To check your document's compatibility, you can run the compatibility checker. Heed these directions:
- Save your document.
- Click the File tab.
- On the Info screen, click the Check for Issues button and choose Check Compatibility. The Microsoft Word Compatibility Checker dialog box appears, similar to what's shown. It lists any issues your document may have for users of an older version of Word. For example, features such as special text attributes, content controls, or document add-ins would be incompatible with those users' software.
- Choose which versions of Word to check. Use the Select Versions to Show drop-down menu to select specific Word versions. For example, the content controls are unavailable to Word versions 97 through 2003. The text effects attribute is available in Word 2010 but not in Word 2007.
- Click the OK button when you're done checking the document.
If you place a check mark by the item at the bottom of the dialog box, Word displays the Microsoft Word Compatibility Checker dialog box when you attempt to use an older Word file format to save the document. At that point, you can click the Cancel button to stop the save or click Continue to save the document with translated features.