how to open mac docs in my pc with word 2000

[zen]

hi, i cant open a doc file sent by a mac. i have a pc,
word 2000, windows xp. the file i must open
says "application/x-macbinary". when trying to open it at
word, i get a list of encode possibilities but none
works. it is a regular word document (a thesis chapter)
without pictures. please, help. zen

 

[Elliott Roper]

hi, i cant open a doc file sent by a mac. i have a pc,
word 2000, windows xp. the file i must open
says "application/x-macbinary". when trying to open it at
word, i get a list of encode possibilities but none
works. it is a regular word document (a thesis chapter)
without pictures. please, help. zen

The Mac user (probably inadvertently) compressed the file in a very
Mac-ish way before sending it to you.

Normally one would merely throw the unadorned Word document into a mail
as an attachment. Inside the mail it would appear described in the
header as lsomething like:-

--Apple-Mail-1--381844687
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Type: application/msword;

and you could deal with the attachment as though it came from a PC user.

So, ask 'em to send it again.
If the sender compressed it unknowingly, and does not have a clue how
to do it differently, not uncommon among Apple users - "it just works"-
I think you may be able to unsquish it with Stuffit Standard from
http://www.stuffit.com/win/standard/index.html
It is a bit coy about .bin files, but there is a 15 Day trial to give
you a chance to find out

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Hi Zen,

Just posted a reply to you over on docmanagement--here's my new standard
reply to this suddenly frequent question:

There's no difference in the Word file format (since Word 97), it's a
question of how the attachment is encoded by the email program.

My Mac email program, Entourage, has this to say:

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.

Try sending this explanation to your correspondent, asking them to change
their encoding. The help on any Mac email program will tell them how.

DM