Compatibilite between office 365 and office 2016

Question

Hello,

My Company is using Microsoft Office Standard 2016, and most of our customers and partners are using Microsoft 365 Apps for entreprise.

When sending documents word document .Docx to a customer or a partner with word in version MS 365 apps for entreprise, the tables jumps are no more in the correct form, same think for referrals

is it normal ?

Answer 1

If users are editing the documents in the full version of Word (as opposed to the online, browser version), there should be no compatibility issues between these two versions.

However, you should be aware that Word, in part, relies on the printer driver when it lays out a document, so different operating systems and different printer drivers may affect the appearance.

To ensure that any document looks exactly the same on all platforms, you'd need to share it as a PDF file.

Answer 2

Amplifying Stefan's response... when you send a Word document to be opened as a Word document on a different computer...

NEVER expect it to look exactly the same on a different computer.

• http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TextReflow.htm
• http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/sharing/willmyformatchange.html
• https://wordmvp.com/Mac/PagesInWord.html

Opening in a different version of Word and/or a different operating system will generally make this worse.

Answer 3

Hi @Adel B

For better analysis, I would confirm more information.

In general, new features of Microsoft 365 Apps may not be supported by Office 2016, but Office 2016 settings are less frequently incompatible on Microsoft 365 Apps.

When sending documents word document .Docx to a customer or a partner with word in version MS 365 apps for entreprise

May I know how do you send Word documents? Such as via Outlook emails, OneDrive shared link or others.

the tables jumps are no more in the correct form, same think for referrals

Do these document use your company-specific templates or any features of 3rd party add-in? Are the tables set with a specific format or style?

If conditions permit, it is recommended to take screenshots of relevant images. (Please note, if there is any privacy information, you need to cover it.)

Currently, I suggest you turn off AutoFit to have a check. You can go to Ribbon> Layout> AutoFit button > Fixed Column Width.

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