Office 2007 documents can be uploaded into Blackboard, and will have an extension of .docx for Word, .xlsx for Excel, .pptx for Powerpoint. However, when you try to download and view the document, Blackboard converts the file to zipped archive that can not be read without taking the following steps...

Step #1 - If you do not have Office 2007 installed and are using Office 2003, download and install "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats".

If you have Office 2007, skip this step.

Step #2 - Download the student's Office 2007 file. In Blackboard you'll notice that the file is stored as a compressed archive with a .zip extension.

Step #3 - Save the document but replace the .zip extension with .docx for Word, .xlsx for Excel, or .pptx for Powerpoint.

Step #4 - Open the saved document with either Office 2003 or Office 2007.