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

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
Wed May 07 16:00:48 PDT 2008

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 -- hhh@kvoa.com
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

"EvoR" <EvoR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:80780D54-C0DD-46CA-8AB5-3139EB2B81AF@microsoft.com...
> 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!

VanguardLH
Wed May 07 20:49:02 PDT 2008

"EvoR" wrote in
<news:80780D54-C0DD-46CA-8AB5-3139EB2B81AF@microsoft.com>:

> 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
Wed May 07 23:39:34 PDT 2008

"VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:fvtt7b$9l2$1@registered.motzarella.org...
> "EvoR" wrote in
> <news:80780D54-C0DD-46CA-8AB5-3139EB2B81AF@microsoft.com>:
>
>> 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
Thu May 08 01:08:29 PDT 2008

"Gordon" wrote in <news:fvu772$oj2$1@news.mixmin.net>:

> "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
> news:fvtt7b$9l2$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>> "EvoR" wrote in
>> <news:80780D54-C0DD-46CA-8AB5-3139EB2B81AF@microsoft.com>:
>>
>>> 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
Thu May 08 05:00:14 PDT 2008

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:

> 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.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

Gordon
Thu May 08 05:12:53 PDT 2008

"Brian Tillman" <tillman1952@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:OsQYwOQsIHA.4376@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> 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,

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

Gordon
Thu May 08 05:15:31 PDT 2008

"Brian Tillman" <tillman1952@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:OsQYwOQsIHA.4376@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> 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.


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

VanguardLH
Thu May 08 08:22:49 PDT 2008

"Brian Tillman" wrote in <news:OsQYwOQsIHA.4376@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> 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.

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

Gordon
Thu May 08 09:43:58 PDT 2008

"VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:fvv5s9$grf$1@registered.motzarella.org...
> "Brian Tillman" wrote in <news:OsQYwOQsIHA.4376@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>:
>
>> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>
> 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.