Multiple Versions of Compatibility Pack for 2007 Office System

I have installed the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats on several computers. On one of the computers I wasn’t able to open the new Word 2007 files (.DOCX format). I started to look into the issue with the compatibility pack and discovered the following.

There are at least a couple of versions of compatibility pack out there, may be more. When I downloaded the version 12.0.4518.1014 on November 12, 2006, as shown below, it wasn’t listed as Beta, even though it stated clearly that it was a Beta when I downloaded it.

When I wasn’t able to open the new .DOCX file, I got a pop-up message that said the following:

This message indicates that I am trying to open a released version of Office file, which was not the case. I was opening a file that was created in Office Beta 2. I clicked OK to download the newest version of the compatibility pack. The new version 12.0.4407.1001 was published on November 6 and I just downloaded it today (November 14, 2006). The size of the file (O2007Cnv.exe) in Explorer was 27,319KB. The file version listed in the properties of the file is 12.0.4407.1001. However, the Add or Remove Program shows the verison to be different (12.0.4407.1005). Obviously, one of them is incorrect.

It makes no sense that a version 12.0.4518.1014 that was posted on November 12 wasn’t a beta, yet a version 12.0.4407.1001 (which may actually be 12.0.4407.1005) available today is suddenly a beta. It could be that Microsoft has posted an older version today and accidentally, or intentionally, removed the newer version from their Web site.

Just out of curiosity, I tried to download a version from the Beta site once again today and it turns out that today this is the same version 12.0.4407.1001. So what happened to the version 12.0.4518.1014 that was not a beta? I don’t have a clue. Suddenly all the posted versions are now beta, which they weren’t a couple of days ago.

I have tried every possible combination you can imagine to get the converter to work. I have removed them one by one and even tried installing both versions at the same time; tried the Repair option shown in the screen shot above and rebooted the computer. No matter what I do I am still not able to get the converter to work on one of my Windows XP computer. I have the Beta version installed on other computers and it opens all files (pre-release and RTM). Again, this doesn’t explain why it is opening files on one computer and complaining that the exact same converter can’t open files on another computer.

Bottom line……..expect similar problems while the product is new. Hopefully the dust will settle and eventually the converter will work like a charm. If you have experienced any issues with the converter, please let me know. I will gather all the data and report to Microsoft so they can fix any potential problems.