new file format is a major pain in the rear when exchanging files with users of previous versions of Office. I know I can "save as" the older document types but is there any way of setting his as the default save option.

Yes , you can set the default to be office 2003 format.

It's in the options somewhere

Yep there is an option to change the default save as the older office format.....

Another useless bit of info...... You can also change the colour scheme to either olive green, silver, blue or black in the options too. :D:D

Cheers

Dave.

in word, press ALT+T and then o , then click on the save option down the left side, and select word 2003 from the dropdown list.

job done - thanks!!