Compatibility Checker errors

The Compatibility Checker lists elements in your document that aren't supported or will behave differently in Word 97-2003 format. Some of these features will be permanently changed and won't be converted to Microsoft Office Word 2007 elements even if you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 format.

In the Compatibility Checker, you can review a summary of elements that behave differently in previous versions of Word and then either click Continue to save the document in Word 97-2003 format or click Cancel.

Building Blocks

Building Blocks and AutoText entries may lose some information.

Templates provide content that shows up in Building Block galleries in Word 2007. When you save a template in Word 97-2003 format, the content from the Building Block galleries will be permanently converted to static AutoText entries. You won't be able to convert the AutoText back to Building Blocks even if you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 format.

Content from the following Building Block galleries will be converted to AutoText:

• Tables

• Headers

• Footers

• Page Numbers

• Text Boxes

• Equations

• Table of Contents

• Bibliographies

• Watermarks

• Custom galleries

Citations and bibliographies

Citations and bibliographies will be converted to static text and will no longer be updated automatically.

In Office Word 2007, citations and bibliographies update automatically when you modify their sources or apply a new document style. When you save an Office Word 2007 document in Word 97-2003 format, citations and bibliographies are converted to static text that won't automatically update and their sources won't be available.

If you later convert the document to Office Word 2007, citations and bibliographies won't automatically update. For citations and bibliographies to automatically update, you need to recreate the sources in the document or copy them to the Current List in the Source Manager dialog box, and then replace the static citations and bibliographies with the newly created ones.

Content controls

Content controls will be converted to static content.

If you save a document in Word 97–2003 format, all of the content controls will be converted to plain text and associated properties will be permanently lost even if you later convert the document to the Office Word 2007 file format.

For example, in Word 97–2003, users will no longer see items in a drop-down list. Additionally, any protection properties (that is, regions that cannot be edited or deleted) will no longer be enforced and users will be able to delete and change the contents of the controls.

Embedded objects

An embedded object in this document was created in Microsoft Office Excel 2007. You won't be able to edit the object in earlier versions of Word.

You can convert embedded objects so that people using previous versions of Word will be able to edit them.

Convert embedded Office Excel 2007 objects

1. Right click the embedded object.

2. Point to Worksheet Object, and then click Convert.

3. In the Convert dialog box, click Convert to.

4. Select Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet in the Object type list.

An embedded object in this document was created in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. You won't be able to edit the object in earlier versions of Word.

You can convert embedded objects so that people using previous versions of Microsoft Office will be able to edit them. To convert PowerPoint objects, in Office Word 2007, do one of the following.

Convert embedded Office PowerPoint 2007 slide objects

1. Right click the embedded object.

2. Point to Slide Object, and then click Convert.

3. In the Convert dialog box, click Convert to.

4. Select Microsoft Office PowerPoint Slide in the Object type list.

Convert embedded Office PowerPoint 2007 presentation objects

1. Right click the embedded object.

2. Point to Presentation Object, and then click Convert.

3. In the Convert dialog box, click Convert to.

4. Select Microsoft Office PowerPoint Presentation in the Object type list:

An embedded object in this document was created in Microsoft Office Word 2007. You won't be able to edit the object in earlier versions of Microsoft Office .

Convert embedded Office Word 2007 objects

You can convert embedded objects so that people using previous versions of Word will be able to edit them.

1. Right click the embedded object.

2. Point to Document Object, and then click Convert.

3. In the Convert dialog box, click to select Convert to.

4. In the Object type list, select Microsoft Office Word 97-2003 Document.

Equations

Equations will be converted to images. You will not be able to edit the equations until the document is converted to a new file format.

If you save the document in Word 97-2003 format, equations will be converted to images that you can't edit. However, if you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 file format, the equations will become text and you will be able to edit them.

SmartArt graphics

SmartArt graphics will be converted into a single object that can't be edited in previous versions of Word.

When you save a document that contains SmartArt graphics in Word 97-2003 format, they will be converted to static images. You will not be able to edit text inside a graphic, change its layout, or change its general appearance.

If you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 format, the graphic will be changed back to a SmartArt object.

Tabs

Alignment tabs will be converted to traditional tabs.

In Office Word 2007, alignment tabs are used to position text relative to the margins of your document or a region within the document and adjust their position if you change the margins.

If you save the document in Word 97-2003 format, alignment tabs will be permanently replaced with traditional tabs and will no longer automatically adjust their position if you change the margins. If you have used alignment tabs to create a complex layout, the tabs may shift position and change the appearance of your document.

Text boxes

Some text box positioning will change.

In text boxes, text that is centered vertically or aligned to the bottom will be permanently aligned to the top even if you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 format.

Tracked moves

Tracked moves will be converted to deletions and insertions.

If you save the document in Word 97-2003 format, tracked moves will become tracked deletions and insertions. If you later convert the document to Office Word 2007 format, the tracked insertions and deletions will not be converted back to tracked moves.