Office 2007 compatibility with other versions

[herkiefan]

Hi,

I have been tasked with researching the compatibility of Office 2007 (mainly Excel) and earlier versions, primarilly Office 2003.

Basically I'd be the only person using Excel 2007 since I am the spreadsheet guy around here and I want to know if it would be worth switching when everyone else is on 2003.

We work in a network environment and the upper brass would like to know that if I were to use Excel 2007 would they be able to use the files I have created.

Would I have to covert the files to 2003 or would the other users have to convert them on their side?

I would have used Tek-Tips' search engine but it is down at this time.

Thanks,

Mike



“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”-Albert Einstein

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I just want to make sure you saw this:
thread68-1398390

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[herkiefan]

I did see this post and read the corresponding link to Microsoft.

If I understand correctly, we would need to install the Compatibility pack onto any non-2007 users' machines in order for them to view, edit, save, etc.?

Couple of follow up questions:
1. Has there been many reported problems with the compatibility pack?

2. If the 2007 Excel file exceeds the capacity of 2003, e.g. more than 256 columns, can the 2003 user still open, edit, save? What happens to the data that exceeds 2003's capacity?




“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”-Albert Einstein

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Let me start off by saying that I don't have Office 2007.

But, personally, I see no reason for the "spreadsheet guy" to have 2007 if all of the people he provides reports to are using 2003. Unless you want to dual-install both 2003 and 2007 for testing purposes.

I have, in the past, been a version ahead of some of my recipients. What I had to do was set Excel to default to saving as the earlier version. But that means that my spreadsheets had to be compatible with their versions. So any new functions were almost useless.

True, you could use some of the new goodness to produce a report, then copy the whole sheet and paste special > values to ensure that all recipients can view it normally, but what a pain.

And if that other post is any indication, charts won't port well from '07 to '03. But maybe that functionality is fine and the user in the other thread's problem is atypical.

In general, I'm into early-adopting. I eschewed my local phone service for VOIP years ago. But in a business setting, it makes much less sense to jump until the product is very well vetted, IMHO.

At this point I'd only want to install Office 2007 if I could also keep 2003.

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[herkiefan]

Thanks John.

I think I already knew the answer to my questions, but I needed an expert to tell me.

I really appreciate your time.

Mike

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”-Albert Einstein