Office Mac to Windows Compatibility Issues

[nicandrews]

Dear all,

I recently bought a Mac and am running the Beta version of Office for Mac 2008.

I am having major compatibility issues when I email files created on my Mac to a Windows PC (I always save as standard .doc, not .docx).

When you try to open the file in Windows it comes out as gibberish (boxes and symbols).

As far as I can tell I should be able to open .doc's cross-platform. The Windows PC is running Office 2004.

If possible i'd prefer not to save as RTF.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you so much.

Nicola.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

The beta period is over. Get yourself a copy of the released version.

-Jim

Dear all,

I recently bought a Mac and am running the Beta version of Office for Mac
2008.

I am having major compatibility issues when I email files created on my Mac to
a Windows PC (I always save as standard .doc, not .docx).

When you try to open the file in Windows it comes out as gibberish (boxes and
symbols).

As far as I can tell I should be able to open .doc's cross-platform. The
Windows PC is running Office 2004.

If possible i'd prefer not to save as RTF.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you so much.

Nicola.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry - If you're a legitimate Beta tester you wouldn't have asked the
question here & it isn't the practice of this group to support pirated
software. Perhaps whomever supplied you with the illegal copy can answer
your questions.

Good Luck |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I'm not supporting the beta version--but when people using Windows ask
this question, this is my standard answer. (by the way, the Windows PC
is *not* running Office 2004, which is the Mac version)

Mac and Win versions of Word from WinWord 97 to MacWord 2004 all use the
same file format, so that's not the basic problem. If the file does not
have the .doc extension, you may need to add it manually or use File |
Open from within Word.

The most common problem arises when the doc was sent by email and the
attachment encoding was not set properly. If you see something about
"application/x-macbinary" or "application/applefile" when trying to open
the doc, sounds like they encoded it for Mac computers. Or if it brings
up a prompt about “encoding†and opens with a bunch of squares.

Try sending the explanation below to your correspondent, asking them to
change their encoding. The help on any Mac email program will tell them
how.

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.

 

[Toedeloe]

Waw, the answers of these Microsoft MVPs really built confidence in their product, I feel so much better now to upgrade to 2008 knowing there are no compatibility issues whatsoever, and if you have, you probably are a cheater!
What a relief to know that they are always right and have to right to bully their clients, even when it takes them about 4 years to come up with a cosmetic upgrade.

 

[Kathy Hirst]

All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility issues with Office 2004 when sending documents to a PC, but this is now a real problem. Not only emailing documents but using a flash drive to move stuff means I get the boxes and symbols on the PC. Please explain simply put how I change how I save Mac files to make them transferable, otherwise I have an almost unusable piece of software.

Kathy Hirst

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

The PC users probably are using Office 2003 or earlier.

Use File, Save As and choose ³Word 97 through 2004 .doc² as the file type
and send the doc file.

If you want to make the default file type doc then use Word > Preferences >
Save and change the default save as file type to 97 through 2004.

Thanks.

-Jim


Quoting from "Kathy Hirst" <>, in article (e-mail address removed)9absDaxw,

All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have
upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility
issues with Office 2004 when sending documents to a PC, but this is now a real
problem. Not only emailing documents but using a flash drive to move stuff
means I get the boxes and symbols on the PC. Please explain simply put how I
change how I save Mac files to make them transferable, otherwise I have an
almost unusable piece of software.

Kathy Hirst

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Waw, the answers of these Microsoft MVPs really built confidence in their
product, I feel so much better now to upgrade to 2008 knowing there are no
compatibility issues whatsoever, and if you have, you probably are a cheater!
What a relief to know that they are always right and have to right to bully
their clients, even when it takes them about 4 years to come up with a
cosmetic upgrade.

Hi,

The MVPs are not Microsoft employees. Like you, we use their products and
also like you we have gripes about them.

I can assure you that MVPs did not hold back expression of their own
opinions about Office 2008 and its compatibility problems. Far the vast
majority of users there are no compatibility problems. But for some (myself
included), the obstacles are significant enough that moving (notice I did
not use the word ³upgrading²) from Office 2004 is not possible.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kathy:

Jim has mentioned one way, allow me to mention the other:

"Don't do anything."

If you save your documents as "Word Document (.docx)" then it is perfectly
readable on the PC. You are sending the same format they are supposed to be
using.

Note: Make sure it IS .docx you are saving, and not some older
"compatibility mode" format. Some of the old Mac formats such as Word 5.1
and earlier WILL give problems going through a PC email system.

If they complain, tell them "Call your system administrator."

DO NOT, whatever you do, admit that you are using a Mac. Otherwise, they
will use this as the "excuse" to make it your problem.

It is not, and we have to get out of the habit of jumping through hoops to
solve other people's problems for them. Their mail program, or their copy
of Word, is missing a component. Nothing you can do will fix that. But you
could wreck your document trying.

Send them a .docx. If they can't open it, then they have not been
installing the updates Microsoft has been sending them automatically, or
they have miss-configured their PCs. Either way, they are beyond our help


I send Word 2008 documents back and forth to the PC at work all the time.
Never a problem. All I did was "nothing" and it all worked, as you would
expect on a Mac.

OK, I did have to yell at my System Administrator, a year ago, to install
the converter. But they had it installed long before anyone else actually
needed it

Cheers

All of the above was pretty confusing for a simpleton such as I. I have
upgraded my Macs to Office 2008. I have not had any previous incompatibility
issues with Office 2004 when sending documents to a PC, but this is now a real
problem. Not only emailing documents but using a flash drive to move stuff
means I get the boxes and symbols on the PC. Please explain simply put how I
change how I save Mac files to make them transferable, otherwise I have an
almost unusable piece of software.

Kathy Hirst

--
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]

 

[Kathy]

Re: the above.
I am really confused now. Having sent several emails to myself to test all possibilities the position seems to be that both Macs (and all other PCs in the house) are having problems with all docs saved as docx docs. Why this setting has suddenly appeared confounds me. Last week after I had installed Office 2008, I was happily saving documents without having to change any settings as I did so. I have changed how I save documents so that I can save them as 97-04 compatible, but that doesn't seem logical when my problems include opening them on a Mac with the most recent version of Office.
I am sending these docs via a variety of email servers inc .Mac and the problem arises via each method.
So, the documents themselves will open from file as I create them in Word, but however and to whoever I send them, once saved, they are in binary form.
Any ideas anyone?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Be sure you are using the filename extension--check the box in the Save
dialog to "append file extension." It's very possible that this setting
became unchecked in the installation process.

 

[Kathy Hirst]

Having checked, the box is ticked so that seems not to be the problem.
Anyway, it would be odd if both macs had the same error manually installed.
Next idea?
Kathy

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kathy:

Some browsers "helpfully" try to "Unzip" .docx files when they get them.

Go into Safari's preferences and UNcheck th setting that says "Open 'safe'
files after downloading", and see if that's it.

Even though internally a .docx is in Zip format, it won't work unless Word
gets it as a single binary.

Hope this helps

Having checked, the box is ticked so that seems not to be the problem.
Anyway, it would be odd if both macs had the same error manually installed.
Next idea?
Kathy

--
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]

 

[jemiljan]

I am told that the Office 2008 still does not include support for "Right to Left" text for foreign languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish, and other Turkic dialects. Is this true? It's very funny that Arabic and Persian are supported in the PC version of Office, but still cannot be used in the Mac version. I had heard for months that RTL support was planned for the new version, but it seems to not be true. I'm sorry to say that I will refuse to buy the product until they accommodate this problem.

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, it is true.

Yes, it was planned (or at least: it was on the list...)

However, they ran out of time, people, and money this time around.

It is a VERY large engineering task to install RTL support throughout the
product. Everything that Office does has to be re-engineered to work
properly in either direction.

Sadly, Mac Office sales just don't generate the revenue needed to fund this
effort.

If Apple develops RTL support in Mac OS X that enables Microsoft to import
the code for this functionality from the PC Office version, then you'll have
it next version.

So far, that has not happened. I understand that Apple's RTL support
currently means a complete re-write of the PC software to make it work on
the Mac. I would have thought Apple might be trying to address this issue:
after all, they are the ones with the most to gain ‹ they will sell a lot
more Apples in RTL countries if every vendor's application can easily be
converted to RTL support.

Cheers

I am told that the Office 2008 still does not include support for "Right to
Left" text for foreign languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Urdu,
Pashto, Kurdish, and other Turkic dialects. Is this true? It's very funny
that Arabic and Persian are supported in the PC version of Office, but still
cannot be used in the Mac version. I had heard for months that RTL support
was planned for the new version, but it seems to not be true. I'm sorry to
say that I will refuse to buy the product until they accommodate this problem.

--
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]

 

[Jobseeker]

Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also having problems sending word files via email. Can someone help?
I am using word for mac 2004, and it's not a pirated version, I "inherited" my bf's mac when he upgraded, and am still learning the ropes.
I have tried to email my resume to a non-mac person via hotmail 3 times, and it doesn't work, whether I send it .doc or .txt. I have checked the compatibility thing and that doesn't seem to do anything. I can't ask her to change her email settings- she's a potential employer. What if I save it as a pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to send a notepad resume!

 

[Phillip Jones]

Saving as a PDF would be an option.

But try saving as a normal word file .doc then select the file and go to
File menu from Finder (desktop) and choose make archive of resume.doc or
what ever you have it named. then send to the PC person. they should
then open and should be able to open your file.

Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also
having problems sending word files via email. Can someone help?
I am using word for mac 2004, and it's not a pirated version, I
"inherited" my bf's mac when he upgraded, and am still learning the ropes.
I have tried to email my resume to a non-mac person via hotmail 3 times,
and it doesn't work, whether I send it .doc or .txt. I have checked the
compatibility thing and that doesn't seem to do anything. I can't ask
her to change her email settings- she's a potential employer. What if I
save it as a pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to
send a notepad resume!

--
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616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

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<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

As soon as you introduce Hotmail into the equation, all manner of
strangeness is possible, which has nothing to do with Word or the Mac.

Follow Phillip's idea of creating an ARCHIVE of the file, then attaching
that to your email.

Use a "real" email program such as Apple Mail or Microsoft Entourage (both
of which you have on your Mac) for business correspondence. They have a lot
more smarts that the freebies.

It's not a good look to be doing business correspondence by Hotmail:
potential employers might get the impression that you are a MySpace or
FaceBook subscriber That may play well in a school playground, but
trust me, it's NOT a career move

Cheers

Wow, I am super confused. Sorry to be a dumb blonde, but I am also having
problems sending word files via email. Can someone help?
I am using word for mac 2004, and it's not a pirated version, I "inherited" my
bf's mac when he upgraded, and am still learning the ropes.
I have tried to email my resume to a non-mac person via hotmail 3 times, and
it doesn't work, whether I send it .doc or .txt. I have checked the
compatibility thing and that doesn't seem to do anything. I can't ask her to
change her email settings- she's a potential employer. What if I save it as a
pdf? Is that my only option here? I really don't want to send a notepad
resume!

--
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]

 

[whitman]

I've been emailing PC users attachments of files created in Word 2004 for years without incident. But I recently upgraded to Word 2008 and this morning received my first 'what gives' reply from a poor PC person. They had received two attachments from me, where I had attached but one .doc 97-2004 document. They saw one attachment of 384 bytes, which they could not open, and one of 39kb, which they could. No problem as such, but they were confused, and this is not what we want. It sounds like something I vaguely recall from an older version of Word/Mac, but is it another indication that all is not well in compatibility land?

 

[Bill Weylock]

Make sure that your Entourage Preferences, under Mail and News
Preferences/Compose has the Attachments options set to Encode ³Any computer
(Apple Double).²

I've been emailing PC users attachments of files created in Word 2004 for
years without incident. But I recently upgraded to Word 2008 and this morning
received my first 'what gives' reply from a poor PC person. They had received
two attachments from me, where I had attached but one .doc 97-2004 document.
They saw one attachment of 384 bytes, which they could not open, and one of
39kb, which they could. No problem as such, but they were confused, and this
is not what we want. It sounds like something I vaguely recall from an older
version of Word/Mac, but is it another indication that all is not well in
compatibility land?

Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2