conversion file containing Smart Art to Office 2003 file

[Office Productivity Consultant]

In Word 2007 when you convert a file containing Smart Art to a Word 97-2003
format, it converts the Smart Art to one solid graphic object. Only when you
convert the file back to Word 2007 does the Smart Art item return to being
editable. This is not true in Excel 2007. When working in Compatibility mode
in Excel 2007 a Smart Art object stays a Smart Art Object when you are in
Excel 2007. It is still a solid graphic when you open the xls file in an
earlier version. Anyone know why and how to get it to work in Word the way it
does in Excel?

 

[Jay Freedman]

In Word 2007 when you convert a file containing Smart Art to a Word 97-2003
format, it converts the Smart Art to one solid graphic object. Only when you
convert the file back to Word 2007 does the Smart Art item return to being
editable. This is not true in Excel 2007. When working in Compatibility mode
in Excel 2007 a Smart Art object stays a Smart Art Object when you are in
Excel 2007. It is still a solid graphic when you open the xls file in an
earlier version. Anyone know why and how to get it to work in Word the way it
does in Excel?

The "why" is some technical stuff. I've been told that Excel 2007 uses
only the newer (Escher II) graphics engine, while Word 2007 is sort of
half-and-half new and old.

The "how", unfortunately, is that you can't. If you want to work
inside the Smart Art, you must convert.