Diagrams turn up incomplete when opened in PC

[Per-Axel Svalander]

On my iMac with OS X 10.2.6 I prepare a report in MS Word for Mac v.
10.1.4 by pasting diagrams (as Picture objects) prepared in Excel
for Mac v.10.1.5. (everything updated to date) . When the report is
mailed (attachments in Eudora 5.2) and reopened by reciever on a PC
many, but not all, of the diagrams turn up with incomplete texts on
the x- and y-axis. If for instance I have weekdays on the x-axis only
monday turns up on the PC version of the report. Microsoft support in
Sweden has been chewing on this for a couple of weeks but has not
turned up with any solution yet. - Any suggestions?
Per-Axel Svalander

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

When you paste as a "Picture" you are probably pasting in PICT format
(although it might be WMF). In each case, each piece of text will be
converted to a separate text object.

Chances are, some of those text objects are being placed BEHIND another
object where you cannot see them.

To prove this, as your recipient to Edit one of the pictures, Ungroup it if
the objects are grouped, then begin deleting the parts of the picture. If
the missing days of the week magically appear, then that's the problem: they
got stuck behind something.

To fix this, you could try several strategies.

One would be to edit the picture on the Mac and select all the words on an
Axis and then use Bring All to Front, then Group the items. This fixes them
all as a single object on the front layer.

Another method may be to save the picture as a file: create a new folder for
the document, place the picture file in the same folder as the document,
then use Insert>Picture>From File and specify "Linked" instead of "Save with
document".

Then Zip and email the entire folder to the PC user.

Another method may be to paste the thing as an Excel Object.

Failing that, convert it to a TIFF or GIF and paste that.

Word X has some killer layering issues with graphics that are not going to
be fixed, so we're stuck with them.

Hope this helps


This responds to article <[email protected]>,

On my iMac with OS X 10.2.6 I prepare a report in MS Word for Mac v.
10.1.4 by pasting diagrams (as Picture objects) prepared in Excel
for Mac v.10.1.5. (everything updated to date) . When the report is
mailed (attachments in Eudora 5.2) and reopened by reciever on a PC
many, but not all, of the diagrams turn up with incomplete texts on
the x- and y-axis. If for instance I have weekdays on the x-axis only
monday turns up on the PC version of the report. Microsoft support in
Sweden has been chewing on this for a couple of weeks but has not
turned up with any solution yet. - Any suggestions?
Per-Axel Svalander

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Per-Axel Svalander]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try them although some of the
strategies seem to be rather timeconsuming as I have many graphs that
are corrupted. Its more like a workaround than a final solution.

Word X has some killer layering issues with graphics that are not going to
be fixed, so we're stuck with them.

1. Does that mean that the problem might be solved if I use an older
version of Word?
2. That is a bit distant from Ms´s asurance of compatibility, don´t
you think?

As I waited for your response the MS Support came back to me saying
that they managed to see the graphics correctly (all but one) after
some minor fixing. Using their version of my file might solve my
problem for the moment if not indefinitely.

Thanks again

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

Hi Per-Axel:

1. Does that mean that the problem might be solved if I use an older
version of Word?

Yes, but be careful. If the version you use is too old, it will not be able
to insert current-version items and later versions will not be able to read
the file.

2. That is a bit distant from Ms´s asurance of compatibility, don´t
you think?

Yeah. They're bleeding about it. The bug is a serious problem to them, and
because Apple code is affected they can't get it fixed. Basically, they put
in a fix to cope with an Apple function that doesn't work the way they said
it would. The fix now breaks pictures some of the time. The alternative is
to take the fix out so the pictures don't work any of the time...

As I waited for your response the MS Support came back to me saying
that they managed to see the graphics correctly (all but one) after
some minor fixing. Using their version of my file might solve my
problem for the moment if not indefinitely.

Yeah, well the minor fix they would have done is to open the thing in Word
2003 and choose Edit Picture, then save the result. Word 2003 will make
multiple tries to get to the picture. If it succeeds, it then saves back a
clean copy.

You're right: not good. It's fixed in the next version.

Cheers

Thanks again

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Per-Axel Svalander]

Thank you John McGhie. It was long since I gave up believing in a
perfect world but you are bringing it a bit closer. It relieves a lot
of frustration to find someone whom at least sees your problem, takes
some of the burden of and gives hope for the future. Thanks again

Per-Axel S