ALL: Word 2007/08 File converter options

A lot of you are still using the past version of MicroSoft Office - Office 2003 for PCs, and Office 2004 for Macs. MicroSoft has released the new version of Office or the Mac, 2008, and Office 2007 has been out on the PC for over a year. I'm sure the school will switch the Macs to 2008, if they haven't already. MS probably requires them to do so.

So, you'll need to be able to open the new files at home even if you're working with the older versions of Word and Excel. Here are four options for you:

1) You can get the MicroSoft file converters from the source itself:

For Windows XP and Vista: Here

For Mac: The MS site won't give me a direct link for the download. So:

--Go here.
--Go to the menu at the bottom of the page, on the left. Select "Additional Tools."
--The first option in the center menu should read "Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0.1." Click on that.
--In the right-hand box, the release notes and download links will appear. Choose the English disk image link and follow the instructions in the .dmg file.

2) Google Docs can open these files, as can Gmail. So if you get a file from me or another teacher and you can't read it, Gmail can open the file for you. If you have a Gmail account and I sent the file to your school address, forward it to your Gmail account and read the attachment there.

3) There is a free online file converter called Zanzar. It will convert most common file types to something readable by your machine. So, you can convert the .docx file to a .doc file for an older version of Word. There are a number of other options as well. Useful for converting images and web page files also.

4) You can use a FireFox plug-in called OpenXML Viewer. This will let you open an Office 2007/2008 file in your FireFox browser. This will work for PCs and Linux machines at the moment. Do not download the source code file; download the Reader ZIP file.

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I will probably keep using Windows Journal to write up homework keys and the occasional handout.

Here are two options for reading those notes:

1) To read the Journal file, you can use the Journal reader from Microsoft.

2) The MHT file can be read in Internet Explorer natively, or you can download the unMHT plug-in for Firefox. Note that there is a plug-in available at that site for Opera and Safari users, and one for reading an MHT file in Outlook as well.

I've been told that Gmail/Google Docs will also open/read/print the files, but I haven't used it yet.

If you still can't read a file I send you, then there is something else wrong in your setup. What kind of chip do you have in that computer - a Dorito?

CS