MDI and XPS formats: How to re-use them

[WM Lundin]

I recently moved from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007. After losing the MDI
print device and gaining the XPS print device, I re-installed the MODI
software. I also updated Word 2007 to have the Save As ... PDF or XPS
formats.

I cannot convert multiple MDI or TIF into XPS.
Yes, I can open each MDI (now that I re-installed the old MODI software) and
print them to XPS one at a time.

I cannot open or import entire MDI, TIF, or XPS documents into MS Word.
Yes, I can copy and paste a single MDI or TIF page as an image into Word,
but not an entire file at once.

What are the benefits of using the MDI or XPS formats for documents, what is
their primary business or use case? I have not yet found a convenient way to
convert or re-use them; for archival purposes, these seem to have a much
shorter usable lifespan than hardcopy/paper.

In Office 2010 or Office {next after 2010} will there be a new document
format that will also be incompatable with MDI and XPS? Thanks.

 

[Yves Dhondt]

What are the benefits of using the MDI or XPS formats for documents, what
is
their primary business or use case? I have not yet found a convenient way
to
convert or re-use them; for archival purposes, these seem to have a much
shorter usable lifespan than hardcopy/paper.

You just stated one of their main purposes: they can not be converted or
re-used. It's a great way to finalize your document so that others can't
tamper with it anymore. (You sometimes can, but one of the main purposes is
you can't.)

Also, it provides a finalized layout. In Word, if you open the same document
on different machines, it might repaginate moving one or more lines of text
from one page to another. It often depends on the printer connected to your
system. An XPS file won't do that, it will display the same everywhere.

XPS is among things, made for archival purposes. Also, electronic documents
tend to take less space and are easier to search through than paper ones.
They are also easier to share with third parties. Especially if they are
making good use of things like metadata.

In Office 2010 or Office {next after 2010} will there be a new document
format that will also be incompatable with MDI and XPS? Thanks.

No, Open XML (the docx file) and in lesser extend Open Document Format
(supported as of Office 2007 SP2) will be the main formats. The different
file formats (docx vs XPS) have entirely different purposes. So I'm not sure
what you mean by the 'incompatible' part.

On a side note. As of Windows Vista, XPS (which stands for Xml Paper
Specification) is actually the format used by the entire printer subsystem
of the operating system. So if you create a hardcopy, it probably is
converted internally to an XPS before actually being printed. The newest
generation of printers already have an 'XPS module' on board.

Yves