Software headache

[Hawkmoon]

Background: I have had a laptop/notebook computer for years, but I never use it for serious work. I work at a desktop, and the portable is for carrying files, doing light updates/edits, and keeping tabs on e-mail and some forums when traveling. I recently decided I'd rather travel a bit lighter, so the last notebook has been replaced by an Acer Aspire One netbook.

The Acer does everything I need. The issue: It came with a 60-day demo version of Microsoft Office 2007 on the drive, with a utility to activate it. I skipped that and just installed my Office Pro suite, which I have updated with the Microsoft patch to open .DOCX files.

All was well until I received an e-mail with a .DOCX attachment, tried to open it, and the &^%$#@*& computer defaulted to trying to fire up Word 2007 to open it. I've wasted nearly an hour trying to figure out just where Microsoft stashes the .exe files for Word 2003 and Word 2007, so I can set a file default to use Word 2003 to always open .DOCX documents.

I'm also strongly tempted to delete the demo version of Office (Home) 2007 from the computer ... but I don't know what to delete to get rid of it.

Any IT support gurus out there with some guidance?

Semi-related question: Does anyone know if the latest version(s) of Open Office support .DOCX files?

[AZRedhawk44]

Control Panel. 

If it's Windows 7, the applet you want is called "Programs."  They renamed it from the WinXP/2000/98 name of "Add/Remove Programs."  From there, you'll get a manifest of all installed applications on the computer.  Highlight Office 2007 and click uninstall.

[GigaBuist]

The latest OpenOffice.org will handle DOCX files.

[lee n. field]

I'm also strongly tempted to delete the demo version of Office (Home) 2007 from the computer ... but I don't know what to delete to get rid of it.

Any IT support gurus out there with some guidance?

Where to remove.  control panel, add/remove programs (or if later than XP, "programs and features").  Highlight the program in question, click change or remove or whatever it says.  With MS Office, this will fire up the Office installer, and that will give you the options you want.

If it were me, I'd remove both, then install the one I really want to use.

There's an addon from Microsoft that lets Office 2003 handle the newer Office formats.

[Hawkmoon]

There's an addon from Microsoft that lets Office 2003 handle the newer Office formats.

As I said, I have that. That's why I don't feel like spending a bunch of money for Office 2007 or Office 2010 when Office 2003 does everything I want or need (plus a whole lot more).

[RocketMan]

I think you want to right-click on the .docx file and select the "Open With" function.  Tell it to use MS Word 2003 to open that file.  You may have to browse for it if it does not appear as one of the default selections.  Also check the "Always use this program..." box so the system changes the file associations for .docx files.

[KD5NRH]

I'm also strongly tempted to delete the demo version of Office (Home) 2007 from the computer ... but I don't know what to delete to get rid of it.

FDISK.EXE does a great job of cleaning up old Office installs.

Any IT support gurus out there with some guidance?

Lots of them: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne

Semi-related question: Does anyone know if the latest version(s) of Open Office support .DOCX files?

Anything after 3.0 should.  I think it's at 3.2 now, with 3.3 on the way.

[CNYCacher]

That's why I don't feel like spending a bunch of money for Office 2007 or Office 2010 when or Office 2003 when Open Office does everything I want or need (plus a whole lot more).

FTFY

[Marnoot]

Open Office is great unless you need to interchange files with those that use Office. While it usually works ok, Writer can often screw-up formatting and cause other issues when viewed on MS Word. This makes it unsuitable for professional environments where you don't want a client opening a file where the formatting isn't right. Calc simply can't do all the things that Excel can do, particularly the more advanced/complex functionality.

That said, if you're not going to be exchanging highly formatted doc files with others using MS Office, Open Office Writer works just fine. Similarly if your spreadsheet needs are not complex, Calc is a good free substitute.

[KD5NRH]

Open Office is great unless you need to interchange files with those that use Office. While it usually works ok, Writer can often screw-up formatting and cause other issues when viewed on MS Word. This makes it unsuitable for professional environments where you don't want a client opening a file where the formatting isn't right.

In general, I've never needed the client to have the ability to modify the document, so exporting as PDF handles it quite nicely.  I haven't looked to see if it can export as a fillable PDF form yet, though, as that would cover the remaining situations.

[Marnoot]

Good point. PDF export does indeed negate the stated issue with Writer if the other party just needs to see, rather than modify, the document.

[Hawkmoon]

FDISK.EXE does a great job of cleaning up old Office installs.

Yeah. As well as new Office installs, browser installs, photo editing installs, and any important data files I might happen to have on my work-away-from-work computer.

No thanks.

[Hawkmoon]

I think you want to right-click on the .docx file and select the "Open With" function.  Tell it to use MS Word 2003 to open that file.  You may have to browse for it if it does not appear as one of the default selections. 

The problem is, I know how to do that, but the way the programs appear it's impossible to determine which Microsoft Word is the 2003 version and which is the 2007 version.

[KD5NRH]

Yeah. As well as new Office installs, browser installs, photo editing installs, and any important data files I might happen to have on my work-away-from-work computer.

Portable external drives are cheap, and almost certainly more reliable than the last batch of laptop drives I had.  They also make it easy to switch from desktop to laptop, and even use somebody else's laptop (or dual boot yours) without having to worry about transferring the files back and forth.

[lee n. field]

The problem is, I know how to do that, but the way the programs appear it's impossible to determine which Microsoft Word is the 2003 version and which is the 2007 version.

Which is why I suggested whacking them both and reinstalling the one you want.

[RocketMan]

Which is why I suggested whacking them both and reinstalling the one you want.

No need to reinstall.  Just browse to the Word 2003 file.  You probably have two instances of the same version of Word showing in the defaults.  I see that a lot on my company workstation as it has both Office 2003 and 2007 apps.
The browse location for the 2003 version should be in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Winword.exe".  The icon that shows for Winword.exe should be the familar MS2003 version, mostly a big blue "W".
"Office11" may show as "Off11" or something similarly truncated.  There are some variations.
Right-click on the Winword.exe file and check the Version tab under properties.  It should tell you whether it's 2003 or 2007 under "Product Name".

[Brad Johnson]

Word 2003 will not open a .docx file.  That's why it's trying to open 2007.

Brad

[RocketMan]

Word 2003 will not open a .docx file.  That's why it's trying to open 2007.

Brad

Actually it will.  He has the add-ons for 2003 to open them.

[Brad Johnson]

Oh, okay.  Didn't see that.

File association changes in 7 are easy.  Right click on the file and a box will pop up that has "Open File Type With..." and an accompanying button to change the file association.  Apologies if that's already been mentioned.

Brad