Saving WORD Documents in Compatible Format

 97-2003 Compatible Format

I often send and receive WORD documents through the Internet.  Since I am an online instructor, it is important for my students to  send me work in a way where I can open it, review it, and score it.  In my home school, I have my children submit the final versions of their writings to me through WORD as well, and even though we are one family, we are not using the same computers or even the same computer systems.  It is essential that all of these documents are saved in a way that is compatible for any viewer.

Have you experienced issues like this?  Has someone sent you a document--in MO WORD--and you could not open it and did not know why?  While there are various ways to work around this issue, the easiest one that I have found is to simply save all WORD documents that you wish to share in the Compatible format.  Of course, you could simply save it as a .pdf, but the receiver is unable to make modifications to it, leave 'comments' embedded in the document, or easily copy and paste sections to refer to at a later time.  Saving your WORD documents in a Compatible version is the quickest and easiest way for full sharing potential: at least from what I have found.

Have you been having problems saving your work in a format that is compatible with everyone you share documents with through the Internet?  Have you tried saving documents in the Compatible format for WORD?  The steps below will provide you with everything you need to complete this requirement.

Once you read my directions for how to complete this type of 'save,' you will laugh at how easy it is and wonder why you did not try this sooner. 

In the WORD program:

1. Go to SAVE AS
2. Locate the folder where you want the work to be saved.
3. Create a name to identify your work: Your Name, Assignment, and formatting Style
• Sample: Vida Bendecida Essay 1 MLA
4. Underneath the NAME of the document, you will see a drop-down box that lets you choose 8-12 different types of formatting settings for your program's document.  You want to choose the 97-2003 COMPATIBLE option.
• You do not have to have any of the 97-2003 WORD programs to complete this save.  However, by saving your WORD document in this format, it makes it possible for ANYONE with a WORD program to open the document.
5. Click on the 97-2003 Compatible Version option.
6. Double check that the name is what you want, that the folder you will be saving it to is correct (after all, you want to be able to find it), and that you have successfully changed the program formatting to the 97-2003 COMPATIBLE style.
7. Click SAVE.

You have now finished properly saving the document for an online sharing situation, and you are now able to upload your work into an email- or cloud-system as a COMPATIBLE WORD document.

By following these steps, you can save your MO WORD documents in a way that they will end in .doc, which, in turn, will make the document accessible to all parties who need to view it, no matter what version of MO WORD they are using.

I suggest doing this for ALL documents that you send through the Internet to share with others.  It makes it so that your work stays accessible to anyone you send it to for review.  However, if you do not want the person to be able to modify the work, embed comments, or easily copy and paste it, you simply choose the .pdf option in stead of the 97-2003 Compatible Version option in the drop-down menu.

If you have other tips or tricks to saving Microsoft Office WORD documents in a way that makes it easily accessible for review and possible modification, I'd love for you to leave a comment below.