How do I set Word 2007 as the default for word (.docx, .doc) files instead of Word 2013?

What works for me (I have Word 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013 installed but have 2003 set as the default) is to reregister the specific Word version I want to use. "Reregistering" allows the program to reclaim its "ownership" of the Word file types through settings in the Windows Registry. The general command for reregistering Word is:

winword.exe /r

but this will always call the most recent (or currently dominant) version. To reregister a specific version, you have to include the entire file path. For Word 2003 on my system, for example, the command line is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE /r

To reregister Word 2007, first determine the full path to the executable (you've obviously done this--when you browse to it, you can select and Ctrl+C copy the path from the Address Bar), then press Windows Key + R to open the Run box. Ctrl+V to copy the path and add /r, leaving a space between the path and the switch, and press Enter. You'll get a message box. In my case it says,  "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office Professional 2003." When it finishes, you should be good to go.

Suzanne,

Thanks for your suggestion - which has the merit of being very simple to implement. It worked a treat for Word, setting the file association for .docx and .doc files back to Word 2007. But it had some unexpected side effects - it turned ALL my Office document types back to their associated Office 2007 programmes (eg Excel, Powerpoint) - which was a bit more than I wanted. Also, clicking on .xlsx documents, ie Excel documents, would open Excel 2007, but not the spreadsheets themselves.

I couldn't find a fix to cure the Excel problem, so I ran a repair on Office 365 (2013), which brings me back to where I started!

Any thoughts on how to avoid the problems I encountered? I have yet to try the registry edit suggested by Stefan Blom in his reply.

Stefan,

Thanks for your reply. I've tried all combinations of "Optimize character positioning for layout rather than readability", "Use subpixel positioning to smooth fonts on screen" and "Disable hardware graphics acceleration". None make any difference - the fonts in Word 2013 remain noticeably more blurred than they appear in Word 2007. 

I was delighted to come across your post explaining how to make Word 2007 the default over Office 365 (2013). I had spent many hours looking for a solution.

In my case I actually wanted to make Excel 2007 my default program.

I ran the reregister command you suggested for Word ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE /r ) and it made Word 2007 the default program.  It also made PowerPoint 2007 the default program which is fine. Interestingly, Excel 2007 is also now the default program but when I try to open an excel spreadsheet, Excel 2007 opens but no workbook opens. It is just blank.

I tried the other command you mentioned for Excel ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE /regserver ) but it just opens a blank Excel 2007 workbook.

Any thoughts on what I must do get the workbooks to actually open when Excel 2007 launches?

Thanks

Graeme