Office 2008 for Mac compatibility with Office 2007 for PC?

[KimOH]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I am one of a handful of Mac users at a large company. In the past, we have worked well with Office 2004 for Mac and Office 2003 for PC. Recently, a lot of our PC-based coworkers have upgraded to Office 2007.

By installing various patches, we can open their Office 2007 files (.docx, etc.) in Office 2004, but management has authorized funds to upgrade the the Mac-users to Office 2008 if it will increase efficiency.

I have looked through the sales pages, but I cannot find any information about compatibility with the PC-based versions of Office. For those who have upgraded, how is it working? Is the upgrade worth it, or should we stick with Office 2004 with the patches?

Thanks,
Kim

 

[macropod]

Hi Kim,

The Office 2008 & Office 2007 file formats are the same. However, unlike Office 2004 & 2007, Office 2008 doesn't support vba
(macros). AFAIK, the next Mac version of Office will support vba. So, if you need vba support (or expect to), it would be best to
wait until then.

 

[KimOH]

Thanks so much for your reply!

 

[Susan2008]

Somewhat related question...

Do Word for Mac 2008 and Word 2007 PC have the same layout choices under the VIEW menu? I created a document on my Mac using Publishing Layout, sent it to a PC user with a "Publishing Layout" instruction for adding/shuffling pages. She doesn't know what I am referring to. Does Word 2007 PC have the Publishing Layout view?

Thanks,
Susan

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Susan,

Publishing Layout View is exclusive to the Mac version of Word, and the
documents it creates should not be used cross-platform, as the layout is
very likely to get messed up. You can always save the document as a PDF
file, but other users won't be able to modify that file, of course.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Susan,

Publishing Layout View is exclusive to the Mac version of Word, and the
documents it creates should not be used cross-platform, as the layout is
very likely to get messed up. You can always save the document as a PDF
file, but other users won't be able to modify that file, of course.

Hi Michael,

Although there is no Page Layout view in Word for Windows, why do you
think Word for Windows would have any trouble with the Word documents?
AFAIK there are no differences between the documents themselves. All
features and formats used by Word for Mac in Page Layout view are
supported in Word for Windows.

-Jim

 

[CyberTaz]

Hey Jimmy;

Both Mac & PC Word do have Page/Print Layout view which are directly
compatible, but the question involves *Publishing Layout View* which is
exclusive to the Mac version. As Michel [note the spelling ] wrote, Pub
docs opened in PC Word can go haywire because everything is contained in
floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on each page.

Even if the document displays properly, however, Word 2007 does not have the
Pub Layout features Susan is referring to. The PC user can edit the doc but
not in the same manner as what 2008 enables.

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

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hey Jimmy;

Both Mac & PC Word do have Page/Print Layout view which are directly
compatible, but the question involves *Publishing Layout View* which is
exclusive to the Mac version. As Michel [note the spelling ] wrote, Pub
docs opened in PC Word can go haywire because everything is contained in
floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on each page.

Even if the document displays properly, however, Word 2007 does not have the
Pub Layout features Susan is referring to. The PC user can edit the doc but
not in the same manner as what 2008 enables.

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

Hi,

I get the part about the interface being different. What I don't get is
the "floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on each page."

Attached is a screen shot of one of the more lavish publishing layout
templates that come with Word for Mac side-by-side Word for Windows.

Both display "floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on
each page" the same way.

The only differences that I notice are:
Word for Windows displays washout-out colors (desaturated)
Word for Windows displays color balance incorrectly
Word for Windows displays about 25% less of the document at once due to
the space requirement for the ribbon.

Do you have an example document made in Word for Mac that exhibits a
layout problem in Word for Windows? I've not encountered one and can't
figure out a logical reason why there would be one.

-Jim

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hey Jimmy;

Both Mac & PC Word do have Page/Print Layout view which are directly
compatible, but the question involves *Publishing Layout View* which is
exclusive to the Mac version. As Michel [note the spelling ] wrote,
Pub
docs opened in PC Word can go haywire because everything is contained in
floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on each page.

Even if the document displays properly, however, Word 2007 does not
have the
Pub Layout features Susan is referring to. The PC user can edit the
doc but
not in the same manner as what 2008 enables.

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

Hi,

I get the part about the interface being different. What I don't get is
the "floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on each page."

Attached is a screen shot of one of the more lavish publishing layout
templates that come with Word for Mac side-by-side Word for Windows.

Both display "floating objects anchored to the same empty paragraphs on
each page" the same way.

The only differences that I notice are:
Word for Windows displays washout-out colors (desaturated)
Word for Windows displays color balance incorrectly
Word for Windows displays about 25% less of the document at once due to
the space requirement for the ribbon.

Do you have an example document made in Word for Mac that exhibits a
layout problem in Word for Windows? I've not encountered one and can't
figure out a logical reason why there would be one.

-Jim

Hi again,

I forgot to put the URL of the screen shot into my message. It's
http://www.agentjim.com/WordScreen.png

It shows a complex Page Layout in Word for Mac on the left, and the same
document open in Word for Windows on the right. I chose this particular
document because it is loaded with "floating objects anchored to the
same empty paragraphs on each page" or at least I think this is the sort
of thing you're referring to. Notice that at least in terms of layout,
both versions of Word display the document identically.

I'm skeptical of claims that there is an incompatibility between Word
for Mac and Word for Windows in this regard. I don't see how there could
be, but if there is, let's bring it into the open so that something can
be done about it.

-Jim