Word 2007: How to Turn Compatibility Mode On By Default

If you are working in a workplace where some users have shifted to Microsoft Office 2007 while the rest are still using Office 2003 or previous versions, the following Compatibility Mode hack will simplify things for you. What is Compatibility mode in Office 2007 ? - When you open a document in Microsoft Office Word 2007 that was created in Word 2003, you'll see Compatibility Mode written in the title bar of the document window.
Compatibility Mode ensures you can open, edit, and save Word 97–2003 documents using Word 2007 but no new features in Word 2007 are available so that people who are using previous versions of Word will have full editing capabilities.


The problem is that Word 2007 will switch ON Compatibility Mode only when you open a document created in previous version of Word.
To force Compatibility Mode in Word 2007 for even new documents, you may add the CompatMode key to the registry as explained here: Find the following section in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office.0\Word \Options
In the right panel, right-click and choose New - DWord. Replace New Value #1 with CompatMode
Double-click CompatMode, and replace the 0 with a 1.
Close the registry, then start Word. All document will be editable in compatibility mode now. Thanks Herbs on MVP newsgroups.
You should save the files as .doc, not .docx format as it is not supported by Word 2003. Similar registry settings for Compatibility mode maybe used with Excel and PowerPoint 2007.
Realted: Dealing with Office 2007 Files Without Upgrading Microsoft Office
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