Compatibility in Word 2007 – Part IV
In my previous posts I talked about Compatibility in Word 2007, what it means to be in Compatibility Mode and how you get out of Compatibility Mode in Word 2007. In today's post I am going to talk about Compatibility in Word 2007 as a collaboration scenario. That is, getting into and out of Compatibility Mode and the concept of feature refresh. Here's a quick demo of this scenario. Going back to the first post on Compatibility in Word 2007, I am referring to the entire diagram.
Compatibility Checker
As mentioned in my post about Compatibility Mode, Compatibility Mode ensures that the editing environment in Word 2007 is similar to Word 2003. While in Compatibility Mode, you will not be able to add content that was not available in previous versions of Word. On the other hand, while in Full Functionality Mode you will have access to all Word 2007 features.
The following questions come to mind:
- What happens when I go from Full Functionality Mode to Compatibility Mode?
- What happens if I want to save an Office Open XML Format with new Word 2007 content as one of the older file formats, like .doc?
Since older file formats, like .doc, and older versions of Word cannot support some of the new Word 2007 features we have introduced a feature called Compatibility Checker. This feature comes in handy when you are collaborating with someone using an older version of Word.
The Compatibility Checker displays a list of any content in the document that may not appear the same or be fully editable when the document is opened in older versions of Word. I will provide a list of affected features as soon as I discuss the concept of feature refresh.
There are two ways that the Compatibility Checker can be launched:
- Save As operation from one of the new Office Open XML Formats to an older file format, like .doc
- User clicks Run Compatibility Checker on the Office Button Prepare menu
In either case, the Compatibility Checker dialog will show (if there is content within the document that will be affected by the process of down-converting):
Feature Refresh
The Compatibility Checker tells you that certain content in your document will change if the document is down-converted. What happens if you re-convert that document in Word 2007?
We have introduced the concept of feature refresh in Word 2007, which allows certain features to get back into the Word 2007 version of the feature when a document is Converted.
Not all features can be refreshed. I have provided a list of features that can be refreshed when the document is re-converted to Full Functionality Mode.
Consider a Full Functionality Mode .docx file with a SmartArt graphic. SmartArt graphics are brand new to Word 2007 and therefore are not understood by previous versions of Word.
Saving this document as an older file format, like .doc, will result in the Compatibility Checker dialog appearing:
Clicking Continue will proceed with the Save As operation and will put the document into Compatibility Mode.
Notice that the SmartArt graphic is now a picture. If I open this file in Word 2003, I will see that same thing I do as I do in Word 2007:
To show feature refresh in action, I will open this file in Word 2007 and select Convert from the Office Button menu:
Notice how my SmartArt graphic is now once again a SmartArt graphic rather than an image:
Features that can be Refreshed
As promised here is a list of features that can be refreshed when the document is re-converted to Full Functionality Mode.
- SmartArt
- Charts
- Images
- Equations
Conclusion
Let me know if you have any specific questions or comments that you would like me to address here or in future posts.
Zeyad Rajabi
