By default, Word 2008 saves new documents in Microsoft’s docx filetype. If you are in an environment that doesn’t support this filetype, you can easily change the settings to doc, rtf or txt.
1. Open Word 2008.
2. Go to the Apple menu, click on Word and select Preferences.
3. Go to the Output and Sharing section and select Save.
4. Under Save options, use the Save Word files as dropdown to select the desired filetype.
5. Click OK.