3

So far I have been using Office 2003 and I have lots of .xls files created in 2003 version.

Will they open seamlessly in Office 2013 and remain as 2003 format files? That’s how I want it to be but not sure if it will work that way. I understand that newer versions of office uses different formats like .xlsm .docx etc.

Is there any setting to retain 2003 as 2003 files in Office 2013? I shall be moving quite a few files between my laptop and desktop and as of now desktop has Office 2003 only. Thanks in advance.

Rohit
  • 61

1 Answers1

3

Is there any setting to retain 2003 as 2003 files in Office 2013?

Save your Excel worksheets as "Excel 97-2003 Workbook":

You’ve upgraded to Excel 2016, and realize you’ll be sharing workbooks with people who haven’t upgraded yet. Running the Compatibility Checker can help you identify features or information that might not be available in an earlier version, so you can resolve some of those issues before you share your workbook.

The Compatibility Checker runs automatically when you save a workbook to Excel 97-2003 (*.xls) format. You can also run it yourself if you are sharing with someone who's using Excel 2013, 2010, or 2007.

Save a file to .xls format and review Compatibility Checker issues

  1. Click File > Export.

  2. Under Export, click Change File Type.

    Change File Type on the Export tab

  3. Under Workbook File Types, double-click Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls).

    Excel 97-2003 Workbook format

  4. In the Save As dialog box, pick the location for the workbook.

  5. In the File name box, type a new file name or use the one that’s already there.

  6. Click Save.

  7. If the Compatibility Checker appears, review the compatibility issues it found.

    enter image description here

    The Find link takes you to that place in your worksheet. The Help link takes you to information on the issue and possible solutions.

Notes:

  • In Excel 2016, the workbook you just saved in .xls format opens in Compatibility Mode. Keep working in this mode when you plan to send this workbook back and forth to people who open it in the earlier version of Excel.

  • When you’re done with the backward compatibility, click File > Info > Convert to convert the workbook to the current file format so you can take advantage of any new Excel 2016 features.

Source Save an Excel workbook for compatibility with earlier versions of Excel

DavidPostill
  • 162,382