You have an older version of Microsoft Office Word. Probably Word 97. You’re happy working with it and printing at home or office from it. That’s okay! It still works!
Then someone decided to throw a monkey wrench into your nice cozy bubble; they sent you a Word file in DOCX. You don’t know what this is or have any idea how to open it. Opening the darn thing asks you to install a plug-in, but you find this confusing or don’t have administrative access on your work computer to install.
Don’t worry! Here’s a workaround.
Use Google Docs to open it. If you don’t have an account, it’s free! Create one here.
Once logged in, upload your DOCX file.
After you’ve uploaded this troublesome document, go to
File –> Download as –> Word
Save the document to your computer as Microsoft Word 97-2003 Document. Go to your saved file on your computer and check it. Providing that you have a hardcopy of the original DOCX document from the sender, you will need to check this file. The formatting will most likely be out of place. Also, any graphics or any formatting native to the newer version of Microsoft Office Word may be lost. Check and fix if necessary.
I found this workaround handy for documents that are meant for my eyes only, like résumés, or articles that require reformatting in another program, like QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign.
Try it out and let me know if you find this useful or have an alternative way of dealing with DOCX files in the comments below.
*Flickr photo courtesy of KaiChanVong
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