Block opening of files before version

This policy setting controls whether Word 2007 users can open documents that were created in earlier versions of Word.

If you enable this policy setting, a drop-down menu will display that lists versions of Word in approximate chronological order:

- Word 1.x for Windows
- Word 4.x for Macintosh
- Word 1.2 for Windows Japan
- Word 1.2 for Windows Korea
- Word 5.x for Macintosh
- Word 1.2 for Windows Taiwan
- Word 2.x for Windows
- Word 2.0 for Windows BiDi
- Word 2.0 for Windows Japan
- Word 2.0 for Windows Korea
- Word 2.0 for Windows Taiwan
- Word 6.0 for Windows
- Word 6.0 for Macintosh
- Word 95 Released
- Word 95 Beta
- Word 97 for Windows
- Word 98 for Macintosh
- Word 2001 for Macintosh
- Word X for Macintosh
- Word 2000
- Word 2002
- Word 2003
- Word 2004 for Macintosh
- Word 2003 as saved by Word 2007

Selecting a version from this list blocks Word 2007 from opening any files saved in versions that appear earlier in the list, and allows the opening of files saved in versions that appear later in the list.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, users cannot open files that have been saved in a format previous to the Word 6.0 format. Files that have been saved using a beta version of Word 6.0 are considered to be previous to the Word 6.0 format and cannot be opened by default.

Note - See Plan block file format settings in the 2007 Office system (http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidGroupPolicyBlockFileForm2?clid=en-us) in the 2007 Office Resource Kit for more information about using Group Policy to manage and enforce file format requirements. Also, see the "File Block Technology" section in Chapter 4 of the 2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide for information about the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE), which provides another method.

word12.admx