Office 2007 - Auto Save Docs in 2003 format

Excel and Word Documents in Office 2007 default to the .xlsx or .docx format, which is difficult for Office 2003 users to view properly, even with the Microsoft conversion program available.

Here's how to do it:

Open Excel or Word > Click on the “Office Button” in the upper left corner of the window

Click on the “Excel Options” (Or “Word Options”) button at the bottom of the window that opens

A new window will open (“Excel Options” or "Word Options")
Click on the “Save” button in the left column.

To the right, in the main column, at “Save files in this format” click on the arrow to view the drop down list:

Select “Excel 97-2003 Workbook (*.xls)” in the drop down list. In Word choose “Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)”.

Click “OK” and you are done.

From there out all documents you create will be in easily sharable with users still working with Office 2003, who experience trouble reading Office 2007 documents even with the Microsoft converter.

Here is a brief How-To vid on how to set Office 2007 apps to automatically save in 97-2003 format without having to choose it when saving. (Still working on that screen recording resolution, but you'll get the idea...)