Re: Word for Mac 2008 compatibility with PCs

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Well, I'm not sure what to tell you. I have Word 2003 and Word Viewer
installed here & have successfully opened a number of .docx files created in
Word 2008. Some were former 2004 files or 2003 files saved in .docx by 2008,
some wee Excel content pasted into Word files as tables, etc. None of them
exhibited the problems you describe.

Those results combined with what you've reported suggest that there may be
something about the table formatting or content that is contributing to the
issue... Especially since 2002 has no trouble nor do you have a problem
reopening the files with 2008. What more can you offer in the way of
document/table-specific information?

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



On 8/22/08 11:48 PM, in article 8914d5d4f01b8@uwe, "kirkkrekeler via
MacKB.com" <u45539@uwe> wrote:

Thank you for your suggestions. Yes, initially I thought it was a problem
with my client's installation of Word for Windows 2003. But after he reviewed
the document on five computers at his company and all computers displayed the
same problem, I downloaded a Word for Windows 2003 reader from Microsoft's
site and loaded it on a PC. He was right. The tables were all messed up with
page breaks after each row. The document was fine in Word for Mac 2008 and
Word for Windows 2002, but not in the Word for Windows 2003 version. It had
nothing to do with how they were emailed or saved or zipped or not zipped.
Mac and PC versions of Word are just not 100 percent compatible. Period. Now
I have to proof every document on a Windows machine running Word for Windows
2003 before sending to anyone. It seems like someone at Microsoft would have
done that before releasing Word for Mac 2008. And yes, I've read many posts
suggesting to send along a PDF. That's like saying, "If the Word doc I'm
sending is messed up, use the PDF." We often make changes at either end and
track changes, so PDFs aren't the answer anyway. Besides, why should clients
have to deal with PDFs? They can just hire freelancers who use PCs and be
assured compatibility with Word documents. I regret switching from PC. Sure,
the Windows operating system isn't as slick as Leopard, but you can send Word
documents and not have to worry whether the recipient can read them.

CyberTaz wrote:
Hi Kirk -

Did it occur to you that the problem just *might* be on the other end? If
you aren't experiencing the problem yourself & other users aren't either
that's actually the *first* thing I'd suspect :-)... Especially if all the
2003 users are in the same location/organization. The update condition of
their software may very well be involved even if that's not the case.

Have you tried zipping the files before sending them - I'm assuming you mean
as attachments to email. Do you know whether the 2003 users experiencing the
problem are on Exchange Server as their mail system? If it isn't configured
correctly it can wreak havoc with attachments from Macs even if they're
properly encoded.

Zipping help prevent that from happening. It also forces the recipient to
Save the file to their local HD rather than simply double-clicking the
attachment icon. Until the attachment is saved locally it isn't really a
complete "file" & what's being opened from the server can't be interpreted
accurately. It's appalling how many PC users still haven't been informed of
this or continue to ignore the advice. IMHO this is particularly true with
OOXML files - regardless of originating from 2008 or 2007 - because they're
actually a "package" of files which the mail server doesn't understand.

In addition to zipping, if the recipient doesn't need to be able to edit the
documents I'd suggest you send them PDFs in the first place. If they do need
to revise, send them both.

I imagine John McGhie will be along shortly to comment on the subject, so
continue to check back for more replies.

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

On 8/17/08 7:18 AM, in article 88cd531afb190@uwe, "kirkkrekeler"
<u45539@uwe> wrote:

Anyone experience this? After creating Word for Mac 2008 documents and
sending to clients running Word for Windows 2003, tables blow up the
document.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
I can't believe this isn't a major issue with Microsoft. Shouldn't this have
been fixed in the June update?

.

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