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Upgrading to Word 2000

Sharing Documents with Word 98 and Word 97 Users

Microsoft Word 2000 users can open Word 98 and Word 97 documents; and Word 2000 supports all data and formatting in these earlier versions of Word.

When Word 98 and Word 97 users open Word 2000 documents, some data and formatting are lost because Word 98 and Word 97 do not offer the new and enhanced features that are in Word 2000.

Disabling features that Word 97 does not support

If Word 2000 users need to share documents with Word 97 users, you can disable the Word 2000 features that Word 97 does not support. To disable the new Word 2000 features, select the Disable features not supported by Word 97 check box on the Save tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu).

Note   You cannot disable Word 2000 features that Word 98 does not support.

When you select the Disable features not supported by Word 97 check box, Word saves the document without any new Word 2000 features. Word 2000 removes the formatting that Word 97 does not support and then replaces it with formatting that Word 97 supports.

System Policy Tip   You can use a system policy to set the Disable features not supported by Word 97 check box on the Save tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu). In the System Policy Editor, set the Microsoft Word 2000\Tools | Options\Save\ Disable features not supported by Word 97 policy. For more information about the System Policy Editor, see Using the System Policy Editor.

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Opening documents in Word 98 or Word 97

The following table identifies features that might affect data or formatting when Word 98 and Word 97 users open Word 2000 documents.

When this Word 2000 feature Is opened in Word 98 or Word 97
24-bit color Colors are mapped to the closest match.
Floating tables The tables appear in frames.
Frames Frame properties are lost in the conversion. The frames are saved in individual documents.
Measurements such as pixels and percentages for images and tables Measurements are preserved when the document is saved.
New character underline styles Decorative underlines are changed to a single underline.
Table AutoFit Column widths are preserved when the document is saved.
Table cell margins and spacing Margins and spacing are lost in the conversion.
Tables within tables Nested table cells are converted to tabbed text. Tab marks are used to separate the contents of each cell.
Text wrapping break Text-wrapping breaks are converted to line breaks.
Text-wrapped objects in a table The objects are moved outside of the table.

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See also

The Removal Wizard removes unnecessary and obsolete files, settings, and components installed by previous versions of Office and related applications. For more information, see Removal Wizard.


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Friday, March 5, 1999
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