convert legacy docs and spreadsheets to version of office

[iblearnen]

Morning,
I have a client that has a win95 machine; she has a version of MS Office that pre Office 97, something like word ver. 7.0 and Excel ver. 5 or 6. I would like to transfer her (extremely old .docs and spreadsheets) to a win 2000pro machine. She has MS Office 2003 on that box. Is it possible to convert these legacy docs and spreadsheets so that they will open with a current version of office? Thanks in advance

IB Learnen

 

[MallardVHS]

Hi iblearnen,

I can't speak to all the issues you might face, but I did want to offer this.

Most Office things upgrade without problems.

however, I once tried to open an "old" Word doc in a newer version and got this strange message that I was "out of memory." Confused the bumpkus out of me (that's an industry term; trust me )

The original doc had an embedded image (a state seal) that did not import well to the new doc. The solution was simply to open the new doc and import the image anew.

Hope this helps. There's always "open as" and "save as" ...


Don

[green]Tis far easier to keep your duck in a row if you just have the one.[/green]

 

[fumei]

You should be able to open them in 2003, and then save them as the newer version.

As Don mentions, you may have some clitches and issues, but mostly it should go OK.

If you have something specific, post.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[Madawc]

AS MallardVHS said, Microsoft make it easy to go from an old version to a new. They're wanting to sell you new software and you're much less likely to do so if the documents won't upgrade. It's going back that's much harder, sometimes impossible.

I would advise that you open each one individually and then save it in the new format. Chances are you will hit a few oddites that you could handle better than your client.

If a Word document is really troublesome, you can use cut and paste, even cut with paste-special as Text.

If you hit a problem, first try SEARCH and the FAQs. Failing that, post again.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10

 

[fumei]

....yes.....I would agree with opening each one individually. Word? Yes indeedy.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[MallardVHS]

Also, when you "cut and paste" be sure to EXCLUDE the last, bottomest, at the lowest right cornerest... paragraph marker.

That suckers just... evil

don

[green]Tis far easier to keep your duck in a row if you just have the one.[/green]

 

[fumei]

Amen to that. Good advice.

iblearnen, to make sure you do NOT get that last paragraph mark, turn Show/Hide on.

Although Ctrl-A, Shift-Left Arrow will get everything but the last paragraph mark.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[Madawc]

MallardVHS, Paste-special as Text is a way of ignoring any paragraph markers that the paste may include.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10

 

[fumei]

It does not ignore the paragraph marks. They are still there. It ignores the format attributes of the incoming paragraph marks. Note though that it WILL take up the format attributes of the paragraph it is being pasted to.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture