Ravin said:
Suzanne,
Thanks for your comments. However if you could scan through this
group, you will see lots of issues on the same issue. The tricky part
here is that while some documents created in 2000 can be opened using
word 2003, some could not. There was a theory that it has something to
do with objects created in these documents which were not compatible
with office 2003. Another one says that we have to disable the office
plugin in the anti virus software. Your views on this will be
appreciated. Thanks.
Ravin
Hi,
You _do_ have to disable the Norton AV Office plug in. Otherwise it will
drive you crazy. It doesn't help anything to have it enabled. Try disabling
it before you even think about problems between versions.
Suzanne has done more than scan through this group. She has been a major
contributor for a number of years. Microsoft recognized the value of her
insights a long time ago when she was named an MVP. I quickly scanned myself
and counted over 50 posts here from her within the last week. This doesn't
mean that she (or any of us) is always right, but I would advise studying
her responses and following up on her suggestions before trying anything
else. If I had to guess, I would estimate that her analyses and suggestions
are right on the money more than 99% of the time - and I've never seen her
give advice that, if mistaken, would damage someone's system or documents.
Like Suzanne, I regularly open documents created and used in Word 97, and
Word 2000 in Word 2003 without problem. I am careful to keep the Save to
Word 97 option checked in Word 2000 and Word 2003 because otherwise I would
expect problems when my documents were opened in Word 97. While there are
some differences (nested tables started in Word 2000 and the Style Separator
started in Word 2002), basic files, including tables of contents,
cross-references and indices work fine across versions. Virtually all of my
templates are built to work in Word 97 and Word 2003, both.
Saying this does not discount the experience you are having. Anyone who
works with computers and doesn't believe in gremlins is truly living in a
fairyland. If you want to send me one of your problem documents I'll be
happy to take a look at it in Word 97, Word 2000 and Word 2003. I suspect
that the problem is in the documents rather than in differences in file
formats. The move from one version to another may expose weaknesses that
don't cause problems (yet) without the move.
I guess one other thing bears examination is the repeated use of documents.
While I have a few documents that have been in use for more than ten years,
moving from Word 5 on the Mac into Word 95, Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002
and now Word 2003, they are the exception. Most documents are for short-term
use. They are for a specific project or case. Templates are another story
altogether. I certainly have templates that have moved through these
versions (at least since Word 97) and are still in use. In Word Perfect
people often reuse documents, using Save As to create a new document based
on the old one. Doing that in Word is asking for trouble because weird
formatting seems to accumulate and can be very hard to track.
