{"id":65,"date":"2006-09-14T09:32:47","date_gmt":"2006-09-14T17:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.formtek.com\/blog\/?p=65"},"modified":"2006-09-14T09:32:47","modified_gmt":"2006-09-14T17:32:47","slug":"microsoft-office-2007-file-formats-for-data-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/microsoft-office-2007-file-formats-for-data-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Office 2007 File Formats for Data Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft’s Office 2007<\/a> (Office 12) product suite is due out at the end of 2006 and will introduce many changes in MS Office suite file formats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The classic Microsoft Word pre-2003 file\u00a0format has become a frequently used file exchange format for many business documents.\u00a0 With Office 2007 familiar file formats like .doc, .xls and .ppt will go away.\u00a0 Document extensions will now be four characters.\u00a0 For example, default Word documents will now end in .docx.\u00a0 But that is only the beginning.<\/p>\n

Internally there will be a new\u00a0file format used by Office called Open XML<\/a>.\u00a0 This is an extension of the format Microsoft first introduced in the Office 2003 product.\u00a0 Open XML will be the default format used when creating and saving Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, and Powerpoint presentations.<\/p>\n

The benefits of the new Open XML format are that the saved files will be much smaller because the format is compressed.\u00a0 Microsoft estimates the file sizes to be 50-75% smaller.\u00a0 The previous Office formats were not compressed (although they\u00a0were mostly not very human readable).\u00a0 Microsoft also claims that the XML-based architecture used for the format will make data recovery of information easier, should files become damaged or corrupted.\u00a0\u00a0They also claim that the new format will enable better data integration when using this format with Microsoft back-end services.<\/p>\n

The older .doc, .xls and .ppt file formats will still be readable, and users can explicitly choose to save files in the older more universally exchangeable file formats.\u00a0 It will be possible to change the Office settings from the default to always save the older formats.\u00a0 But the default settings are likely to cause a lot of problems early on when people try to exchange files with others who have not yet upgraded.<\/p>\n

To ease part of the pain in migrating to the new formats, Microsoft is also offering<\/a> patch software for users of Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003 that will automatically convert and recognize files saved in the new format from these older versions of the Office suite.<\/p>\n

In addition to Open XML, Microsoft has also announced that they will allow files to be saved in the ODF file format.\u00a0 Open Document Format<\/a> (ODF) is a file format which IBM<\/a> , Sun Microsystems, Novell, OpenOffice.org, and 30 other organizations have\u00a0participated in creating.\u00a0 Here<\/a> is the specification of the Open Office XML Document Interchange\u00a0standard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Microsoft has argued that their Open XML is superior to ODF because it is more compact and better performing.\u00a0 Microsoft enlisted companies like Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, Intel, the British Library, and Toshiba to ratify Open XML as a standard within the European Computer Manufacturers’ Association (ECMA) — somewhat ironic given that Microsoft took the standardization route through a European body given the problems that they’re been having in the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After being pressured, Microsoft launched the ODF-Open XML compatibility project called Open XML Translator Project<\/a>\u00a0and later announced that they would allow documents to also be saved\u00a0in the\u00a0ODF format from within Office.<\/p>\n

Office 2007 will also have the option to ‘Save As’ to PDF<\/a> file format.\u00a0 This is a key feature and reason why many\u00a0people purchase the\u00a0Adobe Acrobat product .\u00a0 It’s no wonder that Adobe complained<\/a> at Microsoft’s announcement of this feature for Office.\u00a0 Microsoft eventually backed down and will make the Save As PDF\u00a0feature a free download<\/a> rather than a bundled feature.<\/p>\n

To muddy the waters even more, Microsoft is introducing yet another file format called XPS<\/a>.\u00a0 XPS\u00a0is Microsoft’s response to the PDF file format.\u00a0 XPS stands for XML Page Specification.\u00a0 Like PDF, XPS supports features like editable metadata, annotations, digital signatures, hyperlinks and bookmarks.\u00a0 Free XPS viewers will be available for Windows, MacIntosh, Unix and Linux systems.\u00a0 XPS does not yet support any kind of scripting.\u00a0 PDF has become the default standard in many segments like law, insurance, and government — it may be too late for XPS to make a challenge there, but it will be interesting to see how XPS and PDF will compete.<\/p>\n

So which is it?\u00a0 Will you decide to save your document as Classic Word, Open XML Word, XPS or PDF?\u00a0 Given the number of file format choices, it’s likely that there will be some confusion by users\u00a0early on with the introduction of Office 2007, especially with Open XML being the default.<\/p>\n

A free Beta version of the Office 2007 product can be downloaded here<\/a>\u00a0or can be tested with a no-install on-line version\u00a0here<\/a>.
\nFormtek<\/a> is a member of the Microsoft Partner program.<\/p>\n

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Microsoft’s Office 2007 (Office 12) product suite is due out at the end of 2006 and will introduce many changes in MS Office suite file formats.\u00a0 The classic Microsoft Word pre-2003 file\u00a0format has become a frequently used file exchange format…<\/span><\/p>\n

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