Formatting problems on Mac Excel 2004 of Windows 2003 Spreadsheet

[BEEJAY]

Spent last two days researching internet to try to find out why I'm having
all this trouble getting my Windows 2003 Spreadsheets to print properly on a
mac, using Windows Excel 2004.
Comparing printouts of each:

Mac seems to:
1: Interprete the font somewhat larger (20 %)
2: Displays and prints column positioning much larger (wider)

Net result: Often 4 pages (2 wide, 2 high) instead of 1.

The main usage of the (15) WorkBooks (each having at least 10 WorkSheets)
is and will remain in the Windows environment. Therefore, I'm hoping there
is a way to run the workbooks on the Mac without having to reformat all
sheets in all w/b's each time an update is done.

Gratefuly for any help and guidance. With winter coming, I need the little
bit of hair I have left.
Thank-you

 

[CyberTaz]

The easiest way to resolve the matter -- based on your "Net result" -- is to
use the Scaling option in the Print dialog. As per your example, specify Fit
to: as 1 Page wide by 1 page tall.

The disparity on paper is mostly attributable to 2 causes: First, the
Windows font used in the file may not be exactly the same as what's
available on the Mac. Second, you're most likely using a different
printer/driver on the Mac than what was used on the PC when the file was
created -- the printer has a lot to do with page layout.

The same problem can occur whenever you move a file from one computer to
another regardless of operating system. You may have no control over what
printers are available, but one thing you can do is ensure that standardized
fonts are used in any documents that have to 'travel'. The better the
compliance in those regards the less likely & less severe the problem

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[BEEJAY]

Bob: Thanks for the prompt response.

1. I should have mentioned that "Printing" to our .pdf creator produced the
same results.
2. I am using all true type fonts. The one that was not available on the Mac
(Avantegarde Book BT), was installed on it.
Even though the font came from our "windows" world, it also gave the
same problems as the Arial, Arail Narrow and Times New Roman Fonts.
What is almost even more frustrating than the sizing and spacing issues
is that the Avantegarde print that is STANDARD (as in Non-Italics), prints
off the Mac as Italics, which also takes up more horizontal space.
3. I did try printing with scaling option at 1 page wide. Unfortunately, it
makes the contract look very unprofessional.

Unless other ideas surface, it seems that the only thing that I can do is to
format a seperate set of contracts to suit the Mac. Hopefully I'll be able
to do this via the VBA route.

Thanks again for your input