Word File Types and Compatibility

2013 and a Hint of 365

Word 2013 is cloud-drive supported, as opposed to previous versions of Word. One of the most evident new features is the access to the Microsoft SkyDrive upon “Open” or “Save (As).” SkyDrive is a cloud-based document repository, but it is not the only cloud repository to which a law firm can choose to save files. (This column refers to SkyDrive or simply the cloud.) What this means is that if you subscribe to Office 365, you can save those files to your SkyDrive, and from Word 2013 open and edit those files; or save new 2013 files to the SkyDrive. Once you've saved the file back to the SkyDrive, the standard “Save” button in the 2013 ribbon will have a circular “process” arrow layered on the button. The arrow means the file is being shared to the cloud drive and any edits will be saved back to the cloud.

Office 365 Note: When you open any Word document in Word 365 Web App, the file will be automatically converted to an Office 2013 .docx file.

Compatibility

What is the obvious difference you see when opening a 2007 or 2010 .docx file in 2013? Initially, when you open those files in Office 2013, you will see in the application Title Bar that you're in Compatibility Mode. Although this would be expected when opening a .doc file, this was not the case when opening a 2007 document in 2010.

Once you click Convert and save the file, the format is now in 2013. Unless you made a copy of the file, your original is now a 2013 format.

In the Backstage view, you can't miss the Convert button. Converting all files to the latest Word 2013 file format should not be considered a done deal. Besides the fact that you'll lose 2013 features when round-tripping with lower versions of Word, there are two regularly used features in legal documents that you won't find in Word 2013. Those are:

The ability to set a right-aligned tab outside the right indent. (Many Tables of Contents are formatted this way. When you open an older file with a TOC be sure to double check the TOC formatting); and

“Suppress extra spacing at top of page” has always been used in pleadings. Microsoft dropped that Layout Option and does not plan on bringing it back. The suggestion from Microsoft is to save your templates that use this particular option (all of the pleading templates) in the Word 2010 file format ' and not convert those to 2013.

Prior to converting any file, be sure to check for any compatibility issues. From the Backstage view, click the Info tab, click Check for Issues button, Check Compatibility, and select the version to which you plan to convert. This will tell you what you may lose when converting the file.

Conclusion

It's time to be focus on which file format your file has been saved. You can usually tell by looking in the following location (usually, because some file layouts have been customized, but not all): Backstage view, Options, Advanced, scroll down to “Compatibility options for.” See what the “Lay out this document as if created in” has to say. One way to tell you are in a 2013 file is there are only about seven Layout Options, as opposed to the over 30 for Office 2010 and lower.

Sue Hughes is the Security Products Division Specialist at PayneGroup. In this capacity, she serves as subject matter expert on all things metadata and Microsoft Office. A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, she is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Instructor (MCASI), and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) for Office 2007.

This column addresses the new compatibility features of Microsoft Office Word 2013. Microsoft has gone beyond the standard .doc and .docx file types we're used to in Word files generated through Office 2010. Although the new Word 2013 files still have an extension of .docx, you'll find that opening even Office 2007 and 2010 files will put you in the Compatibility Mode. Using Word's Check Compatibility tool will help to reduce the stress of learning, too late, that you've lost features that were intended to remain in a file.

A Brief History

Until Microsoft Word 2007, Word documents were saved with .doc (and .dot) extensions. When the .docx file type was introduced, some new and very different development was included. The main differences were: 1) When closing a .docx file, the file is automatically compressed. The file's size can be considerably smaller than the same .doc file; 2) Office 2007 and higher files can be opened in Office 2008 for the Mac; 3) Office 2007 and higher files cannot be opened in Office 2003 and lower without first installing the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack; 4) The .docx file stores data in XML coding language ' rather than .doc binary, this separates specific data including formatting information, thus making it easier to recover corrupt files; 5) Content Controls were introduced in 2007, where developers can prompt for, store information, and place the Content Control in the document to help automate the document workflow process; 6) Security has been enhanced by not allowing macros to be inserted into .docx files, rather, the .docm and .dotm file types were designed specifically for those documents containing macros. (Macros can contain viruses.) Also note, for legal reasons, Custom XML markup has been removed in all versions of Word. This was mainly for development, and does not affect the advantages mentioned in point number 4 above.

2013 and a Hint of 365

Word 2013 is cloud-drive supported, as opposed to previous versions of Word. One of the most evident new features is the access to the Microsoft SkyDrive upon “Open” or “Save (As).” SkyDrive is a cloud-based document repository, but it is not the only cloud repository to which a law firm can choose to save files. (This column refers to SkyDrive or simply the cloud.) What this means is that if you subscribe to Office 365, you can save those files to your SkyDrive, and from Word 2013 open and edit those files; or save new 2013 files to the SkyDrive. Once you've saved the file back to the SkyDrive, the standard “Save” button in the 2013 ribbon will have a circular “process” arrow layered on the button. The arrow means the file is being shared to the cloud drive and any edits will be saved back to the cloud.

Office 365 Note: When you open any Word document in Word 365 Web App, the file will be automatically converted to an Office 2013 .docx file.

Compatibility

What is the obvious difference you see when opening a 2007 or 2010 .docx file in 2013? Initially, when you open those files in Office 2013, you will see in the application Title Bar that you're in Compatibility Mode. Although this would be expected when opening a .doc file, this was not the case when opening a 2007 document in 2010.

Once you click Convert and save the file, the format is now in 2013. Unless you made a copy of the file, your original is now a 2013 format.

In the Backstage view, you can't miss the Convert button. Converting all files to the latest Word 2013 file format should not be considered a done deal. Besides the fact that you'll lose 2013 features when round-tripping with lower versions of Word, there are two regularly used features in legal documents that you won't find in Word 2013. Those are:

The ability to set a right-aligned tab outside the right indent. (Many Tables of Contents are formatted this way. When you open an older file with a TOC be sure to double check the TOC formatting); and

“Suppress extra spacing at top of page” has always been used in pleadings. Microsoft dropped that Layout Option and does not plan on bringing it back. The suggestion from Microsoft is to save your templates that use this particular option (all of the pleading templates) in the Word 2010 file format ' and not convert those to 2013.

Prior to converting any file, be sure to check for any compatibility issues. From the Backstage view, click the Info tab, click Check for Issues button, Check Compatibility, and select the version to which you plan to convert. This will tell you what you may lose when converting the file.

Conclusion

It's time to be focus on which file format your file has been saved. You can usually tell by looking in the following location (usually, because some file layouts have been customized, but not all): Backstage view, Options, Advanced, scroll down to “Compatibility options for.” See what the “Lay out this document as if created in” has to say. One way to tell you are in a 2013 file is there are only about seven Layout Options, as opposed to the over 30 for Office 2010 and lower.

Sue Hughes is the Security Products Division Specialist at PayneGroup. In this capacity, she serves as subject matter expert on all things metadata and Microsoft Office. A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, she is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Instructor (MCASI), and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) for Office 2007.