Tables created in Mac word 2008 are messed up in Windows Word 2003

[sims2208]

If anyone can help me I would much appreicate it as I'm getting desperate!

I created a document in word 2008, sent it to my phd supervisor who is
running word 2003 (for windows, its all the university provides so this can't
be upgraded) and it does not open properly - all the tables are wrongly
formatted. Each row of a table is on a separate page. When I do a
compatibility report in word 2008, a message comes up that compatibility
options are set to word 9.5/95 even though I have set them to 2004-2008 X. I
have never had a problem sending him documents before so I dont understand
why this is happening now.

The only thing that has changed since the last time I sent him a document is
that I installed Endnote and updated word with the 12.1.1 service pack.

Any ideas would be really appreciated!
Simone

 

[Kirk Krekeler]

I have been struggling with the exact same problem. I created a document in
Word for Mac 2008 that contained tables. Before sending it to my client, I
checked the file on my PC that runs Word for Windows 2002 and it looked and
printed fine. So I emailed it. Got a call ten minutes later from my client
saying that every table row was on a separate page. He is running Word for
Windows 2003. I tried saving the Word for Mac doc in every conceivable format
and only Rich Text Format worked on his PC, but that increases the file size.
Besides, clients don't understand why I send .rtf files vs. .doc. The only
workaround I have been able to figure out is to open the document in Word for
Windows 2002 on a PC and re-save with a different name. Then send it back to
my Mac and email it. It's a big pain and I never would have bought a Mac if
I'd known there was even the slightest incompatibility issue between the PC
and Mac versions of Word. Everything on the Web seems to indicate that since
PCs and Macs both run on Intel chips now, Microsoft Word versions are 100
percent compatible. Not true. Now I have to cross my fingers every time I
send a document to a client hoping that there isn't a formatting issue.

 

[Kirk Krekeler]

After responding to your post earlier today describing my experience with the
same issue, I did a little experimenting and may have found a solution. At
least it seems to have worked for me. Open the Word for Mac 2008 document
that is giving you the problem. Go to FILE and PROPERTIES. Make sure SAVE
PREVIEW PICTURE WITH THIS DOCUMENT is unchecked (I believe by default it is
checked). Do a "Save As" and then try opening this document in Word for
Windows 2003. Your tables should be formatted correctly. I think Word for
Windows 2003 freaks out if you have that preview picture box checked in Word
for Mac 2008. In Word 2002, it looks fine, though. Go figure.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kirk:

That's a useful data point!!

Yes, the Preview is a different format on the Mac to the one used in
Windows.

I think it's perhaps the most useless feature in Word, so I always turn it
off both sides of the fence. So I was unaware of this.

Please post back if this continues to work for you.

BTW: Word 2002 is the most buggy version of Word ever, so treat it with
great caution

Cheers

After responding to your post earlier today describing my experience with the
same issue, I did a little experimenting and may have found a solution. At
least it seems to have worked for me. Open the Word for Mac 2008 document
that is giving you the problem. Go to FILE and PROPERTIES. Make sure SAVE
PREVIEW PICTURE WITH THIS DOCUMENT is unchecked (I believe by default it is
checked). Do a "Save As" and then try opening this document in Word for
Windows 2003. Your tables should be formatted correctly. I think Word for
Windows 2003 freaks out if you have that preview picture box checked in Word
for Mac 2008. In Word 2002, it looks fine, though. Go figure.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

--

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Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]