Solved MS Office Compatibility Mode

I've been using MS Office for at least four decades, and consequently have many many .doc and .xls files - some of which I revisit. I currently use Office 365 and have no plans to change any time soon. My question is that a lot of my files (e.g. recipes) open in compatibility mode. That, in itself, is not an issue. I mostly don't use or worry about the various tweaks which MS has introduced in later versions, however I do still want to have access to my old files, and I wonder whether at some point in the future those old files will become unreadable. Is there a way to convert old files to the current version using a batch file or similar app?

I used to use MS Works in the days when I couldn't afford MS Office, and I recall there was a batch conversion app which would make those files Office compatible (apart from the databases). Is there something similar for MS Office?

John

There is easy, not so easy, and app based.

Easy way - you *may* be able to do it, but I tried and I cannot do it with a current Office 365 install.

From 3 Quick Ways to Batch Convert Word DOC to DOCX Files and Vice Versa

Method 3: Use the “Save As” Way​

1. Firstly, arrange all doc or docx files in one folder.
2. Secondly press “Ctrl” and click to select all files.
3. Next right click and choose “Save As” on the menu.
4. Now there shall be multiple “Save As” windows popping up, so choose doc or docx for file type accordingly.
5. Finally click “Save” to close all windows.

However, due to the variety of Windows or Office version, the “Save As” option might not be available on the contextual menu. Therefore, it’s highly recommended to take the 2 macro ways to conduct the task.

Click to expand...

The first 2 methods on the same page are similar also to the method outlined at this site: How to batch convert .doc format files to .docx in Word?

Finally, there is an app (that is rather old) but does allow for Office 2007 formats (the original office that started using the 'x' on the extensions): MultiDoc Converter is a Freeware to convert multiple documents between Word, OpenOffice, PDF and many more

Honestly, though, unless you have over 1000s of these files, I'd do it manually. even if it takes a few months, it's better that way overall - because you open the file, then Save As and change the type from .doc to .docx, as an example - and the original is left intact.

No matter which method you do, though, make a full backup of all the docs as they are - say in OneDrive, or else another storage drive or different online storage provider first.

HTH

Senecio said:

I used to use MS Works in the days when I couldn't afford MS Office, and I recall there was a batch conversion app which would make those files Office compatible (apart from the databases). Is there something similar for MS Office?

Click to expand...

Batch convert app? I don't think so, not from Microsoft at least. You can of course use Excel and Word to convert files one at a time with 'Save as...' or the Convert option in File > Info.

If you really need to batch convert, then you could write a macro to do that, as is suggested here....

answers.microsoft.com | batch convert xls to xlsx

I do remember there being an app from Microsoft to convert Works files to Office. The app I linked to is not from Microsoft, though, and they have not made one to convert from old pre-Office 2007 formats to 2007+ formats, ever.

johnlgalt said:

I do remember there being an app from Microsoft to convert Works files to Office. The app I linked to is not from Microsoft, though.....

Click to expand...

Another option would be to use LibreOffice to open them, then 'Save as....'. MS Works is one of the (many) formats supported in LibreOffice.

Thanks @johnlgalt and @Bree I suspect I will go the manual/individual file route as John suggests. It's really a matter of training myself to check for the Compatibility Mode message at the top and making sure I convert the file before closing it. At least then the files which I actually use will be updated. I would worry that a macro would leave some files corrupted without any indication, so I'd have to open them all to check anyway.

The main reason that I stick with MS Office rather than jumping to Libre Office or one of the other alternatives is that I like and am used to Outlook.

On the other hand, there's a good chance that MS Office will continue to open my old files indefinitely anyway.

John

What I've found when converting some files is that the original ends up in the Recycle Bin, and a new file is saved to the source location. Took me by surprise when I went to empty the Recycle Bin and found it full of all my stuff ...

Senecio said:

I suspect I will go the manual/individual file route as John suggests. It's really a matter of training myself to check for the Compatibility Mode message at the top and making sure I convert the file before closing it.

Click to expand...

I suspect there is no rush to convert. MS Office should continue to support opening and saving older formats for the foreseeable future. I have older versions of Office installed on some of my machines, so I'll continue to keep using the older format and compatibility mode for those spreadsheets I share between machines.