Documents created in WINDOWS WORD 2007 havedifferent margins when opened in MAC WORD 2008

[theKING]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel First of all, I'm using an Intel MacBook Pro. I'm running the 2008 version of office for mac and the 2007 version for windows, using VmwareFusion as emulator (windows XP).

--------------------

I frequently receive word documents created by windows office 2007 users on which I have to work on.

One very annoying thing that SOMETIMES happens is that, when opening these files on mac word 2008, some of them get their margins messed up, as well as some parts of the footer.

Additionally, in some situations parts of text that should fit into one page get separated into two, because one phrase gets pushed to the next page due to changes in size (of what I can't figure out).

This is a big issue since I eventually end up having to print some of the files and the fact that their formatting is all messed up reflects on the end result.

I have searched the web for answers and I found some references to differences in (1) printer drivers and (2) font list.

As far as I can tell, the documents I have been using to try to figure this problem out (they have different aspects when opened using the windows word 2007 and the mac word 2008) use fonts I have on both platforms...

I know I can always open these files using the windows word 2007, on the emulator, but I obviously want to just use the mac version and get the right results on the fly.

Can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks in advance.

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, you do need to ensure that you have no duplicate fonts in OS X, and
that your Office updates are completely up-to-date on both platforms.

Word (on both platforms) gets its paper size and layout dimensions from the
printer driver. So you need to ensure you have specified the same printer
driver as the default on both platforms.

Once you've done those, the results will be very similar on each platform,
but not exactly the same.

It is important to ensure that the fonts used in the document are installed
on both sides of the fence: if they are not, any Unicode application will
choose the "next best fit" and that will change the measurements.

Microsoft created and distributed the "C-series" fonts with Word 2007/8 to
improve this issue: Calibri, Cambria, and the other Office 2007/8 fonts
whose names begin with "C" are carefully encoded to render as close as
possible to the same on both platforms.

Beyond that, it's a question of formatting the document correctly to make it
"transportable". For example: eliminate all page breaks. Word will add
page breaks automatically: construct your document so that when it does, it
gets them where you want them.

Do that by telling Word where you DON'T want page breaks, rather than
specifying where you do. Use the paragraph properties "Keep Lines
Together", and "Keep with next" to do this.

If a document has been constructed correctly, you will almost never notice
when you open it on a different computer.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
First of all, I'm using an Intel MacBook Pro. I'm running the 2008 version of
office for mac and the 2007 version for windows, using VmwareFusion as
emulator (windows XP).

--------------------

I frequently receive word documents created by windows office 2007 users on
which I have to work on.

One very annoying thing that SOMETIMES happens is that, when opening these
files on mac word 2008, some of them get their margins messed up, as well as
some parts of the footer.

Additionally, in some situations parts of text that should fit into one page
get separated into two, because one phrase gets pushed to the next page due to
changes in size (of what I can't figure out).

This is a big issue since I eventually end up having to print some of the
files and the fact that their formatting is all messed up reflects on the end
result.

I have searched the web for answers and I found some references to differences
in (1) printer drivers and (2) font list.

As far as I can tell, the documents I have been using to try to figure this
problem out (they have different aspects when opened using the windows word
2007 and the mac word 2008) use fonts I have on both platforms...

I know I can always open these files using the windows word 2007, on the
emulator, but I obviously want to just use the mac version and get the right
results on the fly.

Can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks in advance.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[theKING]

John,

Thank you for your post.

I'll try to follow some of the tips you provided.

I now understand that getting slightly different results on both platforms is to be expected, unless great care is taken when creating the files. This only partially solves my problem because I'm receiving files not created by me and that sometimes have inconsistencies between platforms I can't figure out their origin...

Nevertheless, thank you again for the information you provided... I expect now that at least the files I create will be consistent in their appearance.

Cheers,
Rui

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rui:

That's the idea! We can't fix the rest of the world, but we can prevent our
bit from sliding into the sea

Try to insist that people use only "the fonts provided by Microsoft" in
their documents. That helps a lot, because Microsoft adjusts the Mac
versions to emulate the appearance and measurements of the Windows versions.

If your contributors have modern versions of Word, they will have the
"C-Series" fonts (Calibri, Cambria, etc...). Tell tem to use those: not
only are they much nicer fonts than Arial, Times New Roman, etc but they are
also a much closer match on the Mac. And they have a much wider range of
characters available.

Times on the Mac contains about 280 characters. Cambria contains about
1,500.

Cheers

John,

Thank you for your post.

I'll try to follow some of the tips you provided.

I now understand that getting slightly different results on both platforms is
to be expected, unless great care is taken when creating the files. This only
partially solves my problem because I'm receiving files not created by me and
that sometimes have inconsistencies between platforms I can't figure out their
origin...

Nevertheless, thank you again for the information you provided... I expect now
that at least the files I create will be consistent in their appearance.

Cheers,
Rui

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]