Word 2003 & Word 2000

[Guest]

If I upgrade to Word 2003 and send a document to someone who has Word 2000 -
will they have a problem opening the document.

 

[Dian D. Chapman, MVP]

I've seen a few people complain that they have had problems with this
scenario. But I've done it many times with no problem. Granted, if you
use a feature from 2003 that isn't available in 2000...it may look
different. But it should work without issue.

Dian D. Chapman, Technical Consultant
Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified
Editor/TechTrax Ezine

Free MS Tutorials: http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax
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[Guest]

Thank you for your quick response. I do transcription work from my home on
Word 2000 and am seriously considering upgrading to 2003 - however the
company I do the transcription for uses Word 2000 and I was concerned that
they would have a problem. Most of the work is done in a template that was
originated by them.

My second question is - Can I keep both 2000 and 2003 on my computer?

 

[Dian D. Chapman, MVP]

Yes, you can have multiple versions on the same system. I run 2000,
2002 and 2003. However, know that you'll have the occasional
conflict...which is minor, but can be annoying if you switch between
apps a lot. When you open the other version, you'll have to wait while
the info reregisters to that version...a slight delay. And I've
noticed that my office assistant gets tangled between 2000 and 2003,
whereby after opening 2000, I occasionally get error message for a
time saying that my office asst isn't properly installed. I used to
reinstall him, but discovered if I can stand to ignore the message for
awhile...it eventually fixes itself!?!?!?

When you install 2003, just make sure you watch for the dialog asking
whether you want to remove previous versions and follow the steps to
make sure those are not removed. Only Outlook MUST be upgraded, since
you can only have one version of OL on a system...so you'll end up
with 2003 for that app (which is a terrific version!)

I'd also suggest when prompted, you create a new directory for the
install such as c:\Office2003.

Good luck...

Dian D. Chapman, Technical Consultant
Microsoft MVP, MOS Certified
Editor/TechTrax Ezine

Free MS Tutorials: http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax
Free Word eBook: http://www.mousetrax.com/books.html
Optimize your business docs: http://www.mousetrax.com/consulting
Learn VBA the easy way: http://www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html