How to open MDI files in Office 2007

Posted on August 23, 2008 at 5:18 am

An MDI file, which stands for Microsoft Document Imaging, is a proprietary Microsoft image format used for storing images of scanned documents along with certain metadata about the file. If you have Office 2003 installed on your computer, you will see Microsoft Document Image Writer as a virtual printer in your list of Printers.

In case you cannot print to a normal printer or if you simply want to have a digital copy of whatever your are printing, you can print to the MDI printer and save the file with a .MDI extension. The file can only be opened by a Microsoft program, namely Microsoft Document Imaging that comes with Office 2003.

As long as you are on your own computer, you will be able to open the MDI file, but if you try to open the file on a computer that is running Office 2007 or if you decide to upgrade to Office 2007, you may notice that you can no longer open the file.

The reason this happen is because by default Office 2007 does not install Microsoft Document Imaging. So if you want to open the MDI file in Office 2007, you have to install the feature manually.

First note that if you have Microsoft OneNote installed on your computer, you can use it to open MDI files without needing to install Microsoft Document Imaging.

To install MDI, go to the Control Panel and click on Add/Remove Programs or Uninstall a program if you are in Vista.

Next scroll down to Microsoft Office 2007 (Professional, Standard, Home, , Plus, etc) and highlight it. You should see the Change button, so click on that.

office 2007 install

Make sure Add/Remove Features is selected and then click on Continue.

add remove features office 2007

Now expand Office Tools and click on the drop down menu next to Microsoft Office Document Imaging and select Run All From My Computer.

microsoft document imaging

MDI will be installed onto your computer and you’ll see a new virtual printer called “Microsoft Office Document Image Writer” in the list of printers. You can now create MDI files and view them without a problem. Enjoy!

» Filed Under MS Office Tips

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Comments

27 Responses to “How to open MDI files in Office 2007”

  1. Pete Rosek said on : September 26th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

    Once I found out about MDI printing in Office 2003… I LOVED IT!

    I have been quite frustrated and greatly missed this printing option. Thanks for the install information. I’m back to normal (as much as I can).


  2. Diana Rockholm said on : October 1st, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    we tried this manual installation on one of our vista machines, and my guy steve sez the documents now open all garbled and unreadable.

    do you know what to do now?

    thanks oooooo so much.

    diana


  3. AnneSC said on : October 6th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    EXCELLENT. Followed your instructions on my vista machine and it worked like a charm. Thanks for the easy to follow instructions.


  4. Dr Amit Joshi said on : November 8th, 2008 at 5:38 am

    THANX A LOT…
    THIS REALLY WORKS FOR ME :)


  5. ashok said on : November 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm

    Thank you very much.
    it solved my problem of opening .mdi files
    Ashok


  6. SAMI ALI said on : November 21st, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    IT WAS VERY HELPFUL …………
    I GREATLY APPRCIATE

    BEST REGARDS,
    SAMI ALI


  7. Michelle M said on : December 15th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    This is very helpful! I was able to find what I needed to convert the files to print in MDI! Thanks!


  8. Diego said on : December 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Hi, I do have the Image Writer program installed, and I can see the MDI files. However, the virtual printer is NOT in the list of printers.

    I’m running Win XP (upgraded to SP2) and Office 2003.

    What should I do to recreate the virtual printer? Tried the “install features” but didn’t work.

    Thanks & regards,
    Diego.


  9. Amer Ouda said on : January 22nd, 2009 at 4:53 am

    Thanks, that is the best answer I found on the net.
    All the others said the Microsoft Digital Imaging is installed with Office 2003 and all newer versions. However I have Office 2007 and it wasn’t there, you explained how to install it, and it was very easy.

    Thanks again

    Amer


  10. Sarah Sutton said on : February 16th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    As all comments have stated: easy instructions, straightforward answers. Thank you!

    I did this adjustment for Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 and it worked like a charm.

    My tax return from last year was in this .mdi format and I thought I’d lost all of that important information.


  11. z said on : February 26th, 2009 at 6:18 am

    LIFE SAVER THANKS SO MUCH!!!THE BEST ANSWER I FOUND.


  12. strozze said on : March 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Thank you very much! Very helpful tips! I almost wanted to install mdi from the old Office..


  13. Brian said on : April 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    My Boss uses Office 2003 and I jumped into 2007 ignoring his advise. So When he sent me an MDI statement to reconcile i thought that was the end of my job! Thanks!! Your easy tips opened a new door!!


  14. vero o. said on : April 14th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    Thanks a lot. I tried opening theses MDI files with OneNote and it did work.


  15. Yasser said on : April 28th, 2009 at 2:51 am

    Thank you very much!

    I’ve searched Microsoft site on how to open these .mdi files using Office 2007 but I didn’t reach any good results in half an hour.

    You tips are really Helpful and easy.

    Thanks Again


  16. Freddy said on : May 5th, 2009 at 4:21 am

    Thanks..it works..i managed to open a MDI document while my boss was pacing up and down in frustration.


  17. arijeet said on : July 8th, 2009 at 3:12 am

    extraordinary it worked! I was able to open the MDI file! thank you so much….


  18. Jim said on : July 24th, 2009 at 9:11 am

    Thanks – worked fine!


  19. Mayank said on : July 25th, 2009 at 12:54 am

    Thanx a lot for your user friendly tips on opening mdi files in office 2007. I completed the job within minutes without the help of IT guys. This was the first time i visited this site but i’m going to come back often now.


  20. sandesh said on : August 5th, 2009 at 12:44 am

    Thanx a lot for your user friendly tips on opening mdi files in office 2003 & 2007. I completed the job within minutes without the help of another engineer. This was the first time i visited this site but i’m going to come back often now


  21. beyabey said on : August 6th, 2009 at 5:17 am

    thanx so so sooooo much! Now I can open MDI files without having any problems. :D


  22. rami said on : August 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    thank you so much, I got frustrated after i uninstalled my 2003 MS office. once again many thnx for your help


  23. ashwin said on : August 31st, 2009 at 2:24 am

    thanks a ton..i had an exam coming up and i had some really important notes in mdi format to go through….thanks a lot


  24. daniD said on : September 12th, 2009 at 9:32 am

    Thanks sooo much this was pretty useful, thanks again…now I can open MDI files.


  25. sowjanya said on : September 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 am

    Many thanks for the help. Screen shots would help even a lay person to do it all by himself. Great effort.


  26. MichaelS said on : November 9th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    see also MS kb 926198 for opening MDI files


  27. Dharmesh said on : November 21st, 2009 at 12:01 am

    HI,

    Good work, Keep it up. Was able to open my MDI file…


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