Compatibility+mode+Excel+2007

We are currently learning about Microsoft Excel 2007 in this class. However If you do not have the new version of Microsoft 2007 and still working on the previous version 2003. You can still access the information from an .xlsx (Excel 2007) format in Excel 2003 (.xls) by simply downloading the patch from the below Microsoft Website

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA100775611033.aspx

Although you will not be able to use some of the functions on the new Excel 2007; you can still open any file and do not lose the formatting. For example I needed to open a file sent by a customer at work (he was working on Excel 2007) and my company has not yet upgraded to 2007. By downloading the patch you can access the spreadsheet without distording any of the information contained within the spreadsheet.

I hope this is helpful!