Laptop Problems

[Richard]

The transition from .doc to .docx must have occurred in the 2007 Word program which I use today.

Previous versions of Word were written without knowledge of the .docx format, so we can't expect them to read it without a little help.
The x formats have lossless compression built in.
As a general rule .docx files are about half the size of .doc files with the same content, so .docx is really a type of 'zip' archive.

[Geoff]

Interesting, thanks Richard. Didn't know about the compression on docx files.

I would suggest that the newer Word also contains features that aren't compatible with the older versions. I think when you export as an older version it downgrades the documents so it can still be read (in a sort of compatibility mode). This is certainly the case with new/old Excel so I assume Word would do the same.

Everyday word processing documents would not be effected, but if you use some of the modern functions you do get warned that you may lose some features when you export to an older version from Word 2013.

[moonjiver]

Thanks guys for all the info, I'm getting a second education here. Haven't had time to sit down again and check out the "Save" options, will do that shortly. The quick-access toolbar is I think a new feature .. very useful.

[moonjiver]

Well, thanks for your instructions, Richard. In this version of Word , 2010, I haven't so far found an "export" option but clicking on File and Save As brings up the usual dialogue box with location options, file name etc. .. and hey presto, under "Save as type" a long list of formats!

I couldn't find a way to do a right-click and put an icon onto the quick access toolbar - the toolbar wasn't even displayed, but I managed to find it and put it on screen and customise the options.

All good and, if my mate wants to open any modern Word docs on the old laptop, it shouldn't be a problem.