Opening existing documents

[Andrew_Loehrer]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just purchased my first MAC and am getting used to all of the new programs, etc. The folks at the computer store sold me OFFICE: Mac 2008. I have tried to open files (Word and Excel) that are on my e-mail account and nothing pulls up correctly. It is all gibberish. Is 2008 not compatible to the previous PC office versions? All of the files open perfectly on my PC.
Andrew

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Andrew:

The problem is not "Word", it's the "email".

You need to be able to land those files on your hard disk before you try to
open them, otherwise, your email program will helpfully attempt to "Unzip"
the

M. If you unzip a Word 2007 document, after that, it's trash ‹ Word can't
understand it.

The .docx format is, in fact, a Zip file. Word/Excel/PowerPoint know this,
and they will open it correctly.

Entourage email (which is part of the Office 2008 suite) will handle them
correctly. But various other flavours of mail (particularly web mail) see
the binary, think "Ah hah, it's a zip file, I need to decode that!) and pull
it to pieces.

So: Download the file as an attachment to your hard disk, then use
File>Open from within Word, and it will all work properly.

Going back the other way: Make sure you send in MIME format and check the
option to "Add file extensions" so the recipient knows what to do with the
file, otherwise you will get the same problem in reverse.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just purchased my first MAC and am getting used to all of the new programs,
etc. The folks at the computer store sold me OFFICE: Mac 2008. I have tried to
open files (Word and Excel) that are on my e-mail account and nothing pulls up
correctly. It is all gibberish. Is 2008 not compatible to the previous PC
office versions? All of the files open perfectly on my PC.
Andrew

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Andrew_Loehrer]

John,

Thank you for insight. Won't it just be easier to take back the program BEST Buy sold me (Office 2008 for Macs) and get the Microsoft XP version? Then I know what I send and what I receive and what I have saved will be able to be opened and used?

Andrew

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, let's see...

Office XP is extinct, so you'd need Office 2003 or Office 2007,

You'd also need to have Windows XP or Windows Vista in order to install it
on a Mac and you'd also need a package such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion in
order to install Windows & Win Office on your Mac in a Virtual Machine.

Otherwise you'd have to install Windows in a Boot Camp partition which would
require rebooting every time you want to switch from Windows to OS X or vice
versa. That would also entail Windows-specific drivers to use your Mac's
internet connection & devices. Both this as well as the VM option would mean
having to deal with the Windows OS, including its susceptibility to viruses
& other malware to which the Mac OS is relatively immune.

A third option would be to purchase a program called CrossOver which permits
the running of [some] Windows software on a Mac without having to install
the Windows OS. How it would handle anything beyond basic application
functionality (such as email, internet, etc.) I honestly don't know.

Regardless of which option you choose, you might re-read John's opening
statement... You're still likely to have the exact same problem as what is
occurring now. The damage to the files is being done by the mail server
and/or [but less likely] your browser. Word has nothing to do with it,
especially for files you receive from others. If they're OXML (.docx)
they'll be treated the same way regardless of what version of Word you use.

Or:

You can save incoming attachments to disk before opening them & correctly
set your email program preferences & use filename extensions for outgoing.

As far as the "files (Word and Excel) that are on my e-mail account", you'd
need to be more specific about what kind of "email account" it is & where
the messages/attachments are actually stored. If you can elaborate on that
issue there is most likely an explanation & solution to be found.

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

 

[John McGhie]

I wouldn't call it "easier" That's a LOT of work, and a few hundred
dollars in new software

First you have to install Bootcamp (included with Mac OS X) then Parallels
($70) then Windows ($200) then more memory (about $35 if you know where to
buy it, otherwise double that), a copy of Office XP (About $499) if you can
still find it (Office XP is two versions back, the latest for the PC is
Office 2007).

Then figure on losing a whole day pulling your Mac to bits to put the memory
in and installing all of that stuff. I know, because I have done it

And as Bob says, it won't solve (or even change...) your problem! Because
the damage is being done by your mail server or your browser.

I think it would be a lot easier (10 minutes...) to move your email account
into Entourage (which you already own). And when you do, your problem will
go away

Hope this helps

John,

Thank you for insight. Won't it just be easier to take back the program BEST
Buy sold me (Office 2008 for Macs) and get the Microsoft XP version? Then I
know what I send and what I receive and what I have saved will be able to be
opened and used?

Andrew

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[dr.nixon]

Andrew - Three possibilities here. First: What happens by default on a Windows machine (if you're using Internet Explorer, as I assume you were) is that IE loads the Office rendering engine (based on IE) to display Office documents in the browser. To you it looks like things just open, but you are actually running a web browser with the Office program embedded. Microsoft does not think that Mac users need to have Internet Explorer, so they discontinued it quite a few years back, at version 5.5 (it's up to version 8 now, if that helps you see how long ago this happened) meaning that this function is not available on a Mac. Microsoft also does not make this function available for any other web browser, so you can blame them for that if you miss the feature.

The second possibility is that your old Windows web client or desktop email program was set to automatically download and open files with the correct program when you clicked on them. You can change this behavior in your current setup, by changing the default action for specific file types. Unfortunately we would need to know which email program (for desktop clients) or web browser (for web mail) you are using to give you specifics. Odds are you are using the default Mail application and Safari web browser, but we can't be sure unless you tell us (you could be using the Microsoft Entourage email program, or Firefox browser, etc.)

There is a third possibility, less likely but a potential problem. If you are using a web mail provider - one where you open a web browser like Safari to access your email - the server hosting your mail might be set to use incorrect MIME types for the files. This means that the company providing your mail services might not have their system configured to properly identify file types to your web browser, which makes it impossible for Safari (or any other web browser) to know what the file is or what to do with it - the default action is to display it as if it were a text file.

So, how can you fix this? Well, start with identifying what kind of email service you have - a desktop mail client (such as Mail or Entourage) or a web mail provider.

If you have either a web mail provider or desktop client, try fixing the Office file associations to use Office to open them by default. (Find a Word document, select it, press apple-I to get file information, look for the "Open with" item in the pop-up window, select Word from the list, and click the button that says "Change all..." to make this a universal change for all Word documents. Repeat the process for Excel files and PowerPoint files.)

If you have a web mail provider only, try something different: Instead of clicking on the link to the Office files, try right-clicking (or hold down ctrl and click) on the link to get a pop-up menu. On the list that pops up, select "Download linked file as..." or "Save link as..." to save the file to your desktop and open it from there using Office. This will help stop any issues with incorrect default file actions, or with incorrect MIME types on the mail server.