Word Compatibility Mode – What Is It?

When you open a document in Word, you may sometimes see the text [Compatibility Mode] in the Title bar next to the document name. In this article, you will learn about what Compatibility Mode means, how you can find out what Compatibility Mode a document is in, how you can update a document so it is no longer in Compatibility Mode, and more…

This article was first published March 5, 2020.

About the Compatibility Mode of a Word document

If a Word document shows the text [Compatibility Mode] in the title bar, it means that the document was created or last saved in an earlier version of Word than the version you are using.

Example: You are using Word for Microsoft 365. You open a document that was created in or last saved in Word 2010. The text [Compatibility Mode] will appear after the document name in the Title bar on your computer. On the other hand, if the same document is opened in Word 2010, [Compatibility Mode] will not be shown.

Note that Word 2013, 2016, 2019, and 365 are already compatible. Therefore, you will not see the text [Compatibility Mode] if, for example, you open a document in Word for Microsoft 365 even if the document was created or last saved in Word 2013, 2016, or 2019.

How to find out which compatibility mode a Word document is in

The text [Compatibility Mode] in the Title bar tells you that the document was created or last saved in an earlier version of Word. However, the information does not tell you which Word version it originates from.

You can find out which specific mode the document is in. The following steps apply to Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 365.

1. Select File > Info.
2. In the Inspect Document section, click the Check for Issues button > select Check Compatibility. See Figure 2 below.
3. In the Microsoft Word Compatibility Checker dialog box that opens, click Select versions to show. A check mark is shown next to the name of the document's current mode. See Figure 3 below.
4. Click OK.

How to find out whether there are compatibility issues

In some situations, content in a Word document may change if the document if opened in an earlier version than the version used when creating or editing the document. This happens, for example, if you have used features for creating content that isn't supported in earlier versions of Word. If you know that a document is going to be opened by users with an earlier version of Word than the one you are using, it is relevant to check whether there will be compatibility issues.

Example: You have created a document in Word 2010 or a newer version of Word. You have inserted check box content controls in the document. If the document is to be opened in Word 2007 or an earlier version, Word can't show check box content controls since they were not implemented until Word 2010. Therefore, Word needs to change the check box content controls to something else, as close to check box content controls as possible.

You can check whether there are such issues in relation to the content in a document. The following steps apply to Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 365.

1. Select File > Info.
2. In the Inspect Document section, click the Check for Issues button > select Check Compatibility. See Figure 2 above.
3. In the Microsoft Word Compatibility Checker dialog box that opens, click Select versions to show. Select the Word version you want to check compatibility with and uncheck other Word versions.
4. Check the Summary field. Word will describe any issues found and will also show the number of occurrences for each type of issue.
5. Repeat step 3 to check more Word versions, if relevant.
6. Click OK when finished.
7. If needed, make changes to the document to handle the issues found.

If you are using Word 2007:

1. Click the Office button (top-left corner of the window).
2. Click Convert in the dialog box that opens.
3. If a message opens, showing information about the conversion, click OK.
   If you want, you can turn on the check box to prevent that message from appearing again (see Figure 5 below).

If you are using Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 365:

1. Select File > Info.
2. Click the Convert button (see Figure 5 below).
3. If a message opens, showing information about the conversion, click OK.
   If you want, you can turn on the check box Do not ask me again about converting documents to prevent that message from appearing again (see Figure 6 below).

The text [Compatibility Mode] disappears from the Title bar when you click OK in step 3 above. In case the document was in .doc or .dot format (formats from Word 2003 or earlier), the extension will not change to the newer file extension in the Title bar until you save the document (the extensions can be .docx, .dotx, .docm, or .dotm). The old file will be replaced by the converted version.

METHOD 2 – use the Save As dialog box to convert a document to the current Word version

If a document has been set to maintain the compatibility with earlier versions of Word, you can have it converted to the current version of Word as follows:

1. Open the Save As dialog box (File > Save As or press F12).
2. Turn off the check box Maintain compatibility with previous versions of Word. See Figure 7 below.
3. If you want to keep the old version too, type a new name in the File name field. If you want to overwrite the old version, keep the same name.
4. Click Save.

What to do if all new documents you create are in Compatibility Mode

As mentioned earlier, you may not need to do anything about documents in Compatibility Mode. However, you can change the situation, if you want.

What to do if new, blank documents you create in Word are in Compatibility Mode

If Word starts with a blank document in Compatibility Mode, it indicates that the template Normal.dotm is in Compatibility mode. To fix that, you need to open the Normal.dotm template and convert it to the version you are using:

What to do if new documents change to Compatibility Mode when saving

If all new documents you create change to Compatibility Mode when you save the document, the cause is most likely the setting of a specific Save option in Word. Do as follows:

1. In Word, select File > Options.
   In case of Word 2007: Office button > Word Options.
2. Select Save to get access to the save options. See Figure 7 below.
3. Click the Save files in this format list and select the first option, Word Document (*.docx). See Figure 7 below.
4. Click OK.
5. In the next dialog box that opens, click Yes if you want to change the default setting for all Office applications. See Figure 9 below.

From now on, new documents you save will be in .docx format compatible with your current Word version.

Special compatibility issues with tables – before and after Word 2013

Since Word 2013, tables have behaved differently than in Word 2010 and earlier versions. This is due to a Microsoft design change:

• Word 2010 and earlier versions: Left and right cell margins exceed page margins.
• Word 2013 and newer versions: Left and right cell margins do not exceed page margins.

This means that the width of tables with left and right cell margins that were created in Word 2010 or earlier (or created in documents in Word 2010 Compatibility Mode), will be reduced if the document is converted to Word 2013 or newer format. A reduced table width may cause different line breaks in cells and may cause row heights to increase. Such changes may also cause different page breaks. Therefore, you should check documents with tables carefully to correct issues, if needed.

See the illustration below.

What to do if you need to convert to a newer format than Word 2010 and, at the same time, preserve the table widths and left alignment

If you need to convert documents that include a lot of tables created in Word 2010 or earlier, and if you – for any reason – need to preserve the table widths and left alignment unchanged, it requires quite a lot of work.

You will have to reduce the left table indent corresponding to the cell margin of the left-most cell(s). In addition, you must compensate for the reduced column widths. Not all tables may be regular. If there are merged cells, different cell margins, and other irregular layout, it quickly becomes complex. It is possible to write VBA macros to handle the corrections. If all kinds of possible variations are to be taken into account, it isn't piece of cake. Personally, I have had to handle such changes in very large and complex documents – I know by experience how many variants and details need to be taken into account.

If at all possible, I recommend that you adjust the tables to compensate for too narrow columns, inappropriate line breaks or page breaks and that you don't try to make the tables look totally as before.

Personally, I find that the document layout looks much cleaner when the tables are aligned to the margins instead of exceeding the margins. Until Word 2010, I always set the cell margins to 0 (zero) and added indentation to the styles I used in tables in order to have the table and margins align.