What is the difference between doc and docx formats? Document formats DOC and DOCX

Doc and DocX documents are among the most common text file formats. Created by Microsoft, they are supported by almost all programs that work with texts in one way or another.

DocX was released relatively recently and its main advantage, relative to its predecessor Doc, is its smaller document size. In the name DocX, X stands for Xml.

However, what is the difference between Doc and DocX format, other than differences in file size? In this article, we will take a closer look at the benefits of each and compare them. Please note that the formats in question have nothing to do with DDOC and ADOC files.

What is the difference between Doc and DocX?

Doc
Many years ago Microsoft Word used Doc as text file default. This format is available in operating system from the first release of the package Word for MS-DOS.

Until 2006, when it was just launched Microsoft Word, it was a proprietary format. That is, it was the private property of the company for which it was developed and could only be used by the original application package. Much has changed since then and the Doc format can be opened by most third-party text editors.

Doc is included in such popular programs processing text files like LibreOffice Writer, OpenOffice Writer, KingSoft Writer and others, their list is quite long.

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You can use these programs to open and edit Doc files. No less popular is the Internet Google app Search engine - Google Docs . It allows you not only to save written documents in Doc format, but also to upload them to the website for further work.

DocX
In 2007, the Doc format was forced to fade into the background as new DocX, created by Microsoft as a successor to the legacy document. It was made in connection with the growing competition between free and open formats, such as Open Office And ODF.

In DocX, all code was written in Xml format. It is for this reason that the letter of the platform on which it was created was added to the name of the old Doc file. latest version. The new coding accordingly brought its own changes and additional features at work.

DocX, which is the result of standards presented under the name Office Open XML brought improvements such as reducing file sizes. This change paved the way for the company to develop the PPTX and XLSX formats.

Formatting Doc in DocX

In the vast majority of cases, any software that works with texts and cannot open old format Doc, is capable of converting it to DocX. The same can be done in the opposite direction.

This problem occurs if the user is working in Word 2003 or earlier versions of the application. In this case, you need to open the DocX file in Word 2007 or more later version and save it in Doc.

Microsoft always strives to maximum compatibility of your product. Therefore, a compatibility pack has been released for older versions of Word that can be installed to support the DocX format.

If your Word still doesn’t support DocX, but it’s what you need, don’t despair! There are applications such as Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer and a number of others that can help convert any Doc file to DocX, RTF, TXT, etc.

What format should I use? Doc or DocX?

In fact, the question of “what to use” regarding Doc and DocX is not so acute that it becomes a matter of principle. Both of these formats are used equally widely by all programs that work with text in one way or another.

Nevertheless, DocX is better, since it leads to a significant reduction in file size. Such documents are much easier to send by mail and open for reading. Another advantage of DocX is its base - Office Open XML, which allows the document to support advanced functionality. Many applications are gradually moving away from saving documents in Doc format.

To summarize, there is no fundamental difference between the formats. The exception here is the issue of file size and the fact that various text programs. Thus, we recommend switching to DocX if you are still forced to work with Doc.

How to recover Doc and DocX files?

A loss important information in modern digital world far from uncommon. Many of us have experienced accidentally erasing a file by using the Shift + Del combination or, worse, crashing hard drive, as a result of which all documents were lost. If you recognize this as your situation, read on and we will certainly help you get your lost Doc and DocX files back!

Starus Office Recovery 2.6 application will be a good choice for any office employee who works daily on big amount documents that are extremely important for his company. Intuitive Russian-language interface, high performance and scanning accuracy will allow short time find and recover deleted files.

You can learn more about text file recovery in the article

Doc is an outdated text file format. Previously, it was actively used by all users of the popular text Microsoft editor Word(). However, the developers of this program changed this format to docx in 2007. Many users have updated their software to new version, but there are still those who in their work prefer the old version, which new format does not recognize. What to do if you write text in new program, but will they view it in the old one?

Instructions

1. For users Microsoft programs Word 2003 or later old version given software Saving documents in doc format will not cause any difficulties. If the text was typed manually in a new document, then you need to do standard procedure saving: open the "File" menu and click the "Save" or "Save As" command. In the latter case, you will need to specify the location for the new file and enter its name, and then click the “Save” button. If you opened it using an editor Text Document in another format, for example, txt, then you need to perform the following steps:

1. Users who use Microsoft Word 2007 and newer versions can save documents in doc format, but some text formatting may be lost. To save a document in this format, you need to type text in a new editor document or open an existing document and run the following commands:

3. Text Word editor supports great amount text formats such as: html, xml, txt, rtf, wps and many others. All these formats, if necessary, can be converted to doc or docx format (in new versions of the editor). To do this, you need to open one of these documents and follow the steps described in previous paragraphs. In the “File type” field, you must specify the desired format.

Video: Saving in .docx and .doc formats in Word 2007 (28/40)

“Download file in .doc format”, “download file in .docx format”, “save in...”, “open with...”. A difference of one letter can sometimes cause a lot of headaches if an Internet service only accepts a certain text file format or if it is created on one computer and opened on another. Today, both files with the name extension .doc and files with the name extension .docx are relevant, but due to gradual software updates, the former are becoming less and less common.

Definition

DOC— text file name extension used by text Microsoft processor Word, which later became the designation for a series of proprietary formats.

DOCX(Office Open XML) - file formats used for storing electronic documents, created by the package office applications from Microsoft.

Comparison

The difference between doc and docx lies, first of all, in the ability of software packages to work with them. The doc format obeys all text editors from Microsoft by default, without requiring add-ons, but the docx format of Microsoft Word in the 2003 and earlier versions is not accepted, its support begins in the Word 2007 version. The issue is resolved with the help of an additional converter.

Inconsistency docx Word 2003 is explained by the fact that this file format involves compression, and is itself a zip archive, which contains the actual text document in the form of XML, graphics and files that define the properties of the document and the relationships between the contents of the container. Version 2003 cannot unpack it. Compression also determines one of the main differences between the doc and docx formats - the file size in the latter case is slightly smaller.

In third-party word processors, docx is supported optionally, but in the most popular of them OpenOffice package such support exists. The doc format without dancing with tambourines is not compatible with third-party editors. Docx does not work with right-to-left languages. In addition, in some cases the docx format only supports own formats Microsoft, ignoring standards: for example, instead of SVG - WMF.

Conclusions website

1. A doc file can be opened by any version of a Microsoft word processor, a docx file can only be opened by versions of Word starting from 2007.
2. Docx is a zip container for XML files.
3. Doc does not support compression.
4. Doc is not compatible with third party editors.

Since 2007 updated version Word (and Microsoft Office) began to use the DOCX format to save files, instead of the classic DOC. It was not just an "extreme" version of the 1990s format, the extra X in the extension denotes the Office Open XML standard.

What's the difference and which one should you use? DOC is a document format used by Microsoft Word, and DOCX- his successor. Both are relatively open source, but DOCX is more efficient and produces smaller, less corruptible files.

If you have a choice, use DOCX; DOC is only needed if the file will be used by versions of Word before 2007.

A Brief History of the DOC Format

Microsoft Word started use DOC format and corresponding file extension more than 30 years ago in the very first release of Word for MS-DOS. Word served as a proprietary document processor, and the format was also proprietary: Word was the only program that officially supported DOC files until Microsoft opened up the specification in 2006, after which it was redesigned.

In the 90s and early 2000s, various competing products could work with DOC files, although some of Word's more exotic formats and options were not supported in other word processors. Since Office and Word were the de facto standards for office suites, the proprietary nature of the file format undoubtedly helped Microsoft maintain its dominance over products like Corel WordPerfect.

Since 2008, Microsoft has released and updated the DOC format specification several times for use in other programs, although not all extended Word functions supported by open documentation.

After 2008, the DOC format was integrated into paid and free programs word processing from many vendors. This made working with older word processor formats much easier, and many users still prefer to save documents in the old DOC standard.

Introduction to Office Open XML (DOCX)

Under pressure from growing competition, open source code and its competing format open documents(ODF), Microsoft decided to introduce an open standard in the early 2000s. This led to the development DOCX file format along with its companions such as XLSX for spreadsheets and PPTX for presentations.

The standards were introduced under the name "Office Open XML" (not related to Open program Office) since the formats were based on Extensible Markup Language, rather than the earlier and less efficient binary format. This language allowed several advantages, first of all, smaller sizes files, less chance of hacking and compressed images.

DOCX format XML based became standard for Word in the 2007 version of the software. At the time, many users believed that the new DOCX format was simply a means for Microsoft to phase out older versions of the software and sell new copies because older versions of Word and Office could not read the new XML files.

This was not entirely true: Word 2003 can read special formats Word files XML, and compatibility updates were later applied to other versions. But in any case, some users manually saved files in the earlier DOC standard instead of DOCX for the sake of compatibility.

Ten years later, DOCX has become the new de facto standard, although it is not as universal as the older DOC file format, thanks to competitors such as ODF and the general decline of traditional word processor use.

Which one should you use?

DOCX the best choice for any situation. The format creates smaller, lighter files that are easier to read and transfer. The open nature of the Office Open XML standard means that it can be read by virtually any full-featured text editor, including online tools such as Google Docs.

The only reason using the old DOC format it might be recovering some files that are more than ten years old, or working with a very outdated word processor.

DOCX is a text version of the series electronic formats Office Open XML. It is a more advanced form of the previous Word DOC format. Let's find out which programs can be used to view files with this extension.

Noting that DOCX is text format, it is natural that it is primarily manipulated by word processors. Some readers and other software also support working with it.

Method 1: Word

Considering that DOCX is a development Microsoft, which is the base format for Word applications, starting with the 2007 version, we will begin our review with this program. The named application supports absolutely all standards of the specified format and can view DOCX documents, create them, edit and save them.

There are more easy option opening DOCX in Word. If Microsoft Office is installed on your PC, then this extension will automatically be associated with the Word program, unless, of course, you manually specify other settings. Therefore, it is enough to go to the object of the specified format in Windows Explorer and click on it with the mouse, doing it twice with the left button.

These recommendations only apply if you have Word 2007 or newer installed. And here early versions by default they cannot open DOCX, since they were created before this format appeared. But it is still possible to make sure that applications of older versions can launch files with the specified extension. To do this, you just need to install a special patch in the form of a compatibility pack.

Method 2: LibreOffice

Launch file element with the extension you are studying, you can drag an object from Conductor into the LibreOffice startup shell. This manipulation should be performed with the left mouse button held down.

If you have already launched Writer, you can perform the opening process through the internal shell of this program.

Method 3: OpenOffice

LibreOffice is considered a competitor. It also has its own word processor, which is also called Writer. Only, unlike the two previously described options, you can use it to view and change the contents of DOCX, but you will have to save it in a different format.

How to use previous application, you can drag it into the OpenOffice start shell desired object from Conductor.

You can also launch an object with a DOCX extension after launching Writer.

In general, it should be noted that of all the word processors studied here, OpenOffice Writer is the least suitable for working with DOCX, since it cannot create documents with this extension.

Method 4: WordPad

Separate text editors can also run the format being studied. For example, this can be done by the built-in Windows program- WordPad.

Taking into account all the above circumstances, it must be said that using WordPad for viewing, and even more so editing DOCX content is less preferable than using the ones described in previous methods full-fledged word processors.

Method 5: AlReader

Some representatives of software for reading electronic books (“readers”) also support viewing the format being studied. True, for now specified function Not all programs in this group have it. You can read DOCX, for example, using a reader, which has a very large number of supported formats.

You can also open a document by dragging from Conductor V graphical shell"readers".

Of course, reading books in DOCX format is more pleasant in AlReader than in text editors and processors, but this application only offers the ability to read the document and convert to a limited number of formats (TXT, PDB and HTML), but does not have tools for making changes.

Method 6: ICE Book Reader

Another “reader” with which you can read DOCX is . But the procedure for launching a document in this application will be somewhat more complicated, since it is associated with the task of adding an object to the program library.

Method 7: Caliber

An even more powerful reader with a book cataloging function is . She also knows how to operate with DOCX.

Overall, Caliber is better suited for cataloging DOCX objects rather than quickly viewing them.

Method 8: Universal Viewer

Documents with DOCX extension can also be viewed using separate group programs that are universal viewers. These applications allow you to view files of a wide variety of types: text, tables, videos, images, etc. But, as a rule, they are inferior to highly specialized programs in terms of their ability to work with specific formats. This is fully true for DOCX. One of the representatives of this type software is .

As you can see, currently quite capable of processing DOCX files a large number of applications in different directions, working with text objects. But, despite such abundance, only Microsoft Word fully supports all format capabilities and standards. His free analogue LibreOffice Writer also has almost full set for processing of this format. And here is the text one OpenOffice processor Writer will only allow you to read and make changes to the document, but you will have to save the data in a different format.

If DOCX file represents e-book, then it will be convenient to read it using the AlReader “reader”. To add a book to the library, the ICE Book Reader or Caliber programs are suitable. If you just want to view what is inside the document, then you can use universal viewer Universal Viewer. Built into Windows text editor WordPad allows you to view content without installing third-party software.