If you need to convert a .docx file to .doc, don’t pay for one of the many conversion sites or utilities out there. Your Mac has the ability to handle the conversion entirely on it’s own already built in and it’s completely free. We’re going to be using the textutil command line tool to get this done:

• Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
• Type the following command:

textutil -convert doc /path/to/filename.docx

For example, I have a docx file located in my Documents folder that I want converted, this would be the syntax:

textutil -convert doc ~/Documents/ImportantReport.docx

The ~ signifies your home directory, and the rest is just the path to your docx file.

As just a general Terminal tip, I would highly recommend using tab completion when entering in long directory strings and complex names, it’ll save you plenty of headaches. Basically you just start typing the name of a file or directory and hit tab to auto-complete the name.