Turn off compatibility mode in Word 2007
If you open older Word documents in version 2007, the file is automatically displayed in the so-called "compatibility mode". This means that your document is not processed as a Word 2007 file, but is retained in the older variant. So it can still be opened and edited with older versions of Word. However, not all innovations, such as diagram types, are also supported in the old versions. We'll show you how to turn off compatibility mode and edit documents as a Word 2007 file.
How to turn off compatibility mode in Word 2007
- Right-click on the Word icon (for example on the desktop or in the task bar) to open the "Properties".
- Under "Compatibility" remove the check mark at "Run program in compatibility mode for ...". Also under "Settings" below there must be no check mark.
- To prevent older files from opening in compatibility mode, it is sufficient to save them as Word 2007. With older versions, they are no longer easy to open. However, you can easily integrate and save new features such as "SmartArt".
Here we show you how to open DOCX documents from Word 2007 and 2010 in the previous versions.