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Force file format in Office via GPO.

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When in the process of upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007, the file types for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint change. This will result in your Office 2003 users not being able to open the documents from the 2007 version. There are two mitigations for this issue.

The first one is to deploy the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack to your Office 2003 users. This will allow your Office 2003 users to load and save documents in the new 2007 format. You can get a copy of the Office 2007 Compatibility pack from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

The second option is to force your Office 2007 users to save all files in the Office 2003 format. You can do this during deployment using the Office Customization Toolkit, or by using Group Policy. By using Group Policy, you can more easily reverse this option once all clients have been upgraded to Office 2007.
The first step is to download the Office 2007 Administrative Templates for Group Policy Manager. You can download them here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=73d955c0-da87-4bc2-bbf6-260e700519a8&displaylang=en


Once you add the administrative templates into your GPO, follow these instructions:
  • In the left pane of the Group Policy Management Console, double-click User Configuration and double-click Administrative Templates (Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) in Windows Vista).
  • To change default file save options in Office Excel 2007:
  • Double-click Microsoft Office Excel 2007, double-click Excel Options, and click Save.
  • In the right pane, right-click Save Excel files as, and selects Properties.
  • In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
  • In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
  • Click Apply to save the settings.
  • To change default file save options in Office PowerPoint 2007:
  • Double-click Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, double-click PowerPoint Options, and click Save.
  • In the right pane, right-click Save files in this format, and select Properties.
  • In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
  • In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
  • Click Apply to save the settings.
  • To change default file save options in Office Word 2007:
  • Double-click Microsoft Office Word 2007, double-click Word Options, and click Save.
  • In the right pane, right-click Save files in this format, and select Properties.
  • In Save files in this format, select Enabled.
  • In the drop-down box, select a default file save format.
  • Click Apply to save the settings.
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