Document transfer from and old hdd to a new one.

[frontabl3]

Hey guys, i am about to transfer all my data ( lawyer documents) that were on a pretty old pc running win 98 with a old version of the office pack ( not sure if 97 or 2000).
The question is when i transfer the data from to old hard drive to a new with win 10 and a newer office pack will the old documents automatically convert to the new type of just in case i should install a old office pack on the new pc so the documents wont be lost.

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys, i am about to transfer all my data ( lawyer documents) that were on a pretty old pc running win 98 with a old version of the office pack ( not sure if 97 or 2000).
The question is when i transfer the data from to old hard drive to a new with win 10 and a newer office pack will the old documents automatically convert to the new type of just in case i should install a old office pack on the new pc so the documents wont be lost.

The docs will not automatically "convert".
But newer versions of Office should read them. There may be a few issues in formatting, but it should read them.

Make 2 copies of these docs, and try it on one set to begin with. Just in case.

 

[USAFRet]

I just did a test on some old docs.

A Word doc created 12/31/1999, a school paper from my stepson. I had never opened this before...it was just in a bunch of my wifes old files.
My current Word 2016 had zero issues opening it.

Now..if there are a lot of fancy formatting, you may have issues. But the basic text should still be there.

 

[frontabl3]

I just did a test on some old docs.

A Word doc created 12/31/1999, a school paper from my stepson. I had never opened this before...it was just in a bunch of my wifes old files.
My current Word 2016 had zero issues opening it.

Now..if there are a lot of fancy formatting, you may have issues. But the basic text should still be there.

I think that i will just download microsoft office pack 2000 install it and test if they will open. If they do so i will make a fast recovery disk and update to 2016. If 2016 office pack does not work i will just stick with 2000 and that will be all.

 

[USAFRet]

However you do it, don't work on the only copy of these files.
Make multiple copies, just in case.

 

[frontabl3]

I just found a discussion on a microsoft page that said that tge microsoft office 2013 is compatible with the 97-2000 pack format .doc and it will be able to read my documents,so i just installed the office pack and will see the results tommorow.
But still will make backup driver in case.