Hi all,


I have a .docx file that I need to convert to .doc so I can work on it in Word 97-2003. Looking at the .docx file in Office 365, it seems fine; however, when I convert the file (using 'Save As' in Office 365) and open it in Word 97-2003, there is a problem with the footnote numbers.

Looking at the attached screenshot, you can see that the footnote indicators in the text (after the words 'benefits', 'others', 'McKnight' and 'conflicts') are barely visible; they have gone 'super-superscript' and are so high up that only the very bottom of the numbers is visible. And the same is true in the footnotes themselves, at the bottom of the page.

In terms of formatting, Word just thinks these are standard superscript numbers, and in the Format > Font > Character Spacing box, the 'Position' setting is actually set to 'Lowered' in some cases! Changing it to 'Normal' has no effect. Changing the Style box to 'Clear formatting' or 'Normal' doesn't fix the problem either. I've also tried pasting the entire text into a new file, but the problem is still there.

Can anyone think of anything I can do to fix this, either in Office 365 or Word 97?

Attached Images

Screenshot 2024-10-10 00.18.51.png (134.4 KB, 18 views)

Without access to a portion of the converted document containing the actual content, we'd only be guessing how to resolve it. It looks like it probably has something to do with a conflict between the line spacing and paragraph spacing in the footnotes. If you attach an extract from the document, we'll probably be better able to help you.

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

Many thanks for your response. I've uploaded an extract from the file, both in .docx and .doc, at https://file.io/9Mf2z7t3J6pK . You'll see that the problem is only evident in the .doc file, not the .docx file.


Another thing I've noticed is that the files are weirdly large for some reason - 2.6MB for the .docx and 1.6MB for the .doc, even though these extracts are only one page long. (This is why I had to put the extracts on a hosting site, as this forum has a max limit of 500Kb for attachments.) Perhaps that's got something to do with it?

Please attach the documents to your post. All I get when I follow your link is:
The transfer you requested has been deleted.

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

As noted above, I can't upload the files here because they are too large (despite ony being one-page Word documents). Please try these links:
Just a moment...
Just a moment...

I asked for an excerpt, not whole documents. All that's needed is a single representative page of the converted document.

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

Those files are both excerpts; each one contains a single page from the original document. As noted above, the file sizes are unusually large for a single-page document, and I don't know why; perhaps this has something to do with the footnote problem.

Your files are so large because you've saved them with embedded fonts. In the docx file, that's about 5½ Mb of embedded fonts. Without those, the docx file becomes just 47Kb and the doc file becomes just 52Kb.

Regardless, I'm not seeing the problem depicted in your first post in either file.

Given that Word uses the active printer driver to manage document layout, the symptoms suggest you have a faulty printer driver. Try changing to a different one (e.g. the Windows PDF 'printer'). If the problem resolves itself when you do that, it's definitely a printer driver problem. Either way, you should ensure you're using the printer maker's latest drivers for your printer. Even reinstalling the current driver might suffice if it's the latest version.

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