Comments on: Office 2007 file formates, trouble in the pipeline?

By: Falling Rock

Falling Rock — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:32:37 +0000

Microsoft screws its developers again…a coolaid drinker thinks it is techno savy to follow the new crap junk in 2007 while 500,000,000 people who use older Excel versions think it is pure cow dung.

By: simon

simon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Ross
Yep the file format issue is a PITA.
The compatibility checker in Excel 2007 is pretty good, a few too many false positives, but still useful.

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:54:25 +0000

Hi, Thanks Ken,

I thought there would be some sort of pack, I will install in on my laptop – assuming it’s not that big! – Yes there clipped! ;-) nice for the locked down corporate environment!

Hi Nic,
>>If you do feel like catering to the less technologically advanced…
I thought there would be a option (away from home at the mo, so cant check!) I would if IT will switch this on during deployment? – I would make sense to me…

Hi Jayson,
>>The problem we most run into is people taking advantage of all the cool flashy features…

That’s my worry too, especially when a chap spends 2 days making a report with conditional formatting, and the little image things, and then had to send it as PDF! – Not that I’ve saw that happen last week or anything…..

By: Jayson

Jayson — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:57:33 +0000

My office switched early on (I want to say July 2007) which is really early adoption for an accounting firm. The problem we most run into is people taking advantage of all the cool flashy features (embedding documents, conditional formatting, tables, all other eye candy) then trying to send them to clients. Not only can they not open the files, but you can’t save down without losing information.

The problem is that people never really knew xl2003 so once they “get to know” a new version they don’t know what’s different. MSFT’s problem? Maybe. User issue? Maybe. But there is a problem there.

By: Nic

Nic — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:46:20 +0000

I can see more people running in to this issue, but the compatibility pack from MS is free and small, so everyone should be able to get it.

If you do feel like catering to the less technologically advanced, there is a setting in the Options under Save where you can set the Default Save Format. Select the version you want there when you click save next time, that’s what you get. You can always do a Save As to change it to the 2007 format if you wish.

By: Ken Puls

Ken Puls — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:28:42 +0000

Ross,

I actually don’t make any effort to save to a lower version. I recommend that anyone with 2003 download and install the Compatibiiity pack from Microsoft. And if I do run into a user who is still on 2003 or earlier, I’ll let them respond with an “I can’t open this”, then save down a specific one for them.

I’m assuming that you clipped the file names in the above, and that’s not how it’s showing?