Help with Power Point 2004 Mac and Power point 2003 Windows

[isaiah.sheppard]

Hi,

First time poster on this forum. I'm stumped about this.

My wife prepared a Power Point 2003 slide that will be used as a
medical poster. I was going to make a pdf on my Mac-mini at home as she
didn't have Acrobat on her PC. When I opened it using PPT 2004 (Mac OS
X 4.7) we lost a bit of the formatting and fonts didn't display
correctly. After making several attempts back and forth I downloaded a
free PDF converter for her PC. It's still trial and error but we got a
pdf without having to purchase another version of Acrobat.

My concern, though, is why didn't the file display properly from 2003
Win to 2004 Mac? Is there anything special I need to do? And yes, I
downloaded/installed the latest Office update on the Mac side. Thanks
in advance for your response!

Isaiah

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

My concern, though, is why didn't the file display properly from 2003
Win to 2004 Mac?

Since you mention a font display problem, you may already have put your finger
on it. On the PC, open the presentation and choose Format, Replace Fonts.
Note the fonts used, as listed in the UPPER of the two list boxes.

If those same fonts aren't present on your Mac, PowerPoint will have to
substitute some other font.

Simplest fix is to use fonts that are available on both computers.

Is there anything special I need to do? And yes, I
downloaded/installed the latest Office update on the Mac side. Thanks
in advance for your response!

Isaiah

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[isaiah.sheppard]

Thank you. I haven't checked the PC yet, but the fonts in question are
Arial, which shouldn't be a problem. When I select replace fonts on the
Mac side, and change a font, Arial Unicode MS, for example, with Arial,
I get a warning box saying I'm "attempting to replace a double byte
font with a single byte font."

Do I need a more current PC in order to make the PC to Mac transfer
successful? Would OpenType versions of Arial be better?

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Isaiah -

I don't claim to be the ultimate authority by any means, but the
interjections below based on my understanding may be helpful.

Thank you. I haven't checked the PC yet, but the fonts in question are
Arial, which shouldn't be a problem.

Not necessarily true - prior to OpenType, fonts were specifically coded for
the individual platforms, so although the 'specs' were the same any given
font might render somewhat differently on it's respective platform. So a
file from the PC using Arial TrueType essentially has the Mac version of
Arial TT substituted when the file is displayed on a Mac & vice versa.
Couple that with the video display differnce of 72 ppi Mac vs. 96 ppi PC
plus the variation in printer driver & it's easier to understand how the
miscues occur - and the more extensive the formatting, the more likely the
variation.

When I select replace fonts on the
Mac side, and change a font, Arial Unicode MS, for example, with Arial,
I get a warning box saying I'm "attempting to replace a double byte
font with a single byte font."

Condensed version here - doublebyte is used for fonts that contain more
complex characters. Most commonly Asian fonts & others employ db, but it is
now more prevalent in the more comprehensive fonts (such as Arial Unicode
MS) because the font includes those more complex characters - even though
many people don't even know they are there. The information about the
substitution is offered as a warning because the single byte version may not
contain the characters actually used in the doc if the doc was created with
the db version of the same font. There should be a warning when you go the
other way as well because not all applications can handle db and it also
causes concern for embedding the font because of the greater file size.

Do I need a more current PC in order to make the PC to Mac transfer
successful?

No, I doubt you need to replace the PC if it is capable of running Office
2003 - in fact, it is probably already using OpenType fonts, it's the Mac
that needs them because it's probably using TrueType...

Would OpenType versions of Arial be better?

Yes, and not just for Arial - OpenType is platform independent, so you can
install from exactly the same font file on the PC as well as the Mac. That
insures the maximum cross-platform compatibility, although it still may not
be 100% in all cases.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thank you. I haven't checked the PC yet, but the fonts in question are
Arial, which shouldn't be a problem.

True, but you go on to mention Arial Unicode MS, which is not the same as Arial,
which is not the same as Arial Black which is not the same as ....

You get the idea. Only fonts with *exactly* the same name will be seen as the
same font by PPT/the operating system. And even then, as Bob explains, they won't
necessarily be the same.

When I select replace fonts on the
Mac side, and change a font, Arial Unicode MS, for example, with Arial,
I get a warning box saying I'm "attempting to replace a double byte
font with a single byte font."

To expand on Bob's explanation ... I'm not sure about the complexity of individual
characters, but certainly Unicode/double byte fonts are capable of including a lot
more different characters than single byte fonts. On the order of 65,000 vs 256
if memory serves.

But if PPT is substituting a singlebyte font for a doublebyte one, you'll see a
different class of problem than if there are other types of font problems.

Does the text with problems include gibberish characters?

If so, are there more gibberish characters than there were characters in the
original text?

Or are the letters correct (ie, readable) but in the wrong font, which might also
cause them to "spill over the banks" .... get too big for the text box that
contains them, mess up line breaks, etc.

Or are they readable but squashed-looking?

Do I need a more current PC in order to make the PC to Mac transfer
successful? Would OpenType versions of Arial be better?

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[isaiah.sheppard]

Hi again,

Looking at the file on my wife's computer. One of the fonts is not on
her system or mine, the Arial Unicode MS. Possibly from her job
workstation which has Office XP Professional. Can't replace it because
I get the single-byte with the double-byte dialog box again. Wonder if
the other Arial fonts from that machine were problematic. Oh well . . .
Thanks again for helping!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi again,

Looking at the file on my wife's computer. One of the fonts is not on
her system or mine, the Arial Unicode MS. Possibly from her job
workstation which has Office XP Professional. Can't replace it because
I get the single-byte with the double-byte dialog box again.

There are a few (PC-centric) things she could try on her office Office (look, he made
a funny!).

This presentation might contain Far East (or Asian) text and formats that PowerPoint
can't display
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00287.htm

Wonder if
the other Arial fonts from that machine were problematic. Oh well . . .

Normally you'll have Arial, Arial Bold, Arial Italic and Arial Bold Italic on both
PC/Mac. Arial Black is commonly found on PCs with Office - not sure of Macs.

Any other Arial variant's not likely to be common.

Thanks again for helping!

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================