WD: Cannot Edit Equations and Graphs in Earlier Versions of Word

ID: Q115150

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

If you have a Word document with a graph or equation in it, and you try to edit that object, you may receive one of the following error messages:

   Word cannot edit the MSGraph.Chart.5 (MSGraph.Chart.8)

    -or-

   Word cannot edit the Equation.2 (Equation.3)

    -or-

   Word cannot edit the unknown

CAUSE

Equations and graphs created with later versions of Word cannot be edited in earlier versions of Word, if all of the following conditions are true:

• The equation or graph was created in an earlier version of Word on a computer that has both the earlier version and a later version installed.
• The document containing the object or graph is opened on another computer that has only the earlier version of Word.

WORKAROUND

There is no workaround for this situation. The equations and graphs must be edited in the program that was used to create them.

MORE INFORMATION

Graph 3.0 and Equation Editor 1.0 were shipped with Word 2.x.

Graph 3.0 and Equation Editor 2.0 were shipped with Word 6.0.

Graph 5.0 and Equation Editor 2.0 were shipped with Word 7.0.

When you install a newer version of Microsoft Word, Setup will replace the current versions of the Equation Editor and Microsoft Graph with the newer versions.

If you have both an earlier version of Microsoft Word and a later version on the same computer, equations and graphs you create in the earlier version are automatically created with the newer versions of the Equation Editor and Microsoft graph. When you try to work on these on a computer that has only the earlier version of Word, the equations and graphs cannot be edited.

Example

Computer 1 has both Word 6.0 and Word 7.0 installed on it. Therefore, it uses the newest version of the Equation Editor and Microsoft Graph available: Equation Editor 2.0 and Microsoft Graph 5.0.

A document created on this computer in Microsoft Word 6.0 will contain Equation Editor 2.0 and Microsoft Graph 5.0 objects, even though these programs were installed by Word 7.0.

Computer 2 has only Microsoft Word 6.0 installed on it. Therefore, it will have Equation Editor 2.0 and Microsoft Graph 3.0 available.

If you take the document created in Microsoft Word 6.0 on computer 1 and open it in Microsoft Word 6.0 on computer 2, you will receive the error messages described in this article when you double-click an equation or graph object to edit it.

REFERENCES

For more information about running multiple versions of Word on the same computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE ID: Q163154
   TITLE     : WD: Problems Running Multiple Versions of Word on Same
               Computer

Keywords          : kbenv kbdta word8 kbfield word6 word7 word95 
Version           : WINDOWS: 6.0 6.0a 6.0c 7.0
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: December 10, 1998