Identifying file format type in Word

[Larry]

How can I tell what is the file format type of a document? In Word 97,
if I save a document in a Word 6.0/95 format and then immediately open
the Save As dialog box, the Save As box will open with the "Word 6.0/95"
displayed by default in the Save As Type window. However, after I close
the document and open it again, it will once again give the generic
"Word document" file format in the Save As Type window. So consulting
the Save As box is useless.

Where else can I get this information, to see whether a document is a
Word 97 or a Word 6 file?

Thanks,
Larry

 

[Cindy Meister -WordMVP-]

Hi Larry,

I'm not sure if this works in Word 97, but it does in later versions. Make
sure Tools/General/Confirm conversions on open is activated. Now you get a
list prompting you for the file format when opening the document. And it
should suggest the format the file was saved in...

How can I tell what is the file format type of a document? In Word 97,
if I save a document in a Word 6.0/95 format and then immediately open
the Save As dialog box, the Save As box will open with the "Word 6.0/95"
displayed by default in the Save As Type window. However, after I close
the document and open it again, it will once again give the generic
"Word document" file format in the Save As Type window. So consulting
the Save As box is useless.

Where else can I get this information, to see whether a document is a
Word 97 or a Word 6 file?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jan 24 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

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[Larry]

Thanks, Cindy. I tried it, but the list doesn't appear when I open a
document that I had saved as Word 6 file type.

Larry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I could have sworn I posted a reply to this, but it's not showing up here.
Here's the reply I attempted to post:

In the File Open dialog, change the View to Properties. This view displays,
among other document properties, the version in which the document was last
saved. This is good back to Word 6.0 (Word 2.0 docs will show "No document
properties are available for this file."

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Larry]

Thanks, Suzanne, I was away for a week and just picked up your answer
now.

For documents saved as Word 6.0/95, it displays "Microsoft Word for
Windows 95," which is not exact, but tells me what I need to know. The
next question is, how do I return this same information programatically?

I know you're not into vba, however.

Larry

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Larry

You can use Application.Version to return the version number. It will return something like "11.0". So you mostly need something
like

CInt(Mid(Application.Version, 1, InStr(Application.Version, ".") - 1))

That will give you a bare-bones integer.
8 is Word 97
9 is Word 2000
10 is Word 2002
11 is Word 2003
12 is wishful thinking

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Cindy Meister -WordMVP-]

Hi Shauna,

You can use Application.Version to return the version number.

This only returns the version currently running, not the one
that created the document.

Larry: I'm not certain whether one has access to this
particular property. But if it is exposed, then DSOFile.exe
should be able to pick it up. Check mvps.org/word for an
article on using that. Note that it can be used on a *closed*
file, and I get the feeling that might be quite helpful to you?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jan 24
2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

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[Larry]

Thanks, Cindy, that looks a little advanced for me, but I'll take a look
at it. However, since this property (the file format) is not shown in
the regular Properties dialog box, but only in the Open dialog box, I
have the feeling that the DSOFile would not be able to extract it in any
case, since the DSO file only extracts information from the Document
Summary Properties.

Larry

 

[Cindy Meister -WordMVP-]

Hi Larry,

since the DSO file only extracts information from the Document
Summary Properties.

That is NOT correct.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jan 24
2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
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