How to save Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac documents in a different file format

When you create and save a new document in Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac, the program uses the default XML-based document format for Word 2008 for Mac and for Microsoft Office Word 2007 for Windows. This format supports the new and improved features of Word 2008 for Mac.

You can also save your Word 2008 for Mac documents in other file formats. By doing this, the documents can be opened in earlier versions of Word or in other applications.

This article describes how to save Word 2008 for Mac documents in a file format other than the default XML-based document format.

To save Word 2008 for Mac documents in a different file format, follow these steps.

Note When you save a file in a different file format, some features that are supported by the current file format may be lost. You may want to save a copy of your file in the current file format before you save the file in a different file format.

1. Open the Word 2008 for Mac document.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. In the Save As box, type a name for the document.
   
   Note By default, the file is saved in the Documents folder. If you want to save the file in a different folder, change the Where box to the different folder.
4. In the Format box, select the file format that you want. For example, to save the document in a format that can be opened in earlier versions of Microsoft Word for Mac, select Word 97–2004 Document (.doc).
5. Click Save.

For more information about the different file formats that you can use in Word 2008 for Mac, please see the "File formats for saving documents" topic in Word Help.