When you attempt to open a Microsoft Word 97 document into Microsoft Word version 6.x or 7.x, the document contains garbage characters.

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The document file format used to save files for Word 97 has changed. Word version 6.x or 7.x cannot read this format.

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Windows

The best way to open a Word 97 document in Word 6.x or 7.x for Windows is to use the Word 97-2000 Import Converter. For information about how to obtain the Word 97-2000 converter, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Macintosh

The best way to open a Word 97 for Windows document in an earlier version of Word for the Macintosh is to use the Word 97-98-2000 Import Converter.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Use one of the following methods to open a Word 97 document into an earlier version of Word:

Method 1: In Word 97, Save the Document as a Word 6.0/95 File

1.	Open the document in Word 97.
2.	On the File menu, click Save As.
3.	In the Save As dialog box, change Save as type to Word 6.0/95 (*.doc).

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Method 2: In Word 97, save the document as Rich Text Format (*.rtf)

1.	Open the document in Word 97.
2.	On the File menu, click Save As.
3.	In the Save As dialog box, change the Save as type to Rich Text Format (*.rtf).

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