Margin differences between Word on a PC (2003 & XP) and Word on a Mac- why ???

[sclark5150]

I created a resume on Word (Office Mac 2004) using my Mac and then
view it using Microsoft Office 2003 on an XP and it crops the page
unexpectedly on Word/XP. The margins (& Headers/Footers) are the same
when I view the page setting on both my Mac and XP.

Why would the 2 page document look just fine on my Word/Mac but when I
view it on my Word/XP the 2 pages now becomes 3.

Very very strange and concerning.

Thanks for any insight and help.

I'll provide any info I can and could even send you the document for
you to see it first hand.

 

[CyberTaz]

There could be several reasons depending on the content/layout of the doc,
but the most likely cause is the different printers/printer drivers
involved.

Font metrics could also be a contributing factor - does the content wrap or
flow differently on the 2 systems? In Word 2003 go to Tools> Options -
Compatibility, click the Font Substitution button & see what happens.

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

 

[sclark5150]

There could be several reasons depending on the content/layout of the doc,
but the most likely cause is the different printers/printer drivers
involved.

Font metrics could also be a contributing factor - does the content wrap or
flow differently on the 2 systems? In Word 2003 go to Tools> Options -
Compatibility, click the Font Substitution button & see what happens.

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

Bob - thanks for the assist. I did what you mentioned and it
indicated something about "missing document font: palatino" so I
converted it to Arial. Palatino is the font I used in Word/Mac. I
did convert in Word/XP but there are still 6 lines that exceeded the
first page - just like before, so no difference. Nothing wraps. I
see a new page line when viewing normal in the Word/XP - but that new
line isn't there in Word/Mac. Seems the page sizes are indeed
different but I certainly don't see where that is defined. As I said,
the left, right, top and bottom margins are the same on both (as well
as the header/footers). I get the same results on two different XP
servers. Hmmm.....

 

[Clive Huggan]

Possibly Palatino is a font you carried over from OS9; it's not one that I
would apply in OSX, especially in Word 2004.

To answer your question that I think you might have meant rhetorically:
Margin settings on the Mac versions of Word are on the Format menu; I'm not
sure of the location on recent PC versions (check Help).

Arial is "bigger" for a given font size than Palatino. Or are you saying
Arial of a given size takes 6 lines more on the PC than the same size on a
Mac? Normally one might expect, say, one line different as a result of
different font metrics under the two different operating systems, but not
six.

Check the two prints in detail. Does each line contain the same number of
words? Is automatic hyphenation involved? When you hold both together
(sandwich-style) up to a bright light, what difference do you see, including
line spacing? What line spacing is defined in each instance? What happens
when you specify the line spacing (in "Paragraph" command) as, say, "At
least 13 point"?

Are there headings on the page? Are they affected?

Tell us what happens when you create a blank document on both computers and
key in:

=rand(15,6)

and hit Return/Enter.

(15,6 produces 15 paragraphs of 6 sentences reading "The quick brown fox".)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[sclark5150]

1) When I create a new Word Document on my Apple or on my XP and
issue the command =rand(16,5) it all looks good. I print out the
first page from each and place on top of one another and everything
lines up just fine.

2) I changed the text on my Word Apple document to Times New Roman
since this is what is the default when issuing the command above.
When I print out the first page of each document and place one on top
of the other, the Word from my XP matches up with my Word/Apple word
for word as it goes across the page....BUT the XP document is longer
from top to bottom by about 2 lines. So there seems to be a little
extra spacing between the lines as the document progresses.

So to answer your question...the Times New Roman on my XP takes 2 more
lines than on my Mac (using the same font size)

3) Line spacing is defined as Single in both instances

Thanks for the continued help!!

 

[John McGhie]

In each case, Word is deriving its measurements from the printer driver
installed on each machine and from the instance of the font installed on
each machine.

It is unrealistic to expect that these measurements will be close enough to
match the line count on an entire page.

Yours sound a little further out than usual: I would expect "one" line of
difference. I assume you checked the Margin and Header Margin carefully?

However, the bottom line is "Yeah, they're different, an they're never going
to be exact because of all the variables involved."

If we design our documents properly, and format those documents correctly,
the differences do not matter. We should not be formatting documents so
that they depend on the font metrics being precisely replicated
cross-platform. That way lies misery and suicide

Cheers

1) When I create a new Word Document on my Apple or on my XP and
issue the command =rand(16,5) it all looks good. I print out the
first page from each and place on top of one another and everything
lines up just fine.

2) I changed the text on my Word Apple document to Times New Roman
since this is what is the default when issuing the command above.
When I print out the first page of each document and place one on top
of the other, the Word from my XP matches up with my Word/Apple word
for word as it goes across the page....BUT the XP document is longer
from top to bottom by about 2 lines. So there seems to be a little
extra spacing between the lines as the document progresses.

So to answer your question...the Times New Roman on my XP takes 2 more
lines than on my Mac (using the same font size)

3) Line spacing is defined as Single in both instances

Thanks for the continued help!!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 22/1/08 9:28 AM, in article C3BB67B2.E6BB%[email protected], "John McGhie"

If we design our documents properly, and format those documents correctly,
the differences do not matter. We should not be formatting documents so
that they depend on the font metrics being precisely replicated
cross-platform. That way lies misery and suicide

<snip>

Some ideas in this vein are in Appendix A: The main "minimum maintenance"
features of my documents, starting on page 164 of some notes on the way I
use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available
as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[sclark5150]

On 22/1/08 9:28 AM, in article C3BB67B2.E6BB%[email protected], "John McGhie"

the differences do not matter.  We should not be formatting documents so
that they depend on the font metrics being precisely replicated
cross-platform.  That way lies misery and suicide

<snip>

Some ideas in this vein are in Appendix A: The main "minimum maintenance"
features of my documents, starting on page 164 of some notes on the way I
use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available
as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries.  If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

Thank you so much for the help and the document. I wish I would have
known all this before - haha - but better late than never.

I've been to Sydney several times on business when I lived in Tokyo
but never Canberra. But love you country!

Thanks again