Opening Windows Word 2003 docs with Mac Word 2008

[smcgowan]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) We have many computers in the house, including windows XP PC's and Snow Leopard Macs. The macs all run Word for Mac 2008, and the windows PC's run Word 2003. Is there a way to open these documents on the macs so that they will be formatted the same way?

 

[Michel Bintener]

Word 2008 should open Word 2003 documents just fine. Is your question a
general question, as in "will I be able to do this?", or have you
encountered some specific situations in which the formatting of a document
is not retained when the document is opened in a different version of Word?
A general piece of advice: stick to the standard fonts, or if you decide to
use more unusual fonts, make sure these are also available on the other
computers.

 

[smcgowan]

Thanks. The specific question should have been "why is it that when I open a MS Word doc created in Windows Word 2003, in Ariel font, does it open in mac Word 2008 with a different font and weird spacing between the letters?

Thanks

 

[CyberTaz]

Your expectation is based on the logical -- but false -- assumption that
"Arial is Arial" Any given font is available in a variety of different
flavors, so there can be incompatibility from one flavor to another even
though the name is the same. I have a feeling that this goes a little deeper
due to the font issues which have arisen with the introduction of Snow
Leopard, however. Perhaps this will help...

First, make sure that Mac Office is fully updated to 12.2.3 & that Snow
Leopard has the 10.6.2 update applied. Once that's confirmed;

Launch the OS X Font Book app & run Resolve Duplicates followed by the
Validate Fonts command,

Next, go to: UserName/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 & delete the
file named Office Font Cache (12),

Shut down (not Restart) the Mac & wait 1-2 minutes before starting up.

See if things improve once you power up.

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

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah: Do all the things that Cybertaz recommends.

After that, it helps to ensure that you are using "Microsoft's" version of
Arial on both sides of the fence (and on the Mac, that there is only ONE
copy of Arial on the system).

Microsoft designs its fonts in pairs, one for PC and one for Mac, so that on
the Mac, you will get as close as possible to what you get on the PC.

You also need to ensure that both computers are connected to the same
printer: Word gets its base measurements for each document from the printer
driver: different printer drivers can produce dramatically different
results.

Make sure that Office 2003 is fully updated on the PC side: there are some
important fixes that went in on the Windows side, one of which brings the
ability to read Office 2008 files without compatibility problems.

Finally: You will get better results by switching Arial for the more modern
Calibri both sides of the fence. Calibri is designed to work better
on-screen and cross-platform. And while you're at it, get rid of any "Fully
Justified" settings in the text, because these will produce quite a lot of
movement due to the difference in the pixel shape and space width on each
platform.

If you do all of that and set your text "Ragged Right", it will be within a
character or two each side of the fence.

Cheers

Thanks. The specific question should have been "why is it that when I open a
MS Word doc created in Windows Word 2003, in Ariel font, does it open in mac
Word 2008 with a different font and weird spacing between the letters?

Thanks

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McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
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