Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite

I'm starting to get multiple MS Word documents sent to me, and I'd like to detect what version of MS word created, or last saved, each doc.

Is there some tool for that?   Or, can I determine such information by looking with a text editor or a binary editor?

I have MS Office suite 2002 and Open office, if that helps.

share|improve this question
May I ask why you want to do that? What are you trying to accomplish? – KCotreau Jun 21 '11 at 10:43
@KCotreau, I am trying to determine, for a large number of files, what version of MS Word created (or at least last touched) them. Part of this is information gathering, and part is ensuring that edits are exchanged in a mutually compatible way. – Brock Adams Jun 21 '11 at 21:15

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Give trID a try. It looks to be like the file command in *nix.

If that doesn't work try the *nix file command, available in Gnuwin32, or in Cygwin.

Added about Quickview Plus- Another one to try is Quickview Plus. Quickview was a miracle/innovative type program some years back, I don't know if it is still used as much now but it opens loads of extensions. I just tried to open a file and it said MS Word 2000 in the bottom left hand corner. So that program may work for you. It's a 30 day trial that I tried.
http://download.cnet.com/Quick-View-Plus-Standard-Edition/3000-10743_4-10045750.html
http://www.avantstar.com/metro/home/Downloads

share|improve this answer
I downloaded that program. All it does is tell me that the docs are probably Ms Word docs. It gives no version and although it does report Word '95 docs slightly differently than Word 2002 docs, that's about it. ... What is this unix FILE command? I can't seem to find any reference to that. – Brock Adams Jun 21 '11 at 8:09
@Brock Adams You'll likely have more luck with QVP, but to your question about the file command , it's not at the link you mention 'cos that one just has ones it deems common, but it is common just not listed at your link, here it is mentioned, so it exists en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_(command) and for windows it's in gnuwin32 or cygwin. And you just say >file a.a And it tells you what file type it is , which is regardless of extension. So it might say this file is an HTML file. – barlop Jun 21 '11 at 9:28
QVP avantstar.com/metro/home/Downloads (it's clearly still being kept up to date). and download.cnet.com/Quick-View-Plus-Standard-Edition/… – barlop Jun 21 '11 at 9:34
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickView says Quickview used to be shipped with windows 95,98. But starting with 2000 and ME, no longer. There Quickview Plus, is a commercial alternative. I linked to QVP and it's up to date. QV is apparently available web17.webbpro.de/index.php?page=quickview which mentions 2 links including the latest version of quickview(which may still be old) viennacomputerproducts.com/downloads/QuickView/Setup.exe You may/probably need QVP though. Which I linked to. – barlop Jun 21 '11 at 9:40
Looking at the QVP site, it is a viewer program. It doesn't seem to be concerned with differentiating versions -- just displaying the document. Likewise the file program doesn't differentiate between versions. – Brock Adams Jun 21 '11 at 9:58
show 5 more comments
up vote 0 down vote

In windows, they are displayed by different icons. I'm not sure if they do in Linux.

For example, you created a word file in Word2010 and save it as Word2003 file, it will display icon of Word2003 rather than Word2010. It is downward compatible.

share|improve this answer
1  
you sure? have you had 2+ versions of word on one machine(if that works) and checked? the icons might just be those for the one version of ms word on your machine and for the .doc or if later then (also?) the .docx extension. if you went to a newer word program and saved a document as an older version you think it'd use the other icon? i doubt it.. unless you really tested it thoroughly. – barlop Aug 2 '11 at 15:43
They all use the same icon on my dev machine. – Brock Adams Aug 2 '11 at 20:10

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.