Scissor Office

Open old .doc, .xls and .ppt files and save them in today's formats

Files from Office 97–2003 still turn up in archives and email. Scissor Office reads these binary formats in your browser and saves them as DOCX, XLSX or PPTX, or as OpenDocument, so you can keep working with them.

Open an old fileHow it works

How to convert an old Office file

  1. Open the app, press Open file and choose the .doc, .xls or .ppt file. It opens in Documents, Spreadsheets or Presentations.
  2. Check it and edit it if you need to.
  3. Press Save. Scissor Office does not write the old formats, so it asks you to Save in another format; the original file stays as it is.
  4. Pick DOCX, XLSX or PPTX for Microsoft Office, or ODT, ODS or ODP for OpenDocument.

What each old format keeps

FormatReadNot read yet
Word .doc and .dotText, headings, bold and italic, lists, links, tables, pictures, page size and margins, right-to-left paragraphsHeaders, footers, footnotes and comments; EMF and WMF pictures come in as grey placeholders; tables inside tables become lines of text
Excel .xls and .xltValues, formulas with their last results, number formats, fonts, fills, borders, column widths, row heights, merged cells, frozen panes, links, named rangesCharts, pictures, comments, conditional formats, data validation, filters, pivot tables
PowerPoint .ppt, .pps and .potSlides, formatted text, shapes, groups, pictures, speaker notes, hidden slides, transitions, masters, backgroundsAnimations, charts and other embedded objects (their preview picture is shown), tables (shown as shapes)

Versions that do not open

Word 6 and Word 95 documents are not supported. Excel 5.0 and 95 files open with their values and formatting, but without their formulas. Excel 4.0 and earlier, and .xlsb files, are not supported. Files from any of these versions protected with a password cannot be opened.

Why convert

DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, and their OpenDocument counterparts, are the formats current office apps write by default. Saving an old file in one of them means it keeps opening in the years ahead, and Scissor Office can then save it in place.

Private by design

Old files often come from archives with private records in them. Scissor Office reads them inside your browser tab with its own engines; nothing goes to our servers.

Want to see for yourself that nothing is uploaded? How it works shows how to check in your browser's Network tab.

Questions and answers

How do I convert a .doc to .docx?

Open the .doc file and press Save. Choose DOCX when Scissor Office asks for another format, and a new .docx file is saved beside the original.

Are tables in .doc files kept?

Yes, with their columns, merged cells, borders and shading. A table inside another table comes in as lines with tab-separated cells.

Are formulas in .xls files kept?

Yes, with their last calculated results. Excel 5.0 and 95 files open without their formulas.

Does it convert .ppt to .pptx?

Yes. Open the .ppt file and save it as PPTX or ODP.

Can it open old files with a password?

Not yet. Remove the password in the program that made the file, then open it here.

Is the file uploaded?

No. It is read and converted inside your browser tab.

Related guides

Open an old file

Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Pages, Numbers and Keynote are trademarks of Apple Inc. LibreOffice is a trademark of The Document Foundation. Google Docs is a trademark of Google LLC. Scissor Office is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any of them. File formats are named only to say what Scissor Office can open and save.