As a freelance content provider it is but natural that I deal with documents of all sorts. I open new ones. I save them and share them. Sharing most of the time involves mailing them across to others or uploading them to an online document management service and share a link or email as an attachment.
During one of those events, I sent across a word file that I created in Word 2010 (beta). This document has an extension docx. In the past I did have problems opening documents because of compatibility issues between different versions. Word 97 loses its format when you try to open it Word 95. Similarly you will find that a document that you created in OpenOffice looks different in certain respects, when you open it in MS Office word.
During those times there were occasions when I used Abiword or some such RTF tool. While I was giving OpenOffice’s Writer a spin, I also downloaded a version of the MSOffice Word viewer. All of them came with their own constraints.
Later I started using the online versions. I used to upload my documents to Google Docs, or Zoho or to my account on Skydrive MS Office. I upload my document and then share the documents. Most of the time I used to send the link across and all the recipient has to do is click on the link and read it.
But in this particular instance I refer to, though I uploaded the document to one of my online document management accounts, I mailed her a copy. I just wanted to see if she was able to open the document and read it. She could not open it. So I opened the Save As dialog box in my Word 2010 Beta and saved it as ‘Word 97 – 2003 document’. I sent it across. She could open it. She said she would read it and get back to me with her review.*
So that is one more way to share your word document. If you are using a Word 2010 Beta and if you are not sure about the version of the MS Office Word or any other word application the other person is using, it is best to open a ‘SaveAs’ dialog box and save it as ‘Word 97 -2000 document’.And then mail it across.
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Please feel free to tell me how you share you documents. Thank you.
*In this instance I still am waiting for her review.
