How to save a Microsoft Word document for an earlier version of Word

How to save a Microsoft Word document for an earlier version of Word

Document number: 15126

Note: A Word 2000 document can be read by Word 97 without a specific conversion being done. Later versions of Word can always read earlier versions of Word documents.

To save a Microsoft Word document for a user with an earlier version of Word:

Create or open the document.
Once the document is complete or you have substantially started it, you may want to save the document on your machine, as a backup.
After you save the document, click on the F ile menu, then on Save A s...
Choose a directory in which to save the document.
In the File name: field, fill in the name of the file.

You should use a different name if you saved a backup of the document.

In the Save as type: drop-down list, choose the appropriate File type.

For Word 95, choose Word 6.0/95 (*.doc). In terms of size, this option is better than the Word 6.0/95 - RTF (*.doc) option because it generally uses less space. However, the RTF format may be read by any version of Word, including version 2.x.
Remember, Word 97 users can read Word 2000 documents without any special conversion, and vice versa.

Some of the special features available in later versions of Microsoft Word will be lost in the conversion. For more information about Word 97's compatibility with Word 2000, see Eureka! document 15152 — Office 2000 file compatibility with Office 97.