WD97: Cannot Open Word 97 Documents in Word 6.0 or 7.0

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

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

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:

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:

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).