So much for version parity across platforms!

[Countdrachma]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I have a template in dotx format create on a WIndows 2007 Word version with protected background images. When I open these templates (or any dotx files created from these templates) the pages don't show the background images and all formatting is askew. It simply doesn't render properly and is unusable on Word 2008. Opening the files in Word 2007 on a Win VM, works perfectly. So much for version parity across platforms! Does anyone have any idea what could be the cause of this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[CyberTaz]

The first 2 points to make - no sarcasm intended -- are:

1- There is no claim anywhere that the Office apps for Mac are identical
incarnations of their Windows counterparts, and pursuant to that

2- Documents/templates destined for cross-platform use need to be designed
with those distinctions in mind... not all of which are program-specific
differences, such as Font availability.

Without knowing what type of images were used, how they were inserted, what
alterations or formatting changes were made to them or what type of
"protection" was used it's difficult to determine why they are not
displaying on the Mac. If you'll supply the pertinent details there may be a
way to correct the issue.

Likewise, although I'm certain that "all formatting is askew" is perfectly
clear to you, nobody here can see what you're seeing. I'm afraid it isn't
even clear [to me] whether you're referring to the formatting of the images
or the formatting of the text, let alone what aspect of the formatting is
being affected or how.

I appreciate your frustration & disappointment, but without accurate,
descriptive details there aren't many suggestions to be offered. If you'll
explain exactly how the template was constructed & what the result is as
opposed to what you expect, I'm certain that there are avenues to explore.

 

[Countdrachma]

Bob, thank you for your reply. I do appreciate the subject title was somewhat antagonistic and inflamatory but this was intentional to try and elicit responses, as I'm desperate to get to the bottom of this. Without being able to use these company templates, the Mac version is of no use to me unfortunately.

I also understand that with no visual queues / attachments, there's limited avenues for people to help but I'm just a bit uncomfortable at this stage in publishing these templates (even as jpgs) due to the intellectual property. I'll wait to get approval from work first before I can do that. However, what you have said in that templates need to be designed for cross-platform compatibility does help me in the sense I think it gives me a direct path to take now; I will try and put the onus back on the professional company commissioned to design the templates to ensure they work on the Mac version. I can't tell you what image types / format etc were applied to the templates, as I don't know.

Thanks again for your input Bob. Much appreciated.

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Bob, thank you for your reply. I do appreciate the subject title was
somewhat antagonistic and inflamatory but this was intentional to try
and elicit responses, as I'm desperate to get to the bottom of this.
Without being able to use these company templates, the Mac version is of
no use to me unfortunately.

I also understand that with no visual queues / attachments, there's
limited avenues for people to help but I'm just a bit uncomfortable at
this stage in publishing these templates (even as jpgs) due to the
intellectual property. I'll wait to get approval from work first before
I can do that. However, what you have said in that templates need to be
designed for cross-platform compatibility does help me in the sense I
think it gives me a direct path to take now; I will try and put the onus
back on the professional company commissioned to design the templates to
ensure they work on the Mac version. I can't tell you what image types /
format etc were applied to the templates, as I don't know.

Thanks again for your input Bob. Much appreciated.

I think what Bob was getting at is he is hoping you would provide a more
generic description of the problems you're seeing. For example, you
could tell us: text looks bigger in a Word document causing it to spill
over to the next line instead of fitting on the same line, or the
corporate logo is displayed as a red X, or the font Excel is displaying
Apple Something or other instead of Fruitger or whatever. Stuff like
that. We don't want to see a screen shot - just have an idea of exactly
what it is that you expected vs what it is you got.

-Jim

 

[Countdrachma]

Thanks Jim. Here's my attempt, although I struggle with being descriptive!

The template has a company logo in it that appears to be located where the header should be. That has an underline that extends all the way over to the right side and then continues down the page so that the right side of the page has a patterned border. That meets up with a footer image as well. When opened with the Mac version of Word, the logo exists but it is a lot larger and the underlying line that sits under it and extends to the right hand side of the page is removed and replaced with a single line (whereas the original is more of a pattern) that sits inline with the logo, not below it, as it should. The pattern that goes down the right side of the page is completely non-existent. Also, the body of the text overlaps with the logo and doesn't appear below it, almost as if the header section has bled down to the body (or vice versa). You can't even highlight / place a cursor around the text that appears in this area. The footer also doesn't appear.

Hopefully you can visualise this a bit better than I've no doubt explained it! If you think you can offer any suggestions as to what the cause might be, I'd be eternally grateful. And thanks again for the initial response Jim (and Bob).

Regards

 

[John McGhie]

Well, I suspect I have only bad news for you.

Email me a copy of one of those documents and I will take a look. But I
suspect that comes under the heading of "Things that just can't be done
cross-platform in Word 2008".

Word 2008 can't handle all of the things that Word 2007 can do. As Bob
says, if you want a cross-platform document, you have to know what they all
are, and design the document not to use them.

One thing that's almost guaranteed not to work is "Full Bleed Graphics",
particularly if they're vector format graphics.

Word 2008 can't handle most of the Windows vector formats, in converts them
to bitmaps, and usually gets it wrong.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but... There may be a way to get
"something like what you want" that will work "within limits"
cross-platform. But in Word 2008, it's never going to be "good".

Word 2011 should go a lot closer when it is released.

Cheers

Thanks Jim. Here's my attempt, although I struggle with being descriptive!

The template has a company logo in it that appears to be located where the
header should be. That has an underline that extends all the way over to the
right side and then continues down the page so that the right side of the page
has a patterned border. That meets up with a footer image as well. When
opened with the Mac version of Word, the logo exists but it is a lot larger
and the underlying line that sits under it and extends to the right hand side
of the page is removed and replaced with a single line (whereas the original
is more of a pattern) that sits inline with the logo, not below it, as it
should. The pattern that goes down the right side of the page is completely
non-existent. Also, the body of the text overlaps with the logo and doesn't
appear below it, almost as if the header section has bled down to the body (or
vice versa). You can't even highlight / place a cursor around the text that
appears in this area. The footer also doesn't appear.

Hopefully you can visualise this a bit better than I've no doubt explained it!
If you think you can offer any suggestions as to what the cause might be, I'd
be eternally grateful. And thanks again for the initial response Jim (and
Bob).

Regards

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[Countdrachma]

John et al, I appreciate the info and pretty much take it as confirmation I've got to wave the white flag. Your explanation John about the "full bleed graphics" does sound like a likely show-stopper. I work in a completely Windows-centric environment and they aren't going to look at re-doing their templates to support a single Mac user! Whilst I'm disappointed by it, I'm also content in sticking with the good ol Windows version running through VM Fusion. I'd rather run natively, but Fusion is not too intrusive and I can put up with it. Thanks again all for your help.

Cheers