Word Template Compatibility 2008/2007

[Seedy]

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

Our office predominately uses PCs with a mixture of Office 2007 and Office 2003. A high percentage of the Word documents created on these machines access a moderately complex corporate template.

Our senior management has recently taken delivery of Macs with Office 2008 and need to create and exchange documents using the existing corporate template (or a new one with similar functions).

The template was built by a third party (long gone) and incorporates some VBA. (I suspect that this can be done without with some training)

It seems that some inconsistent layout issues occur when opening the documents across the two platforms.

Given my brief summary - I would like to know if:

1. Are there any "best practices" regarding cross-platform Word platform development?
2. Is there anyone out there who is able to adapt our template for us on a commercial basis?

Thanks and regards

Craig

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Craig:

The "Best Practices" consist largely of sticking to Microsoft fonts for
everything.

Fonts render slightly differently on the PC and the Mac. Microsoft supplies
fonts with Mac Office that are designed to match the fonts of the same name
on the PC as closely as possible.

The other "best practice" is "Don't get too brave". If your document is
formatted correctly, using only styles, and using the professional
techniques for controlling pagination, it should transport without
noticeable differences cross-platform.

Documents that depend on ugly things such as spaces, hard page breaks, and
blank paragraphs for formatting are asking for trouble, and they will get
it.

However, you do have to accept that you can NOT get this perfect. Documents
that are designed to paginate automatically will work: those that depend on
manual intervention will need to be fixed both sides of the divide.

There are almost no people I know of capable of complex templates who work
cross-platform. I do, and Jonathan West does. If you email me at
(e-mail address removed) I can have a look at the job and either quote you a price
or try to find someone who can take it on for you.

Cheers

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

Our office predominately uses PCs with a mixture of Office 2007 and Office
2003. A high percentage of the Word documents created on these machines access
a moderately complex corporate template.

Our senior management has recently taken delivery of Macs with Office 2008 and
need to create and exchange documents using the existing corporate template
(or a new one with similar functions).

The template was built by a third party (long gone) and incorporates some VBA.
(I suspect that this can be done without with some training)

It seems that some inconsistent layout issues occur when opening the documents
across the two platforms.

Given my brief summary - I would like to know if:

1. Are there any "best practices" regarding cross-platform Word platform
development?
2. Is there anyone out there who is able to adapt our template for us on a
commercial basis?

Thanks and regards

Craig

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