Computer Technology Unit

Microsoft Office 95 to Microsoft Office 97 Conversion

Abstract: Upgrading to new or other software programs has many considerations including the advantages in improvements in the software and the compatibility among various versions of software. Converting to other software programs is necessary when you need to share files with other people who have another program. Using the File, Save As option and changing the file type will save the document to another version or another file format.

Keywords: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word 95, Microsoft Word 97, Software Conversions

When a software application is released as a product, it is not completely finished in any sense. Changes and improvements are constantly being developed for the next update, version, or release.

People have mixed feelings about new releases. Of course, the changes and improvements are designed to make the program better for the user. Some of the improvements in Office 97 are the ability to develop html pages (web-ready documents), more flexibility in utilizing graphics, and more auto-correct features. However, it takes time to adapt to a new release and many folks are happy with the release that they have and already familiar with.

Another issue when new versions are released is compatibility--the ability of the new release to interact with older releases as well as other programs. For example, the latest release of Word has been programmed with the ability to convert all documents from earlier releases to the newest format, as well as converting documents from many of the other popular word processing programs, such as WordPerfect.

So, you will have no problem opening a Word 95 document into Word 97 because the older release is compatible with the new one. However, since there was no Word 97 when Word 95 was created, there is no way for Word 95 to convert a document saved by Word 97.

For awhile both versions will be used in the Extension System, as well as older DOS software packages. For this reason, you will need to be able to share documents with others in the System using different file formats. For example, if you are distributing a document file which you have composed in Word 97, remember that many people are still using Word 95 and will not be able to open the document. Saving files in other formats (other word processing files) is necessary if you are sharing the files with others who have only Microsoft Office 95 or some other older software versions, such as WordPerfect or WordStar packages.

The following instructions will explain how to save your Microsoft Word 97 document in a format that will be usable in Microsoft Word 95.

1. In Word 97, click on File and then Save As.
2. The Save As dialog box appears.
3. In the file-type drop-down list box, select the Word 6.0/95 (*.doc) file type.
4. Once you have changed the file type, you can change the file name and location or accept the default. You probably want to give a Word 95 document a different name than your Word 97 document.
5. Click Save.

Microsoft Office 97 handles the file conversion during the save. The newly saved file can be opened in Word version 7.0 for Windows 95 (Word 95).

Similar processes are necessary to convert files from other Office 97 products to Office 95 products.