Results of saving Word 2003 documents in other file formats

24-bit color in Office Word 2003

With 24-bit color you have more choices for items such as fonts, borders, and shading. Items colored with shades not available in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF will be converted to the nearest supported color.

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF format
Vertically merged table cells	Split into separate cells
Bottom- or center-aligned text in table cells	Shifts to top-aligned text
Vertical text direction	Horizontal text direction
Diagonal cell border	No diagonal cell border
Nested table with text	No nested table. The text is placed in the outer table cell.
Decorative border style	Changes to box border style. The color may change to one that is supported.
No space between HTML table cells Space between HTML table cells	Space between HTML table cells is lost.
Cell "padding" (spacing between the boundary of an HTML table cell and the text inside the cell)	HTML table cell padding is lost.
Numbering in cells	Numbers are converted to regular text but retain their appearance. Automatic numbering does not work.
Allow page breaks in a table is turned on	Allow page breaks in a table is turned off.
Text wrapped around floating object	Object is moved to the paragraph above the table.

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF format
	Character shading is lost
	Character borders are lost
	Animated text becomes bold
	Changes to single strikethrough
Decorative underline styles	Changes to single underline
	Becomes regular text
	Underline color becomes the color of the associated text
	Highlighting is preserved in Word 95 but is lost in Word 6.0

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF format
Decorative border styles	Box border style
Outline numbered lists	The text is saved, but outline numbers are converted to regular text. In Word 6.0 or Word 95, use the Bullets and Numbering command (Format menu) to format lists.
Heading numbered lists	The text is saved, but heading numbers are converted to regular text. In Word 6.0 or Word 95, use the Bullets and Numbering command (Format menu) to format lists.
Multilevel bullets	Multilevel bullets are converted to regular text but retain their appearance. In Word 6.0 or Word 95, use the Bullets and Numbering command (Format menu) to format lists.

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF format
Page border	No page border
Document backgrounds and shapes	Backgrounds are lost
Text-wrapping line break	Regular line break
Table of contents with hyperlink	Hyperlinked text will be underlined but inactive

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in the Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF format
Drawings that were created with the Drawing toolbar	Simple shapes are retained. Decorative line styles and other features not supported are changed to their nearest equivalents.
Objects and pictures with allow overlap turned off	Objects and pictures are allowed to overlap. Some objects and pictures may be obscured.
EMF, PNG, GIF, and JPEG graphics	Graphics are converted to WMF (Windows Metafile) or PICT (Macintosh) format, which does not support graphics compression. This increases the file size of documents that contain graphics.
Pictures with tight or through text wrapping	Pictures with tight or through text wrapping become square text wrapping.
Text wrapped around floating object	Object is moved to the paragraph above the table.
OLE objects with text wrapping	OLE objects with text wrapping are converted to OLE objects in text boxes in front of or behind text.
WordArt	Converted to metafile. Graphics are displayed but cannot be edited.
Middle- or bottom-aligned object	Middle- or bottom-aligned objects move up.
Objects aligned horizontally right, center, inside, or outside	Objects that are aligned horizontally right, center, inside, or outside shift slightly but are close to their original position.
Pictures and objects positioned relative to line	Pictures and objects that are positioned relative to line are positioned relative to paragraph. Objects and pictures may shift.
Pictures and objects positioned relative to character	Pictures and objects that are positioned relative to character are positioned relative to column. Objects and pictures may shift.

Track changes settings

Tracked changes settings are retained. Hidden tracked changes become visible.

Tracked changes for certain properties and styles

Tracked changes for properties of characters, paragraphs, sections, or tables are lost. Style definitions are lost. Other tracked changes are retained and are shown with revision marks. (In Word 95 and Word 6.x, tracked changes are called revisions.)

Markup balloons

Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF does not use markup balloons. Tracked changes appear in the text of the document and comments are displayed in the comment pane or in ScreenTips rather than in balloons.

Document protection for tracked changes, comments, and forms

These settings are retained in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF. However, the password used to secure them is lost. (In Word 95 and Word 6.x, tracked changes are called revisions, and comments are called annotations.)

Digital signatures

Digital signatures are lost.

Password protection

Password protection is lost but can be reapplied in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Read-only recommended

Read-only recommended is lost but can be reapplied in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Document protection for tracked changes, comments, forms, and formatting

These settings are retained in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF. (In Word 95 and Word 6.x, tracked changes are called revisions, and comments are called annotations.) However, the password used to secure them is lost.

Horizontal in Vertical

Horizontal in Vertical becomes horizontal text in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Two Lines in One

Two Lines in One becomes one regular line in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Text snaps to document grid

Document grid is lost and text is not positioned on it in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF. Text is spaced as regular text.

First and last line breaks control characters

Line breaks do not respect these character settings in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Emphasis characters

Emphasis characters are removed and text is underlined in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

East Asian and right-to-left characters

The English version of Word Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF does not support East Asian or right-to-left characters.

Fit text

Fit text will be lost. Text will be spaced as regular text.

Hyperlinks

Text used for hyperlinks will be formatted to resemble hyperlinks in Office Word 2003. However, in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF, hyperlinks will be lost.

Frames pages

Frames properties in Web pages are lost. The Web pages used by the frames page are saved. In Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF, the document shows the text "This page uses frames but your browser doesn't support them."

Microsoft ActiveX controls on forms

ActiveX controls are converted to metafiles. Results can be viewed but not edited in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Linked style sheets

Linked style sheets are only supported in Web format files. All links to style sheets will be lost.

HTML DIV borders

HTML DIV borders, or group borders, are lost.

Microsoft Visual Basic Projects

Visual Basic Projects are lost in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Unicode characters

May result in potential data loss. Unicode characters (2 bytes per character) are mapped to corresponding ANSI (Windows) or Macintosh equivalents (1 byte per character), or converted to question marks (?). Foreign language characters are the most likely to be affected.

DOCPROPERTY field

The DOCPROPERTY field is retained in Word 95. In Word 6.x, the field appears as "Error! Bookmark not defined."

Embedded fonts

Embedded fonts are lost, and Word 95 or Word 6.x assigns the closest font available.

AUTOTEXTLIST field

The last value of the AUTOTEXTLIST field is retained as plain text, and the field itself is lost in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

Versioning

No versions in Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF.

New document properties

New document properties are preserved in Word 95 but lost in Word 6.x.

24-bit color in Office Word 2003

With 24-bit color you have more choices for items such as fonts, borders, and shading. Items colored with shades not available in Word 97 will be converted to the nearest supported color.

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97
Nested table with text	No nested table. The text is is placed in the outer table cell.
No space between HTML table cells Space between HTML table cells	Space between HTML table cells is lost in Word 97.
Cell "padding" (spacing between the boundary of an HTML cell and the text inside the cell)	HTML cell padding is lost in Word 97.
Allow page breaks in a table turned on	Allow page breaks in a table turned off in Word 97.
Text wrapped around floating object	Object is moved to the paragraph above the table.

Underline color

Underline color becomes the color of the associated text.

Decorative underline styles

Decorative underline styles become a single underline.

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97
Text-wrapping line break	Regular line break

This formatting in Office Word 2003	Looks like this in Word 97
Text wrapped around floating object	Object is moved to the paragraph above the table.
Pictures and objects aligned horizontally right, center, inside, or outside	Pictures and objects that are aligned horizontally right, center, inside, or outside shift slightly but are close to their original position in Word 97.
Objects and pictures with allow overlap turned off	Objects and pictures are allowed to overlap. Some objects and pictures may be obscured in Word 97.
Objects and pictures do not allow overlap	Objects and pictures are allowed to overlap. Some objects and pictures may be obscured in Word 97.
Middle- or bottom-aligned object	Middle- or bottom-aligned objects move up.
Pictures and objects positioned relative to line	Pictures and objects that are positioned relative to line are positioned relative to paragraph. Objects and pictures may shift in Word 97.
Pictures and objects positioned relative to character	Pictures and objects that are positioned relative to character are positioned relative to column. Objects and pictures may shift in Word 97.

Markup balloons

Although markup balloons are not turned off in Office Word 2003 when you turn off features not supported by Word 97, Word 97 does not use them. Instead, tracked changes appear in the text of the document and comments are displayed in the comment pane or in ScreenTips rather than in balloons.

Digital signatures

Digital signatures are lost.

Horizontal in Vertical

Horizontal in Vertical becomes horizontal text in Word 97.

Two Lines in One

Two Lines in One becomes one regular line in Word 97.

First and last line breaks control characters

Line breaks do not respect these character settings in Word 97.

Character grid

Text does not snap to grid in Word 97.

Emphasis characters

Emphasis characters are removed and text is underlined in Word 97.

Frames pages

Frame properties in Web pages are lost. The Web pages used by the frames page are saved. In Word 97, the document shows the text "This page uses frames but your browser doesn't support them."

Linked style sheets

Linked style sheets are only supported in Web format files. All links to style sheets will be lost.

HTML DIV borders

HTML DIV borders, or group borders, are lost.

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Automatically resize to fit contents is turned off	Automatically resize to fit contents is turned on, on Web pages.
Absolute row height	At least row height on Web pages.
Diagonal cell border	No diagonal cell border
Decorative cell border	Box border style
Vertical text direction	Horizontal text direction

Rest your mouse pointer over a picture in the category for a text description.

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
	Shadow text becomes bold text on Web pages.
	All underline styles become single underlines on Web pages.
	Horizontally scaled characters become regular text on Web pages.
	For browsers earlier than Internet Explorer 6, raised text will become superscript and lowered text will become subscript.
	Underline color becomes the same as the text color.
	Small caps become ALL CAPS.
Kerned text	Kerned text becomes regular text on Web pages.

Rest your mouse pointer over a picture in the category for a text description.

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
At least line height	At least line height becomes Exactly on Web pages.
Decorative border styles	Box border style
Negative left indented paragraph	Paragraph indent is set to zero.

Rest your mouse pointer over a picture in the category for a text description.

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Headers and footers	Headers and footers are removed.
	Footnotes are moved to the end of the document.
Tabs	Tabs may not align correctly on Web pages.

This formatting in Microsoft Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Floating graphic	Floating graphic becomes right- or left-aligned with wrapping on Web pages.
Pictures and objects with top and bottom wrapping	Pictures and objects with top and bottom wrapping may shift upward in the document.

Digital signatures

Digital signatures are lost.

Password protection

Password protection is lost on Web pages.

Document protection (for example, for tracked changes, comments, or formatting)

Document protection is lost on Web pages.

Read-only recommended

Read-only recommended is lost.

Combined Characters

Combined Characters become regular text on Web pages.

Enclosed Characters

Enclosed Characters become regular text on Web pages.

Horizontal in Vertical

Horizontal in Vertical becomes horizontal text on Web pages.

Phonetic Guide

Phonetic Guide becomes regular text on Web pages (Internet Explorer 4.0 only).

Two Lines in One

Two Lines in One becomes one regular line on Web pages.

Emphasis characters

Emphasis characters are removed and text is underlined.

Document Grid (vertical and horizontal)

Document Grid (vertical and horizontal) becomes regular text on Web pages (Internet Explorer 4.0 only).

Compress leading punctuation

Compress leading punctuation becomes full width on Web pages.

Hanging punctuation

Hanging punctuation is removed. Last word in line wraps to the next line on Web pages.

First and last line breaks control characters

Line breaks do not respect these character settings on Web pages.

Distributed text

Distributed text is ignored on Web pages.

Versioning

Document versioning is lost. Web pages do not support versioning.

Track changes

If a double underline is used for insertions, it is changed to a single underline.

Word retains the tracked changes and comments. How the tracked changes and comments are displayed depends on your browser. In Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, the revised text is highlighted with color, underlining, and strikethrough formatting and comments are shown as dynamic ScreenTips. In browsers earlier than Internet Explorer 4.0, the comments appear as footnotes beneath the main Web page.

Smart tags

Overlapping smart tags are lost.