File forks updated

[PubAdm]

In my original post I accidentally included resource fork when I meant data
fork. Here is the updated version of my post:

Do files created in MS Word 2004 have resource forks? Or are the file
contents only stored in the data fork? I am asking because there are
constant difficulties detaching these files once they are emailed to a PC
user in house. They almost always receive a message prompting them to either
detach the resource or data fork. However, in my testing, Word 2004
documents do not seem to produce this message. They open and detach without
a problem and I am attempting to ascertain why.

Thanks.

 

[matt neuburg]

Do files created in MS Word 2004 have resource forks?

Not usually. If it does, its loss is of no importance. The same for all
Word docs.

I am asking because there are
constant difficulties detaching these files once they are emailed to a PC
user in house. They almost always receive a message prompting them to either
detach the resource or data fork.

So tell them to open the data fork and forget the resource fork.

However, in my testing, Word 2004
documents do not seem to produce this message

Well, of course, there's a number of extra unknowns in this story,
namely the mail clients involved and the compression / encoding methods
used to express the attachment. There are good ways and bad ways for a
Mac user to email a PC user a Mac document - any Mac document, not just
a Word document. So that is not a Word problem. And you don't say how
you're doing it, so it is impossible to advise with any precision. m.

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah, we figured it out

Word does not normally send a Resource Fork because the entire file is in
the data fork, there are no external resources.

However, users using the Very Horrid Lotus Notes need to get their Notes
Administrator to set the system up properly to detach the resource fork
only.

Users emailing from Apples should be trained to encode their emails in MIME
or AppleDouble format. If they do that, the problem should not occur.

Cheers

In my original post I accidentally included resource fork when I meant data
fork. Here is the updated version of my post:

Do files created in MS Word 2004 have resource forks? Or are the file
contents only stored in the data fork? I am asking because there are
constant difficulties detaching these files once they are emailed to a PC
user in house. They almost always receive a message prompting them to either
detach the resource or data fork. However, in my testing, Word 2004
documents do not seem to produce this message. They open and detach without
a problem and I am attempting to ascertain why.

Thanks.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Phillip M. Jones, CE.T.]

Not usually. If it does, its loss is of no importance. The same for all
Word docs.




So tell them to open the data fork and forget the resource fork.




Well, of course, there's a number of extra unknowns in this story,
namely the mail clients involved and the compression / encoding methods
used to express the attachment. There are good ways and bad ways for a
Mac user to email a PC user a Mac document - any Mac document, not just
a Word document. So that is not a Word problem. And you don't say how
you're doing it, so it is impossible to advise with any precision. m.

What your folks need to do is when sending the documents use a program
that can compress the file using "Apple Double" This combines the files
into one before sending or or UUencode the files.

The one or two Fork file system has nothing to do with Word. It has to
do with the Mac's system implementation.

At the start Apple decided that it was safer and easier to have the dual
Fork setup (Data/resource fork). Resources telling things such as what
application was used to create the file were kept in one and the actual
data in the other. This was one reason why it has been difficult for
Virus Creators to create bugs that actually worked. If you had a strange
problem with a file usually rebuilding the system file would remove the
resource fork altogether and rebuild a new one. Also using this system
you didn't have to remember 10 zillion 3 letter extensions.

Its my understanding now PC's don't even bother with 3 letter extension
any more.

Well OSX still uses the 3 letter extension technology to allow PC's to
read files created on a Mac. But they are generally hidden unless you
ask the system to turn them on.

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[PubAdm]

Another poster mentioned that the files should first be encoded then
attached. However, the goal is to have the receiver save or open the file
without taking additional steps. The file needs to be attached as a Word
doc. I altered the Location settings to attach Outbound Macintosh files as
AppleDouble but am still receiving the 'fork' message when the PC user
receives the file. Do I need to contact the Notes administrator first? Well,
I'll send him an email anyway. I wanted to verify that the system should
automatically detach the data fork, not the resource fork, yes?

Many thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Another poster mentioned that the files should first be encoded then
attached. However, the goal is to have the receiver save or open the file
without taking additional steps. The file needs to be attached as a Word
doc. I altered the Location settings to attach Outbound Macintosh files as
AppleDouble but am still receiving the 'fork' message when the PC user
receives the file.

I'm not really clear on this thread, but your message sounds a tad bit off
to me. Some clarifications, just in case.

Encoding--something mysterious that the email program does to all
attachments when you save a message with an attachment, which requires
nothing additional on the part of the recipient or sender. Entourage Help
"about attachment encoding" is pretty explanatory, see below.

Zipping--something the sender might do before attaching the message, to
compact it and also to prevent it getting corrupted in transit, which would
require the recipient to unzip it at the other end (not usually difficult).

I fear you have confused those two things.

You altered the Location settings to change the attachment encoding? That
seems strange. What email program is the Mac using? In Entourage, it's under
Preferences, Compose.

Please ignore my comments if they don't seem relevant, I have not been
studying the thread, and having Lotus Notes in the mix is completely beyond
my experience.

DM

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.

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, the Lotus system should automatically detach the DATA fork: there
should be nothing in the resource fork.

This is a change the Lotus Notes sys admin needs to make, as far as I can
tell. Depending on which version of Notes you are running, that may not be
possible.

The Apple system needs to be set to automatically add PC file extensions to
outgoing attachments. If you are using Entourage, I would also set it to
encode in MIME rather than AppleDouble. All Apple clients can read MIME,
but Notes is likely to treat AppleDouble as two files (because it is...)
whereas it will handle MIME differently.

Another poster mentioned that the files should first be encoded then
attached. However, the goal is to have the receiver save or open the file
without taking additional steps. The file needs to be attached as a Word
doc. I altered the Location settings to attach Outbound Macintosh files as
AppleDouble but am still receiving the 'fork' message when the PC user
receives the file. Do I need to contact the Notes administrator first? Well,
I'll send him an email anyway. I wanted to verify that the system should
automatically detach the data fork, not the resource fork, yes?

Many thanks.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[PubAdm]

Thanks for the info. The encoding has been set to AppleDouble and I have
sent an email to the Notes administrator. Hopefully he will be able to flip
the switch to automatically detach the data fork. As I understand it, Word
2004 must not use any resource fork. However, although I own a license for
the area, due to the poor Quicktime implementation in Powerpoint I have been
unable to upgrade from Office X. I may start a new thread but has anyone had
experience running mixed components of X and 2004?

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, I had X and 2004 mixed right through the beta.

The two versions will not conflict except that they will try to share things
you create (such as templates). Generally that will not cause problems.
They maintain their own unique preferences.

Office X and Office 2004 use different Apple rendering engines to handle
text: one uses QuickDraw, the later one uses ATSUI. This will result in
small layout changes between versions.

You may get some "interesting times" with clip-art, I seem to remember, but
since I don't use clipart I never noticed them.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. The encoding has been set to AppleDouble and I have
sent an email to the Notes administrator. Hopefully he will be able to flip
the switch to automatically detach the data fork. As I understand it, Word
2004 must not use any resource fork. However, although I own a license for
the area, due to the poor Quicktime implementation in Powerpoint I have been
unable to upgrade from Office X. I may start a new thread but has anyone had
experience running mixed components of X and 2004?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Yes, I had X and 2004 mixed right through the beta.

The two versions will not conflict except that they will try to share things
you create (such as templates). Generally that will not cause problems.
They maintain their own unique preferences.

There is that current thread where people trying to use Entourage 2004 and
Word X (I think) had some issues?

This ng, subject:
Re: Word 10.1.6 "Replace" command causes beach-balling

DM

 

[John McGhie]

It's possible, depending on the sequence in which they installed the
products. If you install Word X first, then Word 2004, and say "No" if it
offers to remove previous versions, I think you will be OK.

Whichever one you install "last" will own all the shortcuts and file
associations.

There is that current thread where people trying to use Entourage 2004 and
Word X (I think) had some issues?

This ng, subject:
Re: Word 10.1.6 "Replace" command causes beach-balling

DM

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410