2007 themes can't be changed once the file is saved as Word 97-200

[Charles.Lindsay]

Hi - I've come across a frustration you may be able to help me get past.

I have a heavily formatted document using styles in a way that showed off
how themes can change it live, using the Theme selector (Page
Layout=>Themes). I (accidentally) saved it as Word 97-2003 file format, and
despite saving it again back in Word 2007 format, the doc's theme now can't
be changed.

I created another doc to test how themes break when saved in Word '97-2003
format, using lots of styles. I saved one copy as Word 2007, and another in
Word '97-2003 format, then opening both and examining the styles with the
Style Inspector (Home=>Styles=>Styles 'launcher' (arrow/square at
bottom-right of Styles group)=>'Style Inspector' (from the middle icon at
the bottom of that work pane.)

The only difference I could see between the two docs is in the Font style -
the 2003 format version explicitly names the font --> "(Default( Candara 14
pt Bold ...", while the Word 2007 version references a style --> "(Default)
+Heading 14 pt Bold ..."

Even if I re-apply a style (like "Heading 1") from the style selector
(Home=>Styles='Heading 1"), I *still* can't use the Theme selector.

So, my question is this: Can I rescue my heavily formatted document? How
do I change the explicit font names to style references? Can I even un-set
the explicit font name?

Thanks!
Charles.

 

[Tony Jollans]

I'm afraid you're out of luck if you don't have a backup. The new (2007)
Themes cannot be saved in 97-2003 format and Word converts all the theme
references to absolute colours, fonts, etc. and the change is irreversible.

When you saved as .doc, did it actually overwrite the .docx file you had?
Off the top of my head I didn't think it would do that unless you explicitly
downgraded the document which wouldn't be accidental.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't think Charles has actually lost the 2007 docx; he's asking
hypothetically whether it's possible to recover 2007 formatting after a
document has been saved in .doc format.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Suzanne,

It did sound as if he saved an existing document as .doc then resaved it back to its prior .docx name, which would have extended
some of the 97-2003 legacy limitations into the .docx file as well.

===============
I don't think Charles has actually lost the 2007 docx; he's asking
hypothetically whether it's possible to recover 2007 formatting after a
document has been saved in .doc format.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill <<
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*