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Article ID: 929302 - Last Review: December 4, 2007 - Revision: 2.4

How to disable the prompt to download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack

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Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/ ) Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
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INTRODUCTION

As an administrator, you may not want users to download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.

The compatibility pack installs the text converters that you can use to open and to save some 2007 Microsoft Office program files in Microsoft Office XP versions of the programs and in Microsoft Office 2003 versions of the programs. The 2007 Office files that can be opened and saved in this manner are as follows:
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbooks
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 presentations
  • Microsoft Office Word 2007 documents
This article describes how to disable the prompt to download the compatibility pack.
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MORE INFORMATION

To disable the prompt to download the compatibility pack, set the O12ConverterPrompt DWORD Value in the registry on the user's computer. To do this, follow these steps.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
  1. Exit all 2007 Office programs.
  2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
  3. Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys, as appropriate for the version of Office that is installed on the computer:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common
  4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
  5. Type O12ConverterPrompt, and then press ENTER.
  6. Right-click O12ConverterPrompt, and then click Modify.
  7. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

    Note If you want to enable the prompt to download the compatibility pack, type 1 in the Value data box.
  8. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.
Note This registry subkey can be deployed to client computers by using a script or a tool such as Microsoft Systems Management Server.
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REFERENCES

For more information about the prompt and about the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
919026  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919026/ ) Error message when you try to open or to save a 2007 Office document: "Do you want to download a compatibility pack so that you can work with this file"
For more information about issues and requirements for the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
924074  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924074/ ) How to use earlier versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word to open and save files from 2007 Office programs
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition for Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
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Keywords: 
kbhowto kbinfo kbconversion kbexpertiseinter kbinstallation kbfileawareoff2007 KB929302
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