WordProcessingML

WordProcessingML or Word 2003 XML Document is an XML-based format which was introduced in Microsoft Office 2003 as one of the formats which could be chosen in the "Save As" feature to save Word documents, though not the default format (which was DOC, a proprietary binary format). This is a different format from the DOCX format introduced in Office 2007, which consists of a ZIP archive of various files including XML. In contrast, WordProcessingML is a single XML file, uncompressed, and is unable to store all features which can be present in an Word document. The 2007 versions are still capable of loading and saving WordProcessingML, even if a different XML-based format is the default format. (The "Save As" feature gives you two different XML formats, a "2003" version and an undated one that is based on a 2006 schema.)

The "WordProcessingML" term has also sometimes been used to describe the newer DOCX format as well.

Identification
A WordProcessingML file has the following header:

 <?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?> 

(which can vary somewhat depending on what version of Word it is saved from; from Word 2007 it lacks line breaks and uses different namespace URIs, varying depending on whether you save it in 2003 or 2006 format: 2003 format has,  ,  ; 2006 format has  ,  ,  )

Related formats

 * SpreadsheetML
 * DataDiagrammingML

Sample files

 * Sample WordProcessingML document (saved from Word 2007)
 * Document saved from Windows Word 2007 in XML 2006 format
 * Document saved from Windows Word 2007 in XML 2003 format

Links

 * Wikipedia article (Microsoft Office XML formats)