Now, since you saw this warning about compatibility issues when you went to save it could mean a lot of re-working to set everything as you want it.
For example: SmartArt becomes a picture when saved in an older file format – which is fine if you don’t ever need to edit it. Continue with the save into the older format, however, if you’re going to need to edit it then that just won’t do and you’ll need to find another way to present the information.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have known along the way that your document was going to have a problem?
Well, the good news is that you can.
At any time you can run the Compatibility Checker and you’ll know if you’ve got problems to address before everything is complete – avoiding a big overhaul of entire sections of the file.
The Compatibility Checker can be found in the Office Button menu, under the Prepare section.
When you select Run Compatibility Checker you’ll get a dialog box listing the results exactly like the one you would see upon a saving.
From there it’s up to you… change your file or accept that it will behave differently once saved in the older file format.
But at least you can make these decisions as you go instead of receiving a decidedly disappointing “surprise” when you think you’re done and get to go back to the drawing board.
~April
