Office 2007
Working with Equations in Word 2003 and Word 2007
Microsoft Word 2007 has a completely new equation builder, and the equations it produces can be viewed, but not edited, in Word 2003. If your work involves creating and editing documents containing equations, you therefore need to plan how you will work in the period while you and others are moving between Office 2003 and Office 2007.
If you are writing a paper for journal submission, you should check what file formats they accept.
Before editing a document containing equations, or saving such a document in a different format, we suggest that you take a backup copy of the document.
Compatibility of equation formats between Word 2003 and Word 2007 is as follows:
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An equation created using the new Word 2007 equation editor will appear as an image that cannot be edited when you subsequently open the document in Word 2003. This is the case whether you saved the document in .docx (Word 2007) or in .doc (Word 2003) format.
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An equation created using the Word 2003 equation editor can be edited in Word 2007, by double clicking the equation to open up the Word 2003 Equation Editor, which is still available in Word 2007 as an alternative to the new Equation Editor.
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If you want to use Word 2007 to create equations that can subsequently be edited in Word 2003, you can use the Word 2003 Equation Editor within Word 2007, by following the instructions given below.
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A Word 2007 document can contain equations in a mixture of both formats, which can be edited using their respective editors.
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It is not possible to convert equations created in one format into the other format.
Whenever you use Office 2007, whether on your own computer or a Labs computer, how you chose to work will depend on who you need to share documents with, and what versions of Office you and they have available on the computers they use at the University and at home. The two most straightforward options are:
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Move completely to Office 2007, by saving all new files as .docx, all old .doc files as .docx, and creating all new equations with the Office 2007 equations editor. You will be able to continue to edit Word 2003 format equations in Word 2007.
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Stay completely compatible with Office 2003, by saving all new and old files as .doc (following the instructions given below), and always using the Word 2003 equations editor within Word 2007 to create and edit equations (details are given below).
In Word 2007 Save As .doc Word 2003 Format
As soon as you have a new blank document, save it in the new format, then start creating your document.
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Start Word 2007. Click the Office button at the top left.
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Select Save As and then Word 97-2003 Document.
Note that the words Compatibility Mode will appear in the title bar after the document name. You will not be able to use new Word 2007 features (including the new Equation Editor) which are incompatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Word.
Create a Word 2003 Equation in Word 2007
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On Word's Insert tab, in the Text group click Object.
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In the Object dialogue ensure that the Create New tab is selected, and under Object Type select the Microsoft Equation 3.0 option.
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Click OK.
You will be able to use the Equation editor as in Word 2003. The resulting equation will be editable in Word 2003.
| Title |
Web page format | Word format | P.D.F. format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maths Equations |  |
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Using the Word 2007 Equations Editor
| Course | Course notes | Course materials |
|---|---|---|
| W756 Maths Equations | |
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