Important links:

Compatability issues: With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft has changed the format of MS Office files. Some of the new Office 2007 file types are listed below.

• Word Document (*.docx)
• Word Macro-Enabled Document (*.docm)
• PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)
• PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx)
• PowerPoint Template (*.potx)

While the new version of MS Office for the Mac should allow for Mac users to read/edit/print MS Office 2007 files that product release has temporarily been *delayed. Until that product is released, Mac users have the following options:

For 10.4.8 and above (Tiger users)

1. Microsoft has a provided a Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac v 0.2 (Beta). With the Office Open XML Converter, you can convert Office Open XML files to a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Office v. X for Mac. You can choose to convert and open one file, or convert a large number of files. This product can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/
   Office2004/ConverterBeta_0_2.xml
   

2. Docx Converter will convert a Microsoft Office .docx file into a simple html file. It strips out some of the formatting, but the latest version supports bold, italic, and underlined text. Left, right, center, and justified alignment. Unicode characters. Tables. And more! This product is probably best if you just need to print a document. This product can be downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/docxconverter.html

10.3.x and above (Panther)

NeoOffice is a opensource and free office suite based off the OpenOffice Suite. NeoOffice includes the ODF Add-in for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The ODF Add-in is an open source project that makes it possible for NeoOffice to open, edit, and save most files in the Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats. The cons of this choice is that you do have download an entire new office suite and sometimes the product can be slow to load. However, if you’re using Panther this is probably your best option until MS Office 2208 for Mac comes out. This product can be downloaded from: http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php

10.2.x and below

If you are currently using a version of the Mac OS less than than 10.3.x (Panther) your only option currently is going to be to ask the creator of the document to save the document down to an Office 2003 version.