PC compatiblity

[junehsiao]

A word doc created w/ Word 2004 Student Teacher ed. and emailed it to
a Windows laptop looks absolutely garbled on the laptop. I created it
w/ the .doc extension and saved it to the desktop. Any ideas? I'm
new to the mac and PC compatibility issues.v The laptop is running
Word 2003.

 

[kevinallen2691]

Actually resolving this issue is VERY easy.
Up above your document there is a red tool box button. Click on it and
click on the wrench tab. Then run the compatibly report, if need be,
select Word 2003 from the drop down menu and Word will tell you
exactly what needs to be fixed and most of the time how to fix it.

 

[CyberTaz]

Any attachments - especially those going to a Windows environment - should
be zipped before attaching. No matter how compatible the doc starts out
there are numerous obstacles out there anymore that lie in wait for the
opportunity to hack the attachment to bits.

Further, just because the PC couldn't display the doc properly doesn't mean
it was the doc's [let alone the Mac's] fault. Are you certain the install of
Word 2003 has been appropriately updated? Does the PC have the appropriate
fonts? Did the user download the attachment & open the downloaded file or
simply double-click the attachment icon in the email message?... Which is a
total no-no to begin with.

Just one other consideration from the sender-side, though - whatever email
client you're using most likely has [or should have] a setting for "Windows
friendly attachments" or for encoding options. Make sure you're using the
right settings.

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

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Try kevin's tip--but there should be absolutely no compatibility issue
here, people have done this millions of times without problems. Exactly
what got garbled?

 

[junehsiao]

Actually resolving this issue is VERY easy.
Up above your document there is a red tool box button. Click on it and
click on the wrench tab. Then run the compatibly report, if need be,
select Word 2003 from the drop down menu and Word will tell you
exactly what needs to be fixed and most of the time how to fix it.

On Windows/Word 2003, the doc still show musical notes instead of
text! The compatibility report keeps telling me that the Word 6.9/95
options are set even though they're not when I looked at the Word
preferences and set the compatibility for WIndows 2000-2004. What
else can I try?

 

[little_creature]

Hi,
I share PCxMac files on the daily basics without any serious problems.
1. How big is that file on Mac and how on PC, are you sure you are not
openeing any temporary or hiden files?
2. Try to put your document in some widely spread font like Times or
Arial, savce it and open it on PC, how does it look like now?

What does the original document contain - text only, some images...?

 

[little_creature]

Plus as to what CyberTaz has said, I use apple double encoding (if you
use Entourage, bellow the attachement box there is a button click on
that and pick apple double)

Any attachments - especially those going to a Windows environment - should
be zipped before attaching. No matter how compatible the doc starts out
there are numerous obstacles out there anymore that lie in wait for the
opportunity to hack the attachment to bits.

Further, just because the PC couldn't display the doc properly doesn't mean
it was the doc's [let alone the Mac's] fault. Are you certain the install of
Word 2003 has been appropriately updated? Does the PC have the appropriate
fonts? Did the user download the attachment & open the downloaded file or
simply double-click the attachment icon in the email message?... Which is a
total no-no to begin with.

Just one other consideration from the sender-side, though - whatever email
client you're using most likely has [or should have] a setting for "Windows
friendly attachments" or for encoding options. Make sure you're using the
right settings.

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

A word doc created w/ Word 2004 Student Teacher ed. and emailed it to
a Windows laptop looks absolutely garbled on the laptop. I created it
w/ the .doc extension and saved it to the desktop. Any ideas? I'm
new to the mac and PC compatibility issues.v The laptop is running
Word 2003.

 

[John McGhie]

Check your saving preferences. If Word /95 compatibility is set, you have
somehow saved the file back a few versions (or it was originally created in
Word 6 or Word 95).

That will make it look a bit peculiar in Word 2003.

However, the fact that you are seeing garbage characters indicates that the
file is not being recognised as a Word Document at all (if it was, it would
open straight up in Word 2003 and look OK, even if it is in Word 6/95
format.

Do a File>Save As and check you are set to save in "Word Document" format
(i.e. The latest format).

Either don't use any compression, or use .zip compression when you send to
Windows. Unless you have the free Stuffit converter installed in Windows,
it cannot read Stuffit compression. And on a work PC, you are unlikely to
have the rights to install anything.

When you DO open the file on the PC, start Word and use File>Open from the
Word menu. Check that the "Type" box in that dialog is se to "All readable
documents" (or anything else EXCEPT 'recover text from any file').

There's a bug in PC Word: if you ever use "Recover text..." it sticks in
that format until you explicitly change it to open files in some other
format.

Finally, depending on your email system on the PC, it may not be correctly
decoding AppleDouble or BinHex format. If not, it will display weird
symbols an no formatting in Word. Send in MIME format and that problem will
go away on both Windows and Mac.

Hope this helps

On Windows/Word 2003, the doc still show musical notes instead of
text! The compatibility report keeps telling me that the Word 6.9/95
options are set even though they're not when I looked at the Word
preferences and set the compatibility for WIndows 2000-2004. What
else can I try?

--
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]

 

[junehsiao]

Check your saving preferences. If Word /95 compatibility is set, you have
somehow saved the file back a few versions (or it was originally created in
Word 6 or Word 95).

That will make it look a bit peculiar in Word 2003.

However, the fact that you are seeing garbage characters indicates that the
file is not being recognised as a Word Document at all (if it was, it would
open straight up in Word 2003 and look OK, even if it is in Word 6/95
format.

Do a File>Save As and check you are set to save in "Word Document" format
(i.e. The latest format).

Either don't use any compression, or use .zip compression when you send to
Windows. Unless you have the free Stuffit converter installed in Windows,
it cannot read Stuffit compression. And on a work PC, you are unlikely to
have the rights to install anything.

When you DO open the file on the PC, start Word and use File>Open from the
Word menu. Check that the "Type" box in that dialog is se to "All readable
documents" (or anything else EXCEPT 'recover text from any file').

There's a bug in PC Word: if you ever use "Recover text..." it sticks in
that format until you explicitly change it to open files in some other
format.

Finally, depending on your email system on the PC, it may not be correctly
decoding AppleDouble or BinHex format. If not, it will display weird
symbols an no formatting in Word. Send in MIME format and that problem will
go away on both Windows and Mac.

Hope this helps




--
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 Ltdhttp://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

Thanks to all who replied. There were a couple of problems. The file
originated from a PC and was possibly created with Word 95. Cutting
and pasting into a new doc got rid of the compatibility warning msg.
I experimented w/ other docs and realized that only Lucida font text
appeared as musical fonts on the PC. Installing that font on the
laptop fixed that problem. Happy New Year!