A .docx file is a Microsoft Office Word file. This is the new file extension that is used by the newest Office products; Office 2007 on the PC and Office 2008 on the Macintosh. It is NOT a Macintosh specific file.
Before Office 2007 (PC) and Office 2008 (Mac), Microsoft used the file format (.doc). This was the standard used in word documents for many years and is arguably still the standard.
Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008 (the newest versions) can save as (.doc) files, instead of the new file format (.docx), to help with compatibility issues with older versions of Microsoft Office. To save as a (.doc) document, select Save As, then select (.doc) in the pull-down options.
If you are a faculty/staff member of Gustavus Adolphus College and would like a Microsoft Office upgrade to this new version, please schedule an appointment with the Technology Helpline by calling x6111.
The public lab computers on campus are running Office 2007 for PC and Office 2008 for Macintosh.
For more infomation, please see Wikipedia’s Microsoft Office 2007 article regarding this new file format.