word attachments on e-mail, docx files, recipient unable to open

[EvoR]

I have been sending e-mails as I always have and attaching them in the way I
always have, all of a sudden word documents are coming up as docx files and
the recipients cannot open them, I have only recently gone onto Vista and
microsoft offoce 2007. This has only happened recently with new docs that I
have created on the new system. It is frustrating my customers and my hair is
now falling out. Please help!

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

That's because Word 2007 saves documents in a new format, .docx, unless told
to do otherwise. There are two solutions:

1. Do a "Save As" and save documents in Word 97-2003 format
2. Have your recipients install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101686761033.aspx
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007
file formats

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

 

[VanguardLH]

in

I have been sending e-mails as I always have and attaching them in the way I
always have, all of a sudden word documents are coming up as docx files and
the recipients cannot open them, I have only recently gone onto Vista and
microsoft offoce 2007. This has only happened recently with new docs that I
have created on the new system. It is frustrating my customers and my hair is
now falling out. Please help!

"all of a sudden"
"recently gone [on]to Vista and Microsoft Office 2007"

Well, you already answered the question as to what you recently changed
that would cause the "all of a sudden" problem.

Solution: Don't send .docx files.

 

[Gordon]

in

I have been sending e-mails as I always have and attaching them in the
way I
always have, all of a sudden word documents are coming up as docx files
and
the recipients cannot open them, I have only recently gone onto Vista and
microsoft offoce 2007. This has only happened recently with new docs that
I
have created on the new system. It is frustrating my customers and my
hair is
now falling out. Please help!

"all of a sudden"
"recently gone [on]to Vista and Microsoft Office 2007"

Well, you already answered the question as to what you recently changed
that would cause the "all of a sudden" problem.

Solution: Don't send .docx files.

In the OP's defence, AFAIR there is nothing in Office 2007 that says that
the default document format is NOT compatible with prior versions....there's
not even a dialog box that tells the user that the default document format
has even changed....

 

[VanguardLH]

in

I have been sending e-mails as I always have and attaching them in the
way I
always have, all of a sudden word documents are coming up as docx files
and
the recipients cannot open them, I have only recently gone onto Vista and
microsoft offoce 2007. This has only happened recently with new docs that
I
have created on the new system. It is frustrating my customers and my
hair is
now falling out. Please help!

"all of a sudden"
"recently gone [on]to Vista and Microsoft Office 2007"

Well, you already answered the question as to what you recently changed
that would cause the "all of a sudden" problem.

Solution: Don't send .docx files.

In the OP's defence, AFAIR there is nothing in Office 2007 that says that
the default document format is NOT compatible with prior versions....there's
not even a dialog box that tells the user that the default document format
has even changed....

Depends on how long "always" represents in the OP's post. Always could
be 1 minute or it could be many years. If the OP has been using Word
for several months, or longer, then they should've been quite aware of
what were the filetypes being generated by the older version of Word.
If you had been generated .doc files for years and then saw it change to
..docx, you wouldn't be curious as to why the change? If you drove up to
your house that was painted blue many years ago but today it was yellow,
the color change wouldn't raise your eyebrow and make you wonder what
happened?

 

[Brian Tillman]

If the OP has been
using Word for several months, or longer, then they should've been
quite aware of what were the filetypes being generated by the older
version of Word.

Not necessarily. If the OP is using Vista's default config, known file
types are hidden, so they might not know they've switched to .docx files.

 

[Gordon]

Not necessarily. If the OP is using Vista's default config, known file
types are hidden,

That's the default on XP as well....

 

[Gordon]

Not necessarily. If the OP is using Vista's default config, known file
types are hidden, so they might not know they've switched to .docx files.

Having said that, even with "Hide extensions for known file types" checked,
the inserted Document in an email still shows the extension...

 

[VanguardLH]

Not necessarily. If the OP is using Vista's default config, known file
types are hidden, so they might not know they've switched to .docx files.

The filetype remains hidden when shown as an attachment in Outlook?

 

[Gordon]

The filetype remains hidden when shown as an attachment in Outlook?

No it's not. So the OP didn't look at what they were doing.