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We wrote this FAQ to answer the many questions we receive on this topic from our clients and other inquiring minds in the many electronic communities we frequent.

How to Open and Convert Word 97 Documents from within Word 95 and Word 6

The Microsoft Word 97 Converter is available either on the Office 97 Professional CD (\Valupack\Wrd97cnv\Wrd97cnv.exe) or free from http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/dp2388.asp. The converter converts documents from Microsoft Word 97 format to Word 95 as well as Word 6.x for Windows, Windows NT, and the Macintosh.

This converter is vital in mixed shops where both Word 97 is used along with earlier versions (Word 6, and Word 95). Once installed on the older versions of Word, you can then open Word 97 native files.

To install the converter, first shut down any running instances of Word (including Exchange if you use WordMail) then just double-click Wrd97cnv.exe and follow the prompts from there. The setup also places an informative document Wrd97cnv.doc in your \MSOffice\Winword folder. You should definitely study this document carefully, as it provides steps for network installation of the converter along with an extensive table of backward conversion issues. For example, regarding page borders the table reports, "Page borders are lost." No surprise there. And regarding "Floating pictures with text wrapping around them" the table reports, "Floating pictures are converted in a frame to WMF (Windows Metafile) or PICT (Macintosh) format." The document covers a total of 27 conversion issues.

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