Convert MS Word .docx to .doc?

Windows 10 22H2

A few years ago I bought a refurbished PC with Word 2010 already installed. So I copied all my Word 2003 .doc files from my old older computer onto the newer PC running Office 2010. Over time, as I opened and modified those older .doc files, Word 2010 would then save them as .docx files.

But then that refurbished PC crashed and I had to replace its hard drive (with an SSD drive). I had no way to reinstall Word 2010 because the reburfisher which had sold me the PC had since gone out of business. So I dug out my old CD of Word 2003 and installed that instead.

But now I'm finding that many of my older files, the ones with .docx extensions are undreadable by Word 2003.

Can you recommend a secure file conversion utility that will convert .docx files to .doc format while preserving outlilne view formatting? (Outline view is the feature I use most often in my Word document files).

I don't want to use an online conversion service because many of these files contain personal medical and financial information.

You do not need to convert, you can just use SaveAs in Word 2007 or later to save each one as .doc instead.

So find yourself a computer with Word 2007 or later and save all those files as .doc.

And, for your Word 2003, there used to be an addon that let it read .docx files directly but I have no idea if it is still available.
It seems like it might be - see word 2003 read .docx files at DuckDuckGo
Here is a download link [that I have just tested] - Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats - CNET Download

There was a preinstalled version of MSOffice 2010 called MSOffice 2010 Starter edition and it cannot be transferred to another device.
But if you had another MSOffice 2010 edition & still have the installation file & product key then you should be able to install it on another computer.

Irrespective of versions, if you had made a system image before that HDD failed, you could simply have restored the image to your replacement SSD then carried on using everything you had had before.


All the best,
Denis

As what @Try3 said, there were format changes with Office 2007 and the Compatibility Pack [File Conversion] was needed for Office 2000, 2002/XP and 2003 to read the new files. Mine was compatibilitypacksp1-kb940289-fullfile-en-us.exe but I've seen the same with a different name, FileFormatConverters.exe.

As an aside, Office 2010 was the first to be available as x86 or x64.

If it's any help, the link I posted is to
compatibilitypacksp3-kb2526297-fullfile-en-us.exe
37,666KB
signed 16th Sep 2011


Denis

Yea, that is a newer version and a bit larger in size.

In the end you are running a 20+ year old version of Windows. Do yourself a favour and buy an updated version.

If you really want to convert all the docx files to doc format, you could install MS 365 for a months free trial to convert all the files.


I am guessing a copy of LibreOffice would do it as well. Worth a try as free.

I think Libre Office is probably the best long-term solution here.

I agree about downloading the Compatibility Pack from CNET. The file there is called FileFormatConverters.exe. If you run it then Office 2003 will be able to read and write the the Office 2007 and newer files. This is true for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Here are some screenshots of Word 2003 Pro after the Compatibility Pack was installed.

Word 2003 with option to open ".docx" files:



Word 2003 with option to save".docx" files:

I put the free LibreOffice on all my computers and on those clients that had created documents in Microsoft Works as it could open them. LibreOffice and OpenOffice have their roots in the old WordStar/MicroStar/Star Office from back in the '80-'90s. It opens and saves in several formats.