Office 2000 versus 97

[Tester]

Hi there,
We are going to upgrade from Office 97 to Office 2000. Are there big
differences between the versions? I am thinking if users forget to save down
as 97 format before sending the Office 2000 formatted document to 97
recipients, will the recipients be able to read them? Thank you, Calin

 

[Echo S]

Hi there,
We are going to upgrade from Office 97 to Office 2000. Are there big
differences between the versions? I am thinking if users forget to save down
as 97 format before sending the Office 2000 formatted document to 97
recipients, will the recipients be able to read them? Thank you, Calin

Wow, it's been a long time, but IIRC, there weren't many significant
differences between Office 97 and 2000. Well, except for Access.

With Word, Excel and PPT, your users won't have to "backsave" (or "save
down") to previous versions, as the 97 and 2000 versions share the same
file formats. The users of 97 will just not see some features present in
2000.

For example, PPT 2000 supports animated GIFs, whereas 97 doesn't. 97
users can still open PPT 2000 files, but the animated GIFs are static.

Someone else will have to fill you in on Access, I'm afraid.

 

[Sync]

As far as I know Access 2000 was completely re-written and functions
differently so you can't share databases unless you save as 97.

Others:
The files may be compatible but you can lose formatting in the conversion.
For example if there is something you can do in 2000 that 97 doesn't know
how to handle it may represent it a different way.

Some examples may be:
Frameset Properties, Nested tables, Inline horizontal lines, Decorative
underline, 3-D borders, Page breaks in table cells,
Animated GIF pictures, Graphic bullets, Auto-refresh for External data
ranges ...

An alternative is to offer some office viewers.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp

Sync

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hi there,
We are going to upgrade from Office 97 to Office 2000. Are there big
differences between the versions? I am thinking if users forget to save down
as 97 format before sending the Office 2000 formatted document to 97
recipients, will the recipients be able to read them? Thank you, Calin

Why are you going through the pain/cost of "upgrading" to 5-year old
software?

You are asking what the differences are. There must be differences
already known to you else you wouldn't have made the decision to change.

Seems to me you ought keep using Office 97 ... or change to something
more contemporary.

 

[TANKIE]

I do a lot of work in Access, and found the 2000 version to be more stable.
Interface looks different on a few screens, but transition is easy.

2000 will bug you to convert your 97 files. Excell may do this too, but it's no
biggie.

 

[Rob Schneider]

I do a lot of work in Access, and found the 2000 version to be more stable.
Interface looks different on a few screens, but transition is easy.

2000 will bug you to convert your 97 files. Excell may do this too, but it's no
biggie.

Access 2000 may be good, but should they be going 97 to 2000, or 97 to 2003?

My hunch is that if they don't know why they need to upgrade, then there
is no reason to upgrade and not do it. No compelling reason to change,
then don't change. If change, then change to get something better,
something that will last longer, or fixing issues. The OP didn't say
they were having any problems.