From AAC to Wi-Fi, technology has an abundance of acronyms, initialisms, alphabetisms and other abbreviations. For many, however, much of this techno babble leaves us lost in space. Take XML, for example: as soon as these three letters are mentioned in relation to any Word application, some of us tend to glaze over. For those of us who have switched off at the very mention of XML, it's probably time to find out what it's all about.

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents electronically. XML is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the web, intranets and elsewhere. XML allows documents which are all the same type to be created and handled consistently and without structural errors, because it provides a standardised way of describing, controlling, or allowing/disallowing particular types of document structure.

Today's businesses thrive on data, and that data can come from any number of sources, and in any number of formats: databases, web pages, spreadsheet files, and e-mail, to name just a few. XML enables you to work with more data from more sources.

Previously, each messaging system had its own format and all were different, which made inter-system messaging unnecessarily messy, complex, and expensive. It makes sense, therefore, for everyone to use the same syntax: it makes writing these systems much faster and more reliable.

Following the advent of XML in the 1990s, corporate computing customers began to realise the business value in adopting open formats and standardisation in the computer products and applications that they relied on. IT professionals benefited from the common data format possible with XML because of its capacity to be read by applications, platforms, and internet browsers.

The 2007 Microsoft Office system continues with this transition by adopting an XML-based file format for Microsoft Office 2007. The new file format, called Office Open XML Formats, addresses these workplace issues with changes that affect the way that you approach solutions based on Microsoft Office Word 2007 documents.

The new formats improve file and data management and data recovery. Any application that supports XML can access and work with data in the new file format. The application does not need to be part of the Microsoft Office system or even a Microsoft product.

As technology progresses, Microsoft has kept up with the need for smaller sized files with more reliable data - making the problem of saving and storing, along with file errors, a thing of the past.

The new XML-based format helps make your documents safer by separating files that contain scripts or macros, making it easier to identify and block unwanted code or macros. This version also makes your document file sizes smaller, and less susceptible to damage the new file format also gives you the ability to use features that are available only in Word 2007.


When you create a new document in Word 2007, and then save the document, the new file format will automatically be chosen for you. You can check this by looking at the Save As dialog box. Notice that the Save As type box says Word Document. This means the new file format is being used.

Essentially, then, XML is a set of rules for encoding documents electronically. The Open XML Formats introduces several benefits to Microsoft users - not only for developers and the solutions that they build, but also for individual people and organizations of all sizes.

The key to understanding XML - just remember, it's in the name: Extensibility.