By default in Office 2007, documents are saved in the new "x" format. For instance, word documents are now saved with the ".docx" extension instead of the old ".doc". In many business environments, Office 2007 is still not the norm. In those cases, it becomes quite an annoyance to send office documents to other customers and collegues who do not have Office 2007.

There is a simple way to change the default type that your office documents will be saved in. This example shows how to change Microsoft Word 2007 to save documents with the ".doc" extension by default (Word 97-2000 format):

Click on the top left "Office Button" to open the master menu and click on the "Word Options" button.

Click on the Save tab link on the left. Then in the "Save files in this format" drop down, choose the document type to save in by default. Then click OK to apply the change.

This same process can be used to change Microsoft Excel 2007 and PowerPoint 2007 as well as other Office document generating applications that commonly share documents.

If you still want to keep sending documents in the new format, there is a way to view, edit, and save these documents using Office 97/2000/2003. Users of these older versions of Office can download the free utility from Microsoft here:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

This will allow a user with Office 97/2000/2003 to open, change, and save documents created in Office 2007 even if they have the ".x" extension on them.