on the files at some point.

[Boblobla]

Office 2007 sucks ass imo.

That is all.

[Doctordestiny]

Originally Posted by llama64

But honestly, no one in their right mind sends a MS Word file out. Use PDF.

Isn't PDF Writer several hundred dollars to purchase?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Doctordestiny

Isn't PDF Writer several hundred dollars to purchase?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=PDFCreator

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Doctordestiny

Isn't PDF Writer several hundred dollars to purchase?

I've used CutePDF for quite a while, and there are a bunch more products just like that.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by llama64

For the record, Pages (part of iWork) opens .docx perfectly.

I was pleasently surprised by that. It even tracks revisions.

Not sure if it works the other way though (saving to docx). But honestly, no one in their right mind sends a MS Word file out. Use PDF.

I work in an office filled with people not in a right state of mind. The line "can you resize this image for me? Here's the word document" is a very common thing to be heard around my office. A little piece of me dies every time I hear it, it's like leprosy of the soul.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by llama64

But honestly, no one in their right mind sends a MS Word file out. Use PDF.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Use PDF if you intend on it being read-only. But most of the time I see Word documents being sent; the intention is that the recipient will need to modify the document.

A couple of years ago my organization had this big push to make everything PDFs. Now we are getting people calling us asking how they can edit those PDFs.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Use PDF if you intend on it being read-only. But most of the time I see Word documents being sent; the intention is that the recipient will need to modify the document.

A couple of years ago my organization had this big push to make everything PDFs. Now we are etting people calling us asking how they can edit those PDFs.

If the intention is for the recipient to edit the document, a decision has already been made on what format to use.

But for EVERYTHING else, sending out a proprietary format is just plain rude and ineffective. I especially hate it when people link Office documents off a website.

No, not everyone has Office, and no we don't want to buy that crap software suite.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by llama64

If the intention is for the recipient to edit the document, a decision has already been made on what format to use.

But for EVERYTHING else, sending out a proprietary format is just plain rude and ineffective. I especially hate it when people link Office documents off a website.

No, not everyone has Office, and no we don't want to buy that crap software suite.

no not everyone has office, but if you are getting something via email or a website then you have all the access you need to download open office. then you can do anything you want with doc files.

if someone is expected to download pdf reader, why not have them get open office which is a much more useful tool?

not to mention in all the places i have worked, office was a standard product that was installed.

[MarchHare]

if someone is expected to download pdf reader, why not have them get open office which is a much more useful tool?

Why should I download and install a large and cumbersome office suite when a much smaller PDF reader can do the job just as well?

not to mention in all the places i have worked, office was a standard product that was installed.

And Adobe Reader wasn't part of the standard build?

Bottom line: if you intend for your document to be modified by the recipeint, send it in Word format. If you want it to be read-only, send it as a PDF. If you don't want to install an app like CutePDF, MS Office 2007 has a free addon that allows you to save files in PDF format.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Office 2007 sucks ass imo.

That is all.

Agreed, it's the biggest scam known to man. Extra rows/collumns in Excel are the only useful upgrade on Office 2003.

[calculoso]

Docx? Have them use "Save As" to save it as a MS Word 2003 (etc) format file.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Why should I download and install a large and cumbersome office suite when a much smaller PDF reader can do the job just as well?


And Adobe Reader wasn't part of the standard build?

why would you not want an office suite? if you are needing to open doc files then we can only assume you are going to need to work with those files. i know when i bought my first computer i giddily came home and thought about all the pdf's i could open up and look at but not edit! adobe reader has 1 function: opening up their proprietary format. open office is a very useful peice of software. why someone would argue for reader over OO is beyond me.

and yes, i have worked a couple places where acrobat reader wasn't installed by default.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by dobbles

why would you not want an office suite? if you are needing to open doc files then we can only assume you are going to need to work with those files. i know when i bought my first computer i giddily came home and thought about all the pdf's i could open up and look at but not edit! adobe reader has 1 function: opening up their proprietary format. open office is a very useful peice of software. why someone would argue for reader over OO is beyond me.

and yes, i have worked a couple places where acrobat reader wasn't installed by default.

You're missing the point.

Distributing content that is meant to be read only in a locked format like .doc demonstrates an utter lack of understanding for the audience. It's nearly as dumb as setting up a website to be viewable strictly in Internet Explorer.

PDF renders the same on screen as it does on paper. It also renders the same on every platform it is viewed on. .Docs have variation even among different versions of Office, and if you can view it in another piece of software, the results can be rather underwhelming.

It is not good practise to distribute MS Office formats for content that is meant to be read and not edited. For content that is meant to be edited, there should be a seperate process for that, but that is not what my original comment was targetting.

[dobbles]

it seemed to me in your orignal comments you were just trying to bash word/office as much as possible.

its kind of funny you keep bashing word as a proprietary format yet pdf is the same thing. i get that pdf has the advantage of looking the same anywhere, i really do. but to me, if something is in doc format, i can edit it if necessary, and convert it to a pdf if i really feel like it. if i get a pdf i can't do anything but view it.

and maybe alberta is different, but in all my college in work experiences over the last 10 years, sending files in office type formats such as doc or xls is a very common occurrence. so apparently everyone down here doesn't use good practices and doesn't understand their audience...

[llama64]

Originally Posted by dobbles

it seemed to me in your orignal comments you were just trying to bash word/office as much as possible.

its kind of funny you keep bashing word as a proprietary format yet pdf is the same thing. i get that pdf has the advantage of looking the same anywhere, i really do. but to me, if something is in doc format, i can edit it if necessary, and convert it to a pdf if i really feel like it. if i get a pdf i can't do anything but view it.

and maybe alberta is different, but in all my college in work experiences over the last 10 years, sending files in office type formats such as doc or xls is a very common occurrence. so apparently everyone down here doesn't use good practices and doesn't understand their audience...

It is a common occurance. But that doesn't make it a good idea. And yes, I would argue that the people you are referring to aren't using good practices if everything they send out is in an Office format.

A good example of what I mean are the people who send "pictures" wrapped in Word or Powerpoint files. Sure, 80% of the recipients will probably be able to open them properly. But if you save as a PDF instead (or just link the bloody images themselves...), 100% of the recipients will be able to view the documents WITHOUT needing an expensive piece of software. This is more an ignorance/training problem then anything else.

PDF's also aren't a vector for viruses, malware, or any other nefarious pitfall that has compromised Office formats in the past.

PDF is an ISO standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format
So no, PDF is not the same thing.