Jason,
Elliott is right, and his solution of making a PDF file is best. Because
Word is not a page-based application, it does tend to move around a bit. But
not to the extreme degree you mention -- I think there are several things
working against you, and undoubtedly PDFing it is the best option.
But if you must provide it as a Word document, the following will help.
I do a lot of cross-platform work, and most of the time there is no
difference on either platform; and when there is, only about one line per
page.
(By the way, the same differences can occur between documents moved between
Macs only, and PCs only, when they aren't on the same network. Most people
will blame the fact that a Mac is involved because that's the most obvious
point of difference, but a number of points of difference are involved.)
[Important caveat: I'm in Word 2001, and I'm unaware of the detail of some
of the Word X-specific printing problems that people have been reporting.
Perhaps someone with that knowledge can contribute their views. Or you can
do a Google search of this newsgroup. In the meantime, the following factors
are still totally relevant to cross-platform and cross-computer sharing of
Word docs.]
The main causes of difference are fonts, page set-up and styles.
FONTS
You need to use identical fonts, not just same-name fonts. (If your résumé
is in an elegant font, this reality alone will push you back to doing a
PDF!). This snip from some of my notes on Word describes the situation:
"The following comments come from a Microsoft article that's worth
consulting at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/wordx/wordx_main.asp?embfpath=featartx&embfname
=wd_crossplatform.asp
Despite their similar appearance, the standard Macintosh TrueType fonts
(Times, Helvetica, and Courier) are actually quite different from the
standard Windows fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier New). These
fonts come from broadly the same font families, but the font metrics of the
font sets are different. Even a very short document that uses these fonts
can exhibit noticeable change in pagination when you move it to the other
platform, and long documents can display a considerable amount of change.
Word for the Macintosh uses Microsoft's TrueType font set for the Macintosh,
including Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New, and Wingdings. These are the
same TrueType fonts that come with Microsoft Windows. This offers a
consistent base set of fonts for every Word user, minimizing font-mapping
difficulties when you cross platforms."
PAGE SETUP
Check with the other person to see whether they have the same paper sizes
and margin settings. (Note that different printer drivers, even on the same
platform, can cause minor differences even if the numerical settings are
identical.) Out of courtesy, I change my settings to theirs rather than ask
them to do what they will probably never have done before; and less
courteously, I bear in mind they will probably blame me for every formatting
problem they experience after that.
STYLES
If you have used a Word default style, such as Normal style, for your text,
the other person's definition of Normal can (depending on how they have set
up their version of Word) over-ride your settings. You may have used Times
New Roman 11 point at 13 point line spacing, they may have specified Arial
10 point at single line spacing. This difference can account for a huge
difference between the lengths of the two documents. The solution here is to
create a style for your body text that is unique; therefore, their settings
will not over-ride it. More information on this starts on page 100 of "Bend
Word to your Will", which you can download from
www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm, and if you need an outline
of styles read from page 56.
-- Clive Huggan
* Please post all comments to the newsgroup for the benefit of others who
may be interested.
* Remove "the" from my address above if you need to send an e-mail to me
directly, but please note that e-mails with an attachment will be
automatically rejected.
* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up your Normal template and all your Word settings (to a
medium other than your hard drive)?
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