Documents as .docx

Carmy said:

I notice several agents and publisher also refuse to accept .docx files. Not a problem for me, but for those with the newer version, are they able to send files in .doc?

Just curious.

Click to expand...

If you're asking if I can send .doc files, though I have the newer version of Windows and Office, yes. You can save files as .doc instead of .docx.

Which I have to do constantly for class assignments and which I did to send some work to an agent. Really annoying in the case of school since none of my professors accept anything .docx or .pptx (Powerpoint).

I can't open a docx file by clicking on it from a folder or the desktop, but if I open Word first and then open via that program, it works fine. I don't *think* I downloaded anything to make that work.

Carmy said:

I am unable to open readable .docx documents. All I get is a series of yyyyy.

I'm told .docx is from the newer version of Word/Office. I can get a converter at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en I tried to download but a warning came up that the program could potentially harm my computer. I stopped the download. Don't need the hassle.

I notice several agents and publisher also refuse to accept .docx files. Not a problem for me, but for those with the newer version, are they able to send files in .doc?

Just curious.

Click to expand...

That microsoft program won't harm your computer. If you already have word 2000 or word 2003, what you want is the Office compatibility pack: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466 That "Word Viewer" thing is for if you have no MS Word installed at all.

Yep. The compatiibility pack is very handy. Was, in my case. And the newer MSOffice saves with pretty good compatibility. You can set Word to save the old-fashioned doc by default, if you have to deal with old fogies all the time.

The docx format has the advantage of smaller file size -- something Microbloat should have thunk of a loooong time ago.

I'd avoid docx entirely. It's the format MS created to fake out ISO as an open standard. The OOXML format description was 6K pages long and full of legacy Word bugs including calendar errors. If any document format deserves to become industry standard, it's a truly open one like odt.

MS has been playing dirty tricks with file formats for decades. I for one am happy to skip all that baloney whenever I can.

ejket - I'm guessing you're correct, however I don't have a clue what you said.

MS tells us that saving in he old .doc format will lose some of the new features in Word 2007. I have no idea what those features are, and all the features I've used to-date have saved, so I guess I'll stick with the .doc format so the rest of the world can read my work.

There are no new features that are worth quacking about. I use the "x" versions for personal stuff because filetypes intrigue me, but I save in compatibility mode for stuff I share unless I'm sure the other party doesn't mind.

Open Office will open docx files if you just want to read them.

Since nobody wants docx files and there are no features in them worth worrying about, you should just stick to doc.

The warning probably comes from your browser and is standard stuff--anytime you get a program from the Internet it has more potential to harm your computer than just browsing websites. If it was on a Microsoft site, it was legit.

Whether or not you get your converter from official Microsoft site or not, you will probably see that warning. Exactly what you see may depend on browser settings, and whether the Microsoft site is marked as trusted, but it's standard operating procedure--a program, any program, from CD or web, or written yourself, has more potential to mess with your computer than a web page. Most of the ways a web page can mess with your computer involve it exploiting bugs and security problems.

Because of this a fairly common trick to get people to install malware is to trick them into downloading programs, disguising it as some sort of security front to give you access to porn, or a video, or just about anything that might persuade you to click "yes" on a whole bunch of warning boxes. So your browser wants to make it extremely clear to you that you are doing something that has a higher potential danger level. Not necessarily a higher actual danger level.

Well, scan every program you download before you install it.