How to Turn Off Compatibility Mode in Word #3 Click File tab, Options, Save option, Save files in this format.How to Turn Off Compatibility Mode in Word # 2 The message is removed and the file is now a regular Word file with the. This converts the file to the new format. In Word, it shows Compatibility Mode in the top of the window. Open a document in compatibility mode.If MS Word opens your documents in Compatibility Mode instead of as a normal document, follow these steps. How to Turn Off Compatibility Mode in Word It still works fine but some features will not work unless you update the file.īy the way, converting the file to a new version will usually make the file size much smaller, which is always a good thing. It means your doc was saved in an older version of Word, typically Word 97-2003, and because of that some features in the newer version of Word may not work. doc file extension, you might get a message that your file is in compatibility mode. If you try to open an older version of a MS Word document with the.