One question we commonly get is whether someone's Microsoft word, powerpoint, excel, etc... document can be read by a different version of Microsoft Office.

There are two ways to look at this:

1. Will a newer version of Office read my older file
2. Will an older version of MS Office read my file created by a newer version

In the first scenario, the general rule of thumb is that the newer version of office should be able to read files created in older versions. For example, Office 2003 should be able to read a file created in Word 2000.

In the second scenario, this gets a little trickier. The big problem here is that Microsoft keeps adding new features to the latest versions of their Office suite. These are things the older programs don't contain nor recognize. However, unless you are creating documents that utilize the new features, there is a good chance older versions of Office should be able to read them.

According to Microsoft, older versions of office up to office 97 should be able to read documents created in newer versions up to Office 2003. The only exception they listed was MS Access. It has been the experience of ACCS that this is only a general rule and isn't always entirely accurate. We have found that Office 97 can and will have difficulty opening files created in newer versions of Office.

Here is an excerpt taken from the Microsoft Office FAQ (http://microsoft.com/office/faq.mspx):

Programs in Office 2003 Editions, such as Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, and PowerPoint 2003, can open files created by Office XP, Office 2000, and Office 97. Similarly, files created with programs in Office 2003 Editions can be opened by each of these prior versions (with the exception of Microsoft Access).

Keep in mind that new features might not be available or may look different in earlier versions.

• For Access 2000 or earlier: Access 2003 will use the Access 2000 file format by default. If you choose to use the updated file format for Access 2003, those files will not work with Access 2000.

• For FrontPage: You can use previous versions of FrontPage to modify Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages created in FrontPage 2003. However, you can't modify content created with new features, such as .aspx pages (created in Microsoft ASP.NET) that include the Data View Web Part or Dynamic Web Templates.

• For Publisher: Publisher 2003 files can be opened and edited in Publisher 2002 only, as they share the same file format. To open and edit Publisher 2003 files in Publisher 2000, on the File menu, click Save As. In the Save as type box, click Publisher 2000 Files (*.pub).

In a nutshell, a quick rule of thumb would be that if opening a file in a newer version of Office (other than Access), it should work OK. If opening in an older version (other than 97) it's likely to work with some minor formatting problems (again as long as it's not Access).