Nested Tables Going Crazy!   

I'm using Word 2007.  Created a document that is 16 pages long and is made up 
complete of MANY nested tables.

If I save it as a Word 2007 document (.docx), when I go back into Word and 
reopen the file, it opens fine and is still 16 pages.

If I save it as a Word 97-2003 compatible document (.doc), when I go back 
into Word 2007 and open it, the page count continually clicks off pages 
beyond the 16 pages into the hundreds of pages.  The only way to stop it is 
to exit the file.  If I scroll thru the pages while the page count is rising, 
it looks like the first few pages are correct but after that table "pieces" 
are scattered over many pages and also a lot of blank pages.

Interestingly, this abnormal rising page count only happens if I open the 
file from within Word 2007, from the list of latest files.  If I open this 
Word 97-2003 compatible document by double clicking on it under the folder it 
resides in, it opens perfectly ....... 16 pages, not rapidly increasing page 
count.

All my other Word documents (.doc and .docx) reopen just fine over and over, 
no matter how I reopen them.  This is ONLY Word document I have that uses 
nested tables, so my suspicion is high that these nested tabels are the 
culprit (especially when I file it as a Word 97-2003 compatible document).

When I am complete with this nested table document, my plan was to e-mail it 
as a Word 97-2003 compatible document to several associates across the 
country, who all use different versions of Word.  But now my confidence is 
low that many will have trouble with it.

Any thoughts out there as to what I might be doing wrong?  Or am I not doing 
somethign I should be when saving it?  Or should I not be using nested tables 
in docs that I need to ultimately make Word 97-2003 compatible documents?  
Thanks ..... Rick

date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:57:01 -0700   author:   Jeeslawees