Microsoft™ has just released Office 2007, and it arrives with a new file-naming system which may cause problems for pre-2007 users. Fortunately, a remedy exists.

Microsoft™ Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files are now formatted using eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The good news is that files saved in the new XML format are half the size of previous Microsoft™ Office versions, saving valuable hard drive space.

Microsoft™ Office 2007 files are distinguishable from previous versions by their file extensions. Instead of saving a Microsoft™ Office Word, Excel, or PowerPoint as .doc, xls or .ppt respectively, files will be saved as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx.

A free Compatibility Pack is currently available for download for all who do not have Microsoft™ Office 2007 installed. The Compatibility Pack allowsclients to access all versions of Microsoft™ Office Word, Excel and Powerpoint (1997-2007). Note: Layout and ability to edit certain features will change when transitioning between different versions of Microsoft™ Office.

To download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads. Then choose ‘Most Popular Downloads’ amd select the link for ‘Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.’