Another totally basic question I'm afraid. I am wondering which of these file formats I should be saving documents in, and why.

.docx (defined simply as word doc)

.doc (defined as word 97-2003)

I currently use .doc, and that would seem by far the simplest way to continue. If I change to using .docx, would I have to laboriously change all my existing files to this type too?

Hi Canna,

The docx format is a completely new format used by Word 2007 & later. It supports a range of features not supported in the earlier doc format, such as Content Controls, Citations, etc. Word 2007 & later work equally well with doc and docx files and there's no need to convert any of your old documents unless you have a need to use the new features with them. And, if you prefer, Word 2007 & later can be configured to save any new documents in the older doc format by default.

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

Hi Paul,

Thank you very much for that!

Is it difficult to configure Word 2007 to make .doc the default file for saving documents? (If it is difficult, I could get help with doing it....).

Hi Canna,

Go to Office Button|Word Options|Save. Choose the desired format from the 'Save files in this format' dropdown.

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

Fantastic! I have done that. Thank you so much for your help.....