Hi RollsRoyce,

Although Word 2010 can create PDF files, neither it nor any previous version has been able to read them. From what I've read, it seems Adobe has been largely responsible for this state of affairs by refusing MS a licence (which it's made freely available to just about anyone else) to do so.

If you're using Adobe to convert PDFs to Word documents, what has the Adobe save default for that conversion to do with Word??? If Adobe creates a docx file (Word 2010's native format), why should that be a problem?

As for your complaint that Word 2010 defaults to docx and you have to manually select doc, it's always been that way. If, for some reason you can't save a docx document in the older doc format, that suggests your Office installation may need repairing. Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Start > Windows Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features > Microsoft Office 2010 > Change)?

Finally, Word 2010 is not "the latest/greatest etc. Word software". It has been superseded by Office 365 AKA Office 2013 - which can both read and write PDFs.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]