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Mac Forum / Applications / Word / May 2008Office Mac to Windows Compatibility Issues
Dear all, I recently bought a Mac and am running the Beta version of Office for Mac 2008. I am having major compatibility issues when I email files created on my Mac to a Windows PC (I always save as standard .doc, not .docx). When you try to open the file in Windows it comes out as gibberish (boxes and symbols). As far as I can tell I should be able to open .doc's cross-platform. The Windows PC is running Office 2004. If possible i'd prefer not to save as RTF. Any help would be appreciated, thank you so much. Nicola. Hi, The beta period is over. Get yourself a copy of the released version. -Jim Quoting from "nicandrews@officeformac.com" <nicandrews@officeformac.com>, in article ee886a1.-1@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, on [DATE: > Dear all, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Nicola.  SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Sorry - If you're a legitimate Beta tester you wouldn't have asked the question here & it isn't the practice of this group to support pirated software. Perhaps whomever supplied you with the illegal copy can answer your questions. Good Luck |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 1/13/08 7:05 PM, in article ee886a1.-1@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Dear all, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Nicola. I'm not supporting the beta version--but when people using Windows ask this question, this is my standard answer. (by the way, the Windows PC is *not* running Office 2004, which is the Mac version) Mac and Win versions of Word from WinWord 97 to MacWord 2004 all use the same file format, so that's not the basic problem. If the file does not have the .doc extension, you may need to add it manually or use File | Open from within Word. The most common problem arises when the doc was sent by email and the attachment encoding was not set properly. If you see something about "application/x-macbinary" or "application/applefile" when trying to open the doc, sounds like they encoded it for Mac computers. Or if it brings up a prompt about “encoding” and opens with a bunch of squares. Try sending the explanation below to your correspondent, asking them to change their encoding. The help on any Mac email program will tell them how. A Mac email program, Entourage, has this to say in Help: About attachment encodings When you choose an encoding format, it is helpful to understand how Macintosh files differ from files created on other computers. Macintosh files include additional resource information that files created on other types of computers do not. If you are sending a data file, such as a Microsoft Word document or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, such resource information may not be necessary. However, if you are sending something more complex, such as a program, to another Macintosh computer, you must choose an encoding format that preserves all the data. The AppleDouble encoding format preserves the additional resource information, and can be read by both Macintosh and other types of computers. AppleDouble is a good choice for your default encoding format; it works most of the time with most computers. However, if AppleDouble fails, you can choose a different encoding format depending on the type of computer you are sending the attachment to: • To send an attachment to a Macintosh computer, use BinHex, which preserves the Macintosh resource information and data. • To send an attachment to a Windows-based computer, use MIME/Base 64, which preserves the data only. • To send an attachment to a UNIX computer, use UUEncode, which preserves the data only. > Dear all, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Nicola. Waw, the answers of these Microsoft MVPs really built confidence in their product, I feel so much better now to upgrade to 2008 knowing there are no compatibility issues whatsoever, and if you have, you probably are a cheater! What a relief to know that they are always right and have to right to bully their clients, even when it takes them about 4 years to come up with a cosmetic upgrade. Dear [whoever], I think you might be confusing MVPs with Microsoft Inc. Microsoft MVPs don't have a product or develop one. They are simply people who share their knowledge with other users of Microsoft products. Microsoft makes the "MVP" award to such people who in the previous year have evidenced a high level of technical knowledge and have been capable of presenting it in a clear manner. By definition, MVPs do not work for Microsoft. Nor are MVPs evangelists for Microsoft products. They take their independence seriously, and I'm therefore not aware of any MVP saying there are no compatibility problems; quite the contrary. [In the application I am using to view your post I cannot see a context for your remarks. It may just be that it's a spontaneous outpouring -- in which case I hope you're feeling better for having said it -- or it may be that you changed the subject of a previous thread. In any case, I'm making this clarification free of any knowledge of context.] Cheers, Clive Huggan Word:Mac MVP Canberra, Australia (My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed) ==================================================== > Waw, the answers of these Microsoft MVPs really built confidence in their > product, I feel so much better now to upgrade to 2008 knowing there are no > compatibility issues whatsoever, and if you have, you probably are a cheater! > What a relief to know that they are always right and have to right to bully > their clients, even when it takes them about 4 years to come up with a > cosmetic upgrade. Quoting from "Toedeloe" <Toedeloe>, in article ee886a1.3@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, on [DATE: > Waw, the answers of these Microsoft MVPs really built confidence in their > product, I feel so much better now to upgrade to 2008 knowing there are no > compatibility issues whatsoever, and if you have, you probably are a cheater! > What a relief to know that they are always right and have to right to bully > their clients, even when it takes them about 4 years to come up with a > cosmetic upgrade. Hi, The MVPs are not Microsoft employees. Like you, we use their products and also like you we have gripes about them. I can assure you that MVPs did not hold back expression of their own opinions about Office 2008 and its compatibility problems. Far the vast majority of users there are no compatibility problems. But for some (myself included), the obstacles are significant enough that moving (notice I did not use the word ³upgrading²) from Office 2004 is not possible. -Jim SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility issues with Office 2004 when sending documents to a PC, but this is now a real problem. Not only emailing documents but using a flash drive to move stuff means I get the boxes and symbols on the PC. Please explain simply put how I change how I save Mac files to make them transferable, otherwise I have an almost unusable piece of software. Kathy Hirst Hi, The PC users probably are using Office 2003 or earlier. Use File, Save As and choose ³Word 97 through 2004 .doc² as the file type and send the doc file. If you want to make the default file type doc then use Word > Preferences > Save and change the default save as file type to 97 through 2004. Thanks. -Jim Quoting from "Kathy Hirst" <>, in article ee886a1.5@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, on [DATE: > All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have > upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Kathy Hirst SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Hi, We tried this and the files are saved in the correct Office 94-97 formats with extensions on them, but the PC's still can't open them. >Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >> >> Kathy Hirst Hi Kathy: Jim has mentioned one way, allow me to mention the other: "Don't do anything." If you save your documents as "Word Document (.docx)" then it is perfectly readable on the PC. You are sending the same format they are supposed to be using. Note: Make sure it IS .docx you are saving, and not some older "compatibility mode" format. Some of the old Mac formats such as Word 5.1 and earlier WILL give problems going through a PC email system. If they complain, tell them "Call your system administrator." DO NOT, whatever you do, admit that you are using a Mac. Otherwise, they will use this as the "excuse" to make it your problem. It is not, and we have to get out of the habit of jumping through hoops to solve other people's problems for them. Their mail program, or their copy of Word, is missing a component. Nothing you can do will fix that. But you could wreck your document trying. Send them a .docx. If they can't open it, then they have not been installing the updates Microsoft has been sending them automatically, or they have miss-configured their PCs. Either way, they are beyond our help :-) I send Word 2008 documents back and forth to the PC at work all the time. Never a problem. All I did was "nothing" and it all worked, as you would expect on a Mac. OK, I did have to yell at my System Administrator, a year ago, to install the converter. But they had it installed long before anyone else actually needed it :-) Cheers On 21/01/08 11:10 AM, in article ee886a1.5@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "Kathy Hirst " <> wrote: > All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have > upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Kathy Hirst SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name Re: the above. I am really confused now. Having sent several emails to myself to test all possibilities the position seems to be that both Macs (and all other PCs in the house) are having problems with all docs saved as docx docs. Why this setting has suddenly appeared confounds me. Last week after I had installed Office 2008, I was happily saving documents without having to change any settings as I did so. I have changed how I save documents so that I can save them as 97-04 compatible, but that doesn't seem logical when my problems include opening them on a Mac with the most recent version of Office. I am sending these docs via a variety of email servers inc .Mac and the problem arises via each method. So, the documents themselves will open from file as I create them in Word, but however and to whoever I send them, once saved, they are in binary form. Any ideas anyone? Be sure you are using the filename extension--check the box in the Save dialog to "append file extension." It's very possible that this setting became unchecked in the installation process. > Re: the above. > I am really confused now. Having sent several emails to myself to test [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > binary form. > Any ideas anyone? Having checked, the box is ticked so that seems not to be the problem. Anyway, it would be odd if both macs had the same error manually installed. Next idea? Kathy Hi Kathy: Some browsers "helpfully" try to "Unzip" .docx files when they get them. Go into Safari's preferences and UNcheck th setting that says "Open 'safe' files after downloading", and see if that's it. Even though internally a .docx is in Zip format, it won't work unless Word gets it as a single binary. Hope this helps On 21/01/08 11:08 PM, in article ee886a1.11@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "Kathy Hirst " <> wrote: > Having checked, the box is ticked so that seems not to be the problem. > Anyway, it would be odd if both macs had the same error manually installed. > Next idea? > Kathy SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name I am told that the Office 2008 still does not include support for "Right to Left" text for foreign languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish, and other Turkic dialects. Is this true? It's very funny that Arabic and Persian are supported in the PC version of Office, but still cannot be used in the Mac version. I had heard for months that RTL support was planned for the new version, but it seems to not be true. I'm sorry to say that I will refuse to buy the product until they accommodate this problem. Yes, it is true. Yes, it was planned (or at least: it was on the list...) However, they ran out of time, people, and money this time around. It is a VERY large engineering task to install RTL support throughout the product. Everything that Office does has to be re-engineered to work properly in either direction. Sadly, Mac Office sales just don't generate the revenue needed to fund this effort. If Apple develops RTL support in Mac OS X that enables Microsoft to import the code for this functionality from the PC Office version, then you'll have it next version. So far, that has not happened. I understand that Apple's RTL support currently means a complete re-write of the PC software to make it work on the Mac. I would have thought Apple might be trying to address this issue: after all, they are the ones with the most to gain they will sell a lot more Apples in RTL countries if every vendor's application can easily be converted to RTL support. Cheers On 23/01/08 6:04 AM, in article ee886a1.13@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > I am told that the Office 2008 still does not include support for "Right to > Left" text for foreign languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > was planned for the new version, but it seems to not be true. I'm sorry to > say that I will refuse to buy the product until they accommodate this problem. SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also having problems sending word files via email. Can someone help? I am using word for mac 2004, and it's not a pirated version, I "inherited" my bf's mac when he upgraded, and am still learning the ropes. I have tried to email my resume to a non-mac person via hotmail 3 times, and it doesn't work, whether I send it .doc or .txt. I have checked the compatibility thing and that doesn't seem to do anything. I can't ask her to change her email settings- she's a potential employer. What if I save it as a pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to send a notepad resume! Saving as a PDF would be an option. But try saving as a normal word file .doc then select the file and go to File menu from Finder (desktop) and choose make archive of resume.doc or what ever you have it named. then send to the PC person. they should then open and should be able to open your file. > Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also > having problems sending word files via email. Can someone help? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > save it as a pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to > send a notepad resume! Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling 616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868 Martinsville Va 24112 |pjones@kimbanet.com, ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If it's "fixed", don't "break it"! mailto:pjones@kimbanet.com <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm> <http://www.vpea.org> As soon as you introduce Hotmail into the equation, all manner of strangeness is possible, which has nothing to do with Word or the Mac. Follow Phillip's idea of creating an ARCHIVE of the file, then attaching that to your email. Use a "real" email program such as Apple Mail or Microsoft Entourage (both of which you have on your Mac) for business correspondence. They have a lot more smarts that the freebies. It's not a good look to be doing business correspondence by Hotmail: potential employers might get the impression that you are a MySpace or FaceBook subscriber :-) That may play well in a school playground, but trust me, it's NOT a career move :-) Cheers On 25/01/08 7:41 AM, in article ee886a1.15@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also having > problems sending word files via email. Can someone help? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to send a notepad > resume! SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name I've been emailing PC users attachments of files created in Word 2004 for years without incident. But I recently upgraded to Word 2008 and this morning received my first 'what gives' reply from a poor PC person. They had received two attachments from me, where I had attached but one .doc 97-2004 document. They saw one attachment of 384 bytes, which they could not open, and one of 39kb, which they could. No problem as such, but they were confused, and this is not what we want. It sounds like something I vaguely recall from an older version of Word/Mac, but is it another indication that all is not well in compatibility land? Make sure that your Entourage Preferences, under Mail and News Preferences/Compose has the Attachments options set to Encode ³Any computer (Apple Double).² On 2/1/08 9:49 AM, in article ee886a1.18@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > I've been emailing PC users attachments of files created in Word 2004 for > years without incident. But I recently upgraded to Word 2008 and this morning [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > version of Word/Mac, but is it another indication that all is not well in > compatibility land? Best, Bill Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1 Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2 Yes, sounds like you are indeed sending BinHex format and their email program is finding and revealing the Resource Fork. Since the resource fork is not needed on Windows, users will get a little confused. As Bob says, you could set your email program to encode in AppleDouble. Personally, I set mine to "MIME", because any computer can open that, and it was specifically designed to transfer over the Internet without damage. Hope this helps On 2/02/08 3:19 AM, in article ee886a1.18@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > I've been emailing PC users attachments of files created in Word 2004 for > years without incident. But I recently upgraded to Word 2008 and this morning [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > version of Word/Mac, but is it another indication that all is not well in > compatibility land? SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name Thanks Bill & John. Should have said: I'm using Mail, not Entourage. Presumably, in this app, I should tick Edit/Attachments/Always Send Windows Friendly Attachments. I rather thought I had, with all those years of trouble-free communication, but it wasn't actually ticked. So I have. Fingers crossed. I "hope" that's it. The Help in Mail is very simplistic, so I can't tell what encoding it's going to use :-) On 3/02/08 1:32 AM, in article ee886a1.21@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Thanks Bill & John. Should have said: I'm using Mail, not Entourage. > Presumably, in this app, I should tick Edit/Attachments/Always Send Windows > Friendly Attachments. I rather thought I had, with all those years of > trouble-free communication, but it wasn't actually ticked. So I have. Fingers > crossed. SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name Ahhh.... Diabolically clever of you to be talking about Mail in the Entourage newsgroup! I never would have caught on! :) Hope you have solved the problem. My guess is that ³send windows-friendly attachments² is exactly what you want. Best, - Bill On 2/2/08 8:02 AM, in article ee886a1.21@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Thanks Bill & John. Should have said: I'm using Mail, not Entourage. > Presumably, in this app, I should tick Edit/Attachments/Always Send Windows > Friendly Attachments. I rather thought I had, with all those years of > trouble-free communication, but it wasn't actually ticked. So I have. Fingers > crossed. Best, Bill Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1 Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2 John: I'm hoping too! So far so good. Bill: sorry, I was (diabolically or otherwise) talking about Word 08 and what happens to its attachments; I happen to be using Mail to send them, but the point was Word. Except that, when there are problems emailing Word documents--the problem is almost *always* in how they are being sent, and rarely in Word or the document. > John: I'm hoping too! So far so good. Bill: sorry, I was (diabolically > or otherwise) talking about Word 08 and what happens to its > attachments; I happen to be using Mail to send them, but the point was > Word. Can you save a ".docx" file with a ".doc" extension? Surely the true indicator of whether a file is "07/08" is NOT the extension, but coding within the document. Wouldn't both versions of Word be "smart" enough to realize that the ".doc" extension has merely been used for a ".docx" file? I know you could do it with a ".bob" extension if you wanted (or at least you used to be able to). Yes. But not by manually changing the extension since, as you indicated, .doc and .docx are different file types. Open your .docx file and do a Save As. Choose Word 97-2004 Document (.doc) from the Format dropdown menu. Signature***Please always reply to the newsgroup!*** Beth Rosengard Mac MVP Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/Mac/WordMacHome.html> My Site: <http://www.bethrosengard.com> On 2/5/08 11:22 AM, in article ee886a1.26@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Can you save a ".docx" file with a ".doc" extension? Surely the true indicator > of whether a file is "07/08" is NOT the extension, but coding within the > document. Wouldn't both versions of Word be "smart" enough to realize that the > ".doc" extension has merely been used for a ".docx" file? I know you could do > it with a ".bob" extension if you wanted (or at least you used to be able to). You could play all sorts of games like that, for your private amusement. But don't do it with a file you expect anyone else to use :-) The "content" of a .docx file is actually a Zip archive. If you change the extension, many applications will helpfully "unzip" it for you. If they do, it's pooched nothing you can do to get it back without running scripts. If you do decide to Unzip one and have a look, you will find it actually contains a mini website. The content of text is in a pure .txt file. If you want to have a play, you can produce all sorts of entertaining results by playing around in there. Just make sure you do not allow Mac OS X to write a resource fork into the folder. If you do, Word then can't read it. If you want to play, it's easier to do it from a Windows machine that doesn't write resource forks. If you do this then stitch it all back together again, wondrous things are possible. For example, you can replace all the graphics in a document without opening it. Or you could jerk the style CSS out and reformat the document. But if you want normal users to be able to get .docx files through their firewall, email, antivirus, antispyware and open in Word, leave the damn file extensions alone, or you are asking for trouble :-) Most non-desktop software such as mail servers and aintivirus applications are far to busy to go looking for content in the file: they will just believe the extension. If it's wrong, you get strange results that ordinary users will be unable to cope with. Hope this helps On 6/02/08 4:52 AM, in article ee886a1.26@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Can you save a ".docx" file with a ".doc" extension? Surely the true indicator > of whether a file is "07/08" is NOT the extension, but coding within the > document. Wouldn't both versions of Word be "smart" enough to realize that the > ".doc" extension has merely been used for a ".docx" file? I know you could do > it with a ".bob" extension if you wanted (or at least you used to be able to). SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name I have the same problems working two ways. From windows to mac and from mac to windows. The only solution here was saving as word 97-2004(or 2003). Docx is not really making me happy. This allways goes wrong. Bas Hello, if anyone can help i'd be eternally grateful. I've got a document, saved as a .docx file which i am trying to send to my professor. I am sending the file using entourage. He can't read it on his windows based machine. But interestingly, if i try and read the attachment that i've sent (from the sent-mail) it also doesn't open properly. I get an error that says the file is corrupted. It does open, but a lot of the formating is lost. My professor, on the other hand, can't open it at all. I have also been having problems opening any word files that have been sent to me, i assumed these files were actually corrupt - but now i think it may be a problem with my entourage settings. Can anyone help? Hi Anna - Does the prof have a software version that can open .---x files? In your Mail & News Preferences> Compose make sure that the choice for encoding is either Any Computer (AppleDouble) *or* Windows (MIME/Base 64). Also put a check in the box to Append Filename Extensions - and it's a good idea to stuff/zip files before sending as attachments. I believe what you're trying to open on your end *isn't* a copy of the document, but just a shell of what document was attached. If you want to test send a copy to another of your email addresses, don't attempt to open it from the Sent Items folder. HTH |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 2/11/08 6:32 AM, in article ee886a1.30@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Hello, if anyone can help i'd be eternally grateful. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Can anyone help? For a professor, you should be able to print the file to a PDF (Save to PDF) and e-mail it to him. I know this doesn't fix the issue with opening the docx files, but it ill certainly fix the issue of the prof not being able to read your paper. Thank you. The shell thing seems to make sense actually. The prof is no longer replying to my emails so i guess i'll find out later if he managed to open it or not. If he's running an earlier version of Office (before .docx) on Windows would he be able to open it though? Or do i need to change it so it's an .doc instead? The reason i ask, is when i was using Office 2003 on Windows (not long ago) i *was* able to open .docx files in Word (though these were sent from a Window's word user not a Word:mac user). Anyways, you've solved one mystery for me so cheers. Anna > If he's running an earlier version of Office (before .docx) on Windows > would he be able to open it though? Or do i need to change it so it's > an .doc instead? Depends on whether he has installed the update that lets 2003 use .docx files. > The reason i ask, is when i was using Office 2003 on Windows (not long > ago) i *was* able to open .docx files in Word (though these were sent > from a Window's word user not a Word:mac user). Whether the .docx was created in MacWord or WindowsWord does not make a difference. On 11/02/2008 12:42, in article ee886a1.33@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > If he's running an earlier version of Office (before .docx) on Windows would > he be able to open it though? Or do i need to change it so it's an .doc [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > *was* able to open .docx files in Word (though these were sent from a Window's > word user not a Word:mac user). Users of office 2003 & 2004 will be able to open docx file only IF they have downloaded and installed the pertinent file translators from the Microsoft web site. SignatureBarry Wainwright Microsoft MVP (see <http://www.microsoft.com/mvp/> for details) Visit the Entourage User¹s Weblog for Hints, tips and troubleshooting information: http://www.barryw.net/weblog/ Try the following: before sending make zip archive from Finder of the document and send that. See what happens. > Hello, if anyone can help i'd be eternally grateful. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Can anyone help? Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling 616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868 Martinsville Va 24112 |pjones@kimbanet.com, ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If it's "fixed", don't "break it"! mailto:pjones@kimbanet.com <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm> <http://www.vpea.org> This compatibility thing is driving me nuts! Can someone help? Seems as if all these posts are in regards to email issues.... I am saving a 224KB document in Word 2004. I open the same file in Windows version of 2003. It opens okay, but the lettering looks fuzzy, however the issue does not stop there. When I save the file in Windows Word 2003, the file jumps to a 5MB file. Can anyone help me?? Thanks. The "fuzzy" appearance may be a font issue depending on what versions of which fonts were used in the original doc & what is available on the PC running Office 2003. It's most likely not related to the size increase. If you stay with the fonts that come with Office it shouldn't be a problem. If the file contains images - especially if they were in .pict format or if they were pasted into the document - it might well account for the bloat. Windows doesn't understand .pict so Word is having to generate a second copy in order to display them on the PC. When saving it retains *both* copies of each such image because the one created for Windows won't work on a Mac. The best way to avoid the problem - on either platform - is to use appropriate graphics file types (PNG, JPG, TIF) and always use the Insert> Picture method rather than pasting. Other factors can influence file size as well, such as Track Changes, Versions & a plethora of other stuff: 1. Fast Saves: Disable this at on the Save tab of Tools | Options. 2. Preview Picture: Clear the check box on the Summary tab of File | Properties. 3. Versions (File | Versions): Make sure "Automatically save version on close" is not turned on. 4. Revisions (Tools | Track Changes): 5. Keep track of formatting (Tools | Options | Edit). This is reportedly A major cause of file bloat in Word 2002 and above. 6. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should be avoided wherever possible. 7. Embedded linguistic data (Tools | Options | Save). 8. Embedded graphics: When feasible, it is preferable to link the graphics. 9. Embedded objects: These are even worse than ordinary graphics saved with the document. If you see an { EMBED } code, the graphic is an OLE object. Unless you need to be able to edit the object in place, unlink it using Ctrl+Shift+F9. 10. File format: Make sure you are saving as a Word document; in some cases .rtf (Rich Text Format) files are significantly larger than .doc files. 11. Document corruption Files created in & used by these 2 versions in particular should not present a compatibility problem if properly created/edited. HTH |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 2/11/08 5:56 PM, in article ee886a1.37@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "AAC" > This compatibility thing is driving me nuts! Can someone help? Seems as if all > these posts are in regards to email issues.... [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > issue does not stop there. When I save the file in Windows Word 2003, the file > jumps to a 5MB file. Can anyone help me?? Thanks. I am also experiencing a compatibility issue. A colleague sent me a Word 2007 .docx file for editing. I edited it in Word 2008 for Mac, and left Track Changes on so he could see my edits. When he opens it in Word 2007 again, the spaces between words are missing in areas where editing has occurred. This sounds a bit like a display bug I found mentioned on this site where embedded documents don't display properly, but this is not an embedded document. It's a very disappointing outcome. As a copyeditor, I bought Office 2008 for the express purpose of collaborating with Office 2007 users on .docx files. Does anyone know of fixes or workarounds? Hi Kelly: That "sounds" as if the selection may have extended to include the spaces while you were editing, so that the spaces got tracked as a deletion. You would need to get the document back to verify that. There is also a "missing spaces" bug we are tracking on Word 2008. It produces a very similar outcome without tracked changes being involved. In either case, there's nothing we can do but wait. Word 2008 is very buggy. There's an update due around the middle of March. That will fix a few issues, maybe this one will be among them. In the meantime, do your professional work in Office 2004 if you have it, and wait for Microsoft to squish its bugs. Cheers On 1/03/08 6:35 AM, in article ee886a1.39@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "Kelly" > I am also experiencing a compatibility issue. A colleague sent me a Word 2007 > .docx file for editing. I edited it in Word 2008 for Mac, and left Track [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Does anyone know of fixes or workarounds? SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia I am also having problems between Mac 2004 and Win 2003 I am sent a Word 2003 document for updating in 2004 for Mac. There is an embedded object that I double click to open a small Excel spreadsheet into which I enter numbers. On opening the spreadsheet, the object is automatically enlarged which throws the right-hand end into the right margin, so that is unprintable. What is worse, I close the Word document, saving it in 2004 for Mac and then email it as an attachment back to the originator using Mail. They reopen in 2003 for windows, and can see the whole document including the amended object, but when they print it, the object area is blank. If they Preview the document, the numbers in the object are greyed. I dont know if this is the result of emailing the doc back and forwards, or a setting in either of our Words is wrong. Already answered your other On 3/03/08 10:51 AM, in article ee886a1.41@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "Dave Edwards " <> wrote: > I am also having problems between Mac 2004 and Win 2003 > I am sent a Word 2003 document for updating in 2004 for Mac. There is an [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > result of emailing the doc back and forwards, or a setting in either of our > Words is wrong. SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 Though I've downloaded the newest update (12.0.1), I'm still having problems with 97-2004.doc(s) created on my Mac opening in older PC; as well, after opening a .doc in Mac, I couldn't open back up in my pc at work. The default .docx to a PC .docx is okay, but not when chosing the .doc in Mac and then trying to open on a PC. Help. :frown: I've sent .docx and .doc's to myself and they open in various email accounts saved various ways: RTF, PDF, .docx, and .doc. They open just fine in Windows 2007 at work. However, these same documents will not open when saved to my flashdrive nor on my older PC at home (windows 98). I thank anyone for some help? Frustration springs eternal. I have no way to get a simple Word file open that one of my lawyers mailed to me...except by opening it on my old Dell. There Word works fine. Office 2008 just tells me that it is not recognized as a word document or that it may be open...both are not true. Interestingly enough, this problem only appeared, I believe, after the latest automatic update was downloaded and installed. Yes, I have tried saving the document in various ways and opening Word first and all the usual stuff. I did not shift from a PC to a MacBook anticipating the pleasure of having my old Dell open in parallel. Is this just an Office 2008 problem? It's "sort of" an Office 2008 problem :-) Most likely what has happened is that your file system permissions are out of whack. Reboot the computer. Then run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions on the boot volume. Then open the Help menu in Word and "Check for Updates". Put in any that are offered. Then try again. Report back if that doesn't fix it... Hope this helps On 3/04/08 3:29 AM, in article ee886a1.45@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Frustration springs eternal. I have no way to get a simple Word file open that > one of my lawyers mailed to me...except by opening it on my old Dell. There [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > to a MacBook anticipating the pleasure of having my old Dell open in parallel. > Is this just an Office 2008 problem? SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/ Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410, mailto:john@mcghie.name Word 2008 reports compatibility problems as is reports "6.0 / Word 97" settings - although the settings are actually "2000 - 2004 - X" . The settings folder in the Library has been deleted - which helped making some options accessible in Word that was before dimmed - but the reporting of a false compatibility issue seems strange to me... Did you read back through the thread? It was explained there. It's a bug: the system is hitting the wrong error message. On 19/05/08 7:17 PM, in article ee886a1.47@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Word 2008 reports compatibility problems as is reports "6.0 / Word 97" > settings - although the settings are actually "2000 - 2004 - X" . > > The settings folder in the Library has been deleted - which helped making some > options accessible in Word that was before dimmed - but the reporting of a > false compatibility issue seems strange to me... SignatureDon't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/ Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:john@mcghie.name I am having the same compatibility issues as others have described. Can't open .doc files sent to me by others and others can't open files from me. Everything worked fine before the "critical" update on the 13th. Now I am situation critical. I am a relatively new Mac user and have had nothing but trouble since I installed Office about 6 weeks ago. Anyone have a short, sweet answer to this compatibility problem other than tossing my computer out of the window! Try opening Disk Utility and repairing permissions. If that doesn't work restart computer from systems disk and repair permissions from Disk Utility. If using OSX.4.11 and below try downloading a Utility called AppleJack and install. Then restart computer and hold down Command-S (Single User Mode. Wait for Black & White screen to come up and at blinking cursor type applejack then hit return. Follow the menu of repairs in order. when all tasks done retart compter. Try word. IF your using 10.5 unless The developers have come out with an update do not install AppleJack . Apple has completely revamped how Single User Mode works. and Applejack the last time I looked isn't compatible though they are working on it. In That case just use the repair system within Single User mode. The advantages of using AppleJack is that you only use the UNIX repair Commands required to repair you drive. While single user mode is a little more dangerous it accesses *all* UNIX commands the benign ones and the ones that can get you in trouble. Also you might try DiskWarrior on OX.4.11 and lower. It may not be compatible with OSX.5. > I am having the same compatibility issues as others have described. > Can't open .doc files sent to me by others and others can't open [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > weeks ago. Anyone have a short, sweet answer to this compatibility > problem other than tossing my computer out of the window! Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling 616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868 Martinsville Va 24112 |pjones@kimbanet.com, ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If it's "fixed", don't "break it"! mailto:pjones@kimbanet.com <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm> <http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm> <http://www.vpea.org> There are lots of different issues being discussed in this thread. It would be better to ask a NEW question (upper left under search box) to get dedicated help for your problem, and give full details. > I am having the same compatibility issues as others have described. Can't open .doc files sent to me by others and others can't open files from me. Everything worked fine before the "critical" update on the 13th. Now I am situation critical. I am a relatively new Mac user and have had nothing but trouble since I installed Office about 6 weeks ago. Anyone have a short, sweet answer to this compatibility problem other than tossing my computer out of the window! |
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