HTML Text in Word 2008 documents

[DM Ward]

Hi,
I work a lot with other people's documents (as a consultant, I review a
lot). I'm finding that just about everything in a PC document is HTML
format and it reeks havoc with Mac word (formatting and crashes). Anyone
run into the same thing and how do you deal with it?

Thanks

Nreader

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi DM;

Before anyone can address any specifics you'll have to indicate what the
specifics are Versions of Word ‹ both Mac & PC ‹ prior to 2008/2007 use
the same native file formats. Likewise, 2008/2007 use the same OXML file
format by default. Regardless, both older & newer versions of Word read both
file formats. However, neither of them output anything in HTML unless the
user explicitly chooses to do so. But even if they do, HTML is HTML
regardless of platform or program, so I doubt that is the actual problem.

There are definitely considerations for any document to successfully travel
cross-platform, the first of which is that the software be fully updated. If
you're experiencing crashes, that & disk permissions are 2 of the most
likely causes. There are others, but in the final analysis it's typically a
matter of how the documents were created & what they contain as well as how
they've been handled ‹ especially if you aren't having the same type of
issues when otherwise working with Word.

"Formatting" covers a lot of ground & means different things in several
contexts. Without details it's too vague a term to mean much. It could also
be a matter of how the documents are being transmitted to you.

If you can provide details perhaps someone can help identify the actual
source of the problems & offer suggestions on how to resolve them, as well
as how to avoid them in the first place.

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

 

[John McGhie]

In a "modern" PC Word document, everything will be in XML format. Looks a
bit like HTML, and it is a member of the SGML family, but it's not HTML.

If you have an older version of Word, you need to install the free converter
from Mactopia:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=Mactopia_AddTools&fid=9D6D9E
AA-8442-4184-8886-FAAB2803BDE6#viewer

"Technical" Word users are notoriously sloppy editors, and if they have been
hacking and chopping at their documents in XML, chances are it will overtax
Mac Word.

As Bob says, there is a set of good working practices one should use to
create documents that will cross platform without problems. Using styles
for formatting is a good start: that saves half the problems.

Cheers

Hi,
I work a lot with other people's documents (as a consultant, I review a
lot). I'm finding that just about everything in a PC document is HTML
format and it reeks havoc with Mac word (formatting and crashes). Anyone
run into the same thing and how do you deal with it?

Thanks

Nreader

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]