A few friends of mine recently told me they don’t have a new .docx format and couldn’t open a file in Word format.

Do you have Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003 and receive an error message when you try to open a file in Word, Excel or PowerPoint?

Error messages include:

• Windows cannot open this file
• The file is not in a recognizable format
• PowerPoint can’t open the type of file represented by filename

This article may help you to get rid of the problem.

Microsoft has added the new Office Open XML Formats to the following 2007 Microsoft Office programs:

• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

Some of the formats have been changed and are now:

• Word Document (*.docx)
• Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
• PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)

To be able to read files in new formats from the earlier versions of Microsoft Office you will need to install and download a Compatibility Pack.

A compatibility pack is available to help you open and save Office Open XML formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office. You can install the compatibility pack on a computer that is running Microsoft Office 2003 programs, Microsoft Office XP programs, or Microsoft Office 2000 programs. When you install the compatibility pack, you can open, edit, save, and create files in the Office Open XML Formats.

All you need to do is:

1. Make sure that you have all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update. Just press the Express button from the Welcome to Microsoft Update page and follow the instructions.

2. Download the Compatibility Pack by clicking the Download button from the Microsoft website on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en and save the file to your hard disk.

3. Double-click the FileFormatConverters.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

These simple steps will ensure you can open and save files in the Office Open XML Formats. They will also mean you have the latest Microsoft Update for your Windows application, which is a MUST for protecting your computer from threats.