Re: Office Mac to Windows Compatibility Issues

I'm not supporting the beta version--but when people using Windows ask this question, this is my standard answer. (by the way, the Windows PC is *not* running Office 2004, which is the Mac version)

Mac and Win versions of Word from WinWord 97 to MacWord 2004 all use the same file format, so that's not the basic problem. If the file does not have the .doc extension, you may need to add it manually or use File | Open from within Word.

The most common problem arises when the doc was sent by email and the attachment encoding was not set properly. If you see something about "application/x-macbinary" or "application/applefile" when trying to open the doc, sounds like they encoded it for Mac computers. Or if it brings up a prompt about “encoding” and opens with a bunch of squares.

Try sending the explanation below to your correspondent, asking them to change their encoding. The help on any Mac email program will tell them how.

A Mac email program, Entourage, has this to say in Help:

About attachment encodings

When you choose an encoding format, it is helpful to understand how Macintosh files differ from files created on other computers. Macintosh files include additional resource information that files created on other types of computers do not. If you are sending a data file, such as a Microsoft Word document or Microsoft Excel spread***, such resource information may not be necessary. However, if you are sending something more complex, such as a program, to another Macintosh computer, you must choose an encoding format that preserves all the data.

The AppleDouble encoding format preserves the additional resource information, and can be read by both Macintosh and other types of computers. AppleDouble is a good choice for your default encoding format; it works most of the time with most computers. However, if AppleDouble fails, you can choose a different encoding format depending on the type of computer you are sending the attachment to:
• To send an attachment to a Macintosh computer, use BinHex, which preserves the Macintosh resource information and data.
• To send an attachment to a Windows-based computer, use MIME/Base 64, which preserves the data only.
• To send an attachment to a UNIX computer, use UUEncode, which preserves the data only.




nicandrews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Dear all,

I recently bought a Mac and am running the Beta version of Office for Mac 2008.

I am having major compatibility issues when I email files created on my Mac to a Windows PC (I always save as standard .doc, not .docx).

When you try to open the file in Windows it comes out as gibberish (boxes and symbols).

As far as I can tell I should be able to open .doc's cross-platform. The Windows PC is running Office 2004.

If possible i'd prefer not to save as RTF.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you so much.

Nicola.
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