Open PAGES File

DOC and DOCX Files

Microsoft Word has long been a leader in word processing software space. With its first release in 1983 it has more than 35 years history. Versions of Microsoft Word are available for multiple platforms including Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.

Until Microsoft Office 2010 release Microsoft Word stored documents in Compound File Binary Format (CFBF) file format. This binary format was proprietary to Microsoft Word and could store rich content with complex OLE objects embedded inside. This format allowed embedding content created in software other than Microsoft Word and storing complex formula and graphics information. The problem with DOC format was its closed nature. Full specification for the format was not available until 2008 and anyone who wanted to use the format had to either use Microsoft Word software or reverse engineer DOC format in order to convert and read data from it. Licensing of DOC file format was not clearly defined and anyone writing a software to process DOC file risked legal consequences. Full specification for DOC file format is available at [MS-DOC]: Word (.doc) Binary File Format page.

This changed with Microsoft Word 2010 when Office Open XML based file formats were introduced. Office Open XML was developed by Microsoft as an open standard certified as ECMA-376 and as ISO/IEC 29500. DOCX file format is based on Office Open XML and is an archive with compressed files in OOXML format. Even though binary file like CFBF DOC format is more efficient to read and process, advancements in computing power made processing of XML quick and efficient with no noticeable performance effects to users.

Storage format became less important when Microsoft Word online application was introduced. Any document file created by Microsoft Word and stored Microsoft OneDrive online storage could be opened on any other device which had a compatible browser installed. This made sharing of the documents significantly easier and less dependent on file formats.

Apple Pages is able to import to and export from both DOC and DOCX file formats. This makes exchange of information between Microsoft Word and Apple Pages easy and straightforward.