Support for Microsoft Office 2007

The latest version of Microsoft Office for Windows, Office 2007 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access), introduces a new file format that does not work with older versions of Office. Office 2007 also looks very different from previous Office versions.  The traditional menu system has been replaced by a "Ribbon".  There may be a significant learning curve for many people.

Labs and Classrooms

Microsoft Office 2007 will be installed on university owned Windows XP computers, including labs and classrooms, during Summer 2008. Labs, including Moody Hall 212, Trustee Hall 108, Ragsdale 212 and Library 203 have been upgraded to Office 2007. The classroom Trustee 305 was also upgraded to Office 2007. Other labs and classrooms will be updated over the course of the summer. Teacher's stations in non-hands on classrooms will be updated in the break between the summer and fall sessions.

Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff may begin requesting upgrades to their office computers (Windows XP) beginning May 1st by filling out a software request form. All new Windows XP computers purchased after July 1, 2008 will come with Office 2007. Staff departments are encouraged to upgrade as a whole if possible. Computers models below a GX 620 (GX 240s, GX260s and GX270s) cannot be upgraded to Office 2007.

Faculty and staff may check out an Office 2007 installer for their home computer by visiting the Faculty Resource Center or Computer Help Desk.

Quick Tips for Using Office 2007

All guides are available in Word or PDF format.

Trainings for Office 2007

IT will offer several 30 minute classes to introduce the changes to Office 2007. All classes will be held in Moody Hall 309. To register for a free workshop, please sign up on our Training site. Special training may be arranged for a department or class by emailing training@stedwards.edu.

Compatibility Pack for Office XP and Office 2003

Users of earlier versions of Office (Office XP and Office 2003) can install the Office Compatibility Pack which will convert the new Office 2007 format to one readable by Office XP or Office 2003.  There is no Compatibility Pack available for Mac OS X versions of Office at this time. Please contact the Computer Help Desk for assistance with installation of the Compatibility Pack. You may also download the Compatibility Pack from http://www.frc.stedwards.edu/installers.

Instructions for saving Office 2007 documents in a format compatible with older versions

The latest version of Microsoft Office, Office 2007 (Word PowerPoint, Excel), introduces a new file format that does not work with older versions of Office.  For example, older versions of Microsoft Office save Word documents as .doc files.  Microsoft Office 2007 saves Word documents as .docx files which older versions of Microsoft Office cannot open.

St. Edward's University does not support Office 2007 at this time and recommends that you not save your Office 2007 documents in Microsoft's new file format.  Instead, you
should save your Office 2007in the older format.  To do so:

1. Click the Office Button in Word 2007, Excel 2007 or PowerPoint 2007
2. Choose Save As
3. Choose Word 97-2003 (or choose PowerPoint 97-2003 or Excel 97-2003 for those applications) format.  This saves your Word 2007 document not as a .docx file but as a .doc file that can be opened and read in older versions of  Office.
   

Note that saving PowerPoint 2007 files in the PowerPoint 97-2003 format may cause formatting in your presentation to change. Please review your PowerPoint after saving it in the older format.

To  force Office 2007 to always save your new files in the old .doc, .ppt,  or .xls file formats:

1. Click the Office Button
2. Click on the Word Options button,
3. Click Save, and in the Save files in this format pull-down list, choose the Word 97-2003 format. 
   
4. You will need to do this in each Office 2007 program.

Watch the instructional video on how to save files in Word 2007.