Save files default format as backward compatible, not as XML.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-17521	DTOO139 - Word	SV-18608r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
By default, Office 2007 producst save new workbooks in the Office Open XML format. For users who run prior versions of Office products, Microsoft offers the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which enables these versions to open and save open XML format. If some users in your organization cannot install the Compatibility Pack, or are running other versions of Office products these users might not be able to access Excel files saved in the Open XML format.

Description

By default, Office 2007 producst save new workbooks in the Office Open XML format. For users who run prior versions of Office products, Microsoft offers the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which enables these versions to open and save open XML format. If some users in your organization cannot install the Compatibility Pack, or are running other versions of Office products these users might not be able to access Excel files saved in the Open XML format.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Word 2007	2014-04-03

Details

Check Text ( C-18849r1_chk )
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office Word 2007 -> Word Options -> Save "save files in this format" will be set to “Enabled (Word 97 - 2003 Document (*.doc)) or "Enabled (Word Document (.docx))”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options Criteria: If the value DefaultFormat is REG_SZ = doc for Word 97 - 2003 .doc or If the value DefaultFormat is REG_SZ = (blank) for Word 2007 .docx, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-18849r1_chk )

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office Word 2007 -> Word Options -> Save "save files in this format" will be set to “Enabled (Word 97 - 2003 Document (*.doc)) or "Enabled (Word Document (.docx))”.

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options

Criteria: If the value DefaultFormat is REG_SZ = doc for Word 97 - 2003 .doc or If the value DefaultFormat is REG_SZ = (blank) for Word 2007 .docx, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-17449r1_fix)
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office Word 2007 -> Word Options -> Save “save files in this format” will be set to “Enabled (Word 97 - 2003 Document (*.doc)) or "Enabled (Word Document (.docx))”.