Looking for Best PC Conversion Software and Strategies

[Skookum]

Although I have a pretty recent version of both operating system and
Word for Mac I still have problems when I want to send out word
documents to an array of mainly PC users. I usually have a reasonable
amount of simple formatting - a table or two, italicized or boldface
headings etc. But all sorts of strange stuff happens - example, one PC
user gets my fileswith .dat extension. This happens even if I pre-save
the document in format "Word 4.0-6.0/95 compatible" and run a
compatibility check when saving.

Given that I do not always know what PC software my recipients/clients
have, I need to have a very robust way of sending word documents while
still having the capability of including common formatting. To be
clear: my problem is NOT reading other people's PC word or Wordperfect
files so much as being able to confidently send out documents and not
get disgruntled emails back saying "can't open it".

Should I be buying MacLink Plus or some such or what?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The Win and Mac Word file format has been the same since Word 97, so by
saving it to something *before* Word 97, you are actually making things
worse. No conversion is necessary for anything from Word 97 to Word 2004 on
either platform. You should run the compatibility check only to make sure
you aren't using features that earlier versions won't understand.

Well, there's also currently a problem with images, I think, but that
doesn't sound applicable to you and doesn't hit everyone.

Make sure the file has the correct extension.

Most problems arise *not* because of the file format, but because of the
settings in whatever program you are using to send the attachment. For
instance, when I receive .dat extensions on my Mac, it's because of some
screwy setting on the sender's email program. I'm not sure what causes them
to show up the other way.

The most common problem arises when the doc was sent by email and the
attachment encoding was not set properly. You should look up attachments in
the Help for your email program.

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.

 

[leydog]

My solution would be to save as rich text format (.rtf). Just abou
every word processor can read and write that format. It may choke o
the tables.

If your clients don't need to edit the docs, you can always send pdfs

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Skookum,

Leydog's two solutions are excellent, although you should be in no doubt
that sending RTF should be just until you solve the underlying problem. What
you need to be aiming for is untramelled ability, as Daiya and Beth are
helping you to achieve, to e-mail ".doc" Word documents in their native form
(i.e., if you're in Word 2004, as an ordinary Word 2004 document; BTW, it
always helps if you say what OS and Word version you're on).

I send Word 2004 docs to literally hundreds of PC-based people without a
hitch -- ever.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

* A SUGGESTION ‹ WAIT FOR CONSIDERED ADVICE: If you post a question, keep
re-visiting the newsgroup for several days after the first response comes
in. Sometimes it takes a few responses before the best or complete solution
is proposed; sometimes you'll be asked for further information so that a
better answer can be provided. Good tips about getting the best out of
posting are at http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm (if you use Safari
and it gives you a blank page the first time, you may need to hit the
circular arrow icon -- "Reload the current page" -- a few times).

* AND ONE MORE ‹ AVOID SPAM: To avoid spam directed at contributors of
newsgroups, you can set up a "send-only" dummy e-mail account. Full
instructions are at http://www.entourage.mvps.org/tips/tip019.html

============================================================

 

[JosypenkoMJ]

I've had a similar problem for an older PC OS. If I sent a Word
document to a PC user, Word didn't recognize the file format. Solution
was to make sure the Word document file name always ends in .doc.
Either the PC user adds the ending, or always end a Word file name in
..doc. Not sure about the new PC OS's.

 

[JosypenkoMJ]

I meant :
.... "the PC" didn't recognize the file format .....

 

[Clive Huggan]

It's apparently not really necessary with later Windows versions, but some
people don't have those versions configured properly -- therefore, adding
".doc" is always a good idea. In fact, it's a good idea in OS X too.

I'll leave it to John McGhie to expand on why this is so, if he comes by.
I, as a mere handmaiden, am just quoting his conclusion. ;-)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Adding the ".doc" extension is an even better idea on Mac OS X than it is on
the PC. Mac OS X is Unix, and Unix likes (depends upon, in some cases...)
file extensions.

Word on the PC hasn't used the file extension for many years, however,
various other things do use it so it's a good idea always to have it there.

The ".dat" problem is a mis-configuration of the mail client. Various mail
clients send the actual data and attachments of an email as a "data"
attachment with a ".dat" extension. The recipient machine should be
configured to decode that container file and display the content as (in this
case) a Word document.

Outlook on the PC is a classic for doing this: the active ingredients of an
email turn up in an attachment named WinMail.dat. This contains a toxic
soup referred to as TNEF (Transport Neutral Exchange Format). That's really
a sillier version of RTF with MIME attachments...

As Daiya mentions, you're actually making things a lot worse by attempting
to save back a version: most email and Mac or PC boxes out there now are
struggling to recognise the old Word format this produces.

The safest thing to do is just to send "Word Document" format, WITH an
extension, and DON'T compress it. That will be fine up to maybe three megs,
at which point some recipients will bounce the mail back because it's too
big. At that point, create a local Archive on your Mac box: right-click the
Word file in the Finder and choose "Create archive..." That will produce a
..zip file. Add the Zip file to your email as a normal attachment: every
computer in the world will handle that without a problem

In your email client, disable any offers to "be helpful" by pre-compressing
attachments for you. Nearly all of them seem to get it wrong for some of
the computers out there.

I send "Base 64/MIME" encoding and NO compression, and it seems to work for
everyone: nobody has ever come back to me saying they can't open it. All of
the other options will cause problems for somebody

Cheers

It's apparently not really necessary with later Windows versions, but some
people don't have those versions configured properly -- therefore, adding
".doc" is always a good idea. In fact, it's a good idea in OS X too.

I'll leave it to John McGhie to expand on why this is so, if he comes by.
I, as a mere handmaiden, am just quoting his conclusion. ;-)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

--

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

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410