upgrading from office 2007 to 2016

Office 2016, by default, blocks .xls, .doc and other older extension files. Hence, she may face problems in opening these files. She may also face the problems in opening attachments from mails as Office 2016 has implemented higher level of security. I don't foresee any other issue.

To make sure that she doesn't face the problems, in Word and Excel (and other Office apps if she uses), you need to do following

File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View > Uncheck all options

File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings > Uncheck all options

There should be absolutely no issues opening any files inn '2016 created using '2007. The only pace that might even remotely become an issue would be in cases where custom code/macros are used in either Word or Excel which I doubt would be the case for the files your mother created.

As Karl says there should be no major issues editing the files created using Office 2007 in Office 2016 applications.

When she opens these files created using 2007 applications in 2016 applications there will be an informational message, "Compatibility Mode", in the title bar next to the file name. This is to inform you that the file cannot support all of the features in the current version of the application, so these unsupported features will be disabled (buttons/commands "greyed out"). You can convert the files to the new format, one at a time, to be able to access those new features.

There can be some minor issues.

If she used any custom installed fonts, they probably won't be on the new computer. Word/Windows will provide a best guess to find a "matching" font. Quite often their best guess is not very good.

It is almost certain that she will have a different printer. That can lead to minor output differences, especially in documents that are printed right to the edge of the paper.

Any macros and custom shortcut key definitions will not be on the new system. But that information can be copied from the old installation and put into the new one

BACKUP IMPORTANT WORD FILES BEFORE UNINSTAL

1. Normal.dotm: Stores formatted AutoCorrect entries, AutoText entries, keyboard shortcuts, styles, macros.
2. Custom templates you create (.dotm/.dotx files).
3. Global Templates in the Startup folder
4. .acl file: Stores unformatted AutoCorrect entries. The easiest way to locate this file is to add an entry and look for the most current modified date in your search.
5. custom.dic file: Words you add during spellcheck.

Where these files are located depends on your version of Word and Windows. The name of the .acl file also depends on your version of Word. The template files can be found in File menu > Options command > Advanced option > File Locations … button.

BACKUP AUTOCORRECT ENTRIES (2007+)

Also see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926927

Jay Freedman has created a template that makes it easier to backup your Autocorrect entries.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/AutoCorrect2007.zip and extract the AutoCorrect.dotm template from it into your Templates folder. While you are in the Templates folder, make a copy of your NORMAL.DOTM, it contains Autocorrect Entries that are formatted. Either open the template itself or make a new document based on it. It will automatically display a message box, in which you should click the Backup button. The macro will create a document containing all your entries in a table, and then opens the Save As dialog.

After installing Office 2010, open the template (or a document based on it) in Word 2010 and click the Restore button. When prompted, locate the backup document. The macro will put the entries into the Normal template and/or the ACL file as needed.

There have been some reports (such as this) that the Restore part of the template will fail when there are thousands of entries to process. If that happens, split the backup document into multiple documents, each with no more than about 1000 entries. If you have to split the document into several separate documents, each document must have the “AutoCorrect Backup Document” heading as the first paragraph, and the table must have the column titles as the first row. (Technically, the macro only looks at the document’s first word, which must be AutoCorrect followed by a space, as a simple check that it’s probably a valid backup; and it ignores the table’s first row, although it could be empty.) Then run the Restore once for each of those documents—the macro never deletes any entry, it only adds new ones (or overwrites if there is an existing entry with the same name).

Jay’s page also has ultilies for dumping AutoText entries from Word 2000-2003: http://jay-freedman.info/