Mac Exported XLS files turn RED on PC

[horizon180]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel Hi there.

My office is in the process of switching from PC to Mac. There are 15 of us, and 5 have now made the switch, but a lot of the company documents and templates remain in MS Office formats.

My problem seems like it might be a small export error/anomaly somewhere, but this is what I am facing:

On the Mac
1. Open XLS document (with macros) in Numbers.
2. Edit document.
3. Export to XLS file.
4. Email XLS file to a PC.

On the PC
5. Open above XLS file in Excel, works fine, start editing.
6. During the edit process, if you copy a sheet to a new sheet in the same book or new book or a new file, Excel goes and changes all cells that didn't have a background colour (90% of the sheet), into having a RED background.
7. This problem is not local. When repeated through Numbers on the other Macs in the office, the above porting of sheets on the same Mac-edited XLS file causes the sheet background to turn RED in Excel on all PCs in the office.

On the Mac, I (personally) am NOT running Office for Mac, only iWorks (for now).

The document I am editing, a monthly update document where I need to update several sheets within one book for accounts and so on, was made on MS Office on a PC. The office manager who then "manages" my monthly statements on her PC, copies sheets from my document into a separate central Excel file for record keeping and account management.

Hence the need to copy sheets from one XLS document (created on MS Office on a PC, edited on Numbers) into a separate XLS document (created on MS Office on a PC, edited in Excel on a PC).

I cannot find any references to this on Mac Forums, so I am writing a new thread. Apologies (in advance) if there is already a thread with the same problem that I just couldn't find.

Looking for a solution, haste appreciated.

Thank you.

H180

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm afraid the field is wide open on this and it doesn't seem to be a common
issue... At least not one that's been reported here.

However, if the file is being handled by *any* other program there's always
a possibility improper coding. In this case the file is not only being
handled by Numbers but is also subject to the email servers on both ends as
well as the email client apps. Something might be getting twisted anywhere
along the way. It might even have something to do with what version/update
level of Excel is being used on the PCs. Without specific version & update
level of all software handling the files (including what encoding is being
used for the attachments) or what file format the files are it's hard to say
where to begin. Make certain that all software involved on each system - PC
& Mac - is thoroughly updated.

I'd first suspect the emailing process. Make sure the files are being saved
with the appropriate Excel filename extension & send Zipped/Stuffed copies
of the files in order to protect them more effectively. Also, confirm that
the recipients are downloading the attachments to their local HDs rather
than opening/editing the attachments from their email servers. See if the
problem continues when those precautions are taken.

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