Excel from Mac to PC will not open

[kvphoenix]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) My Excel documents created in my Mac version of office 2008 are being saved as .xlsx files.

Couple of problems:

1. They save on my computer as a read only. Although I am able to open and edit.

2. When I send to PC users they are unable to open the format and document opens as jibberish.

3. Even if I change the file to an extension of .xls they are unable to open the file.

Help
Must send Excel to PC users in a friendly format.

K

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) My Excel
documents created in my Mac version of office 2008 are being saved as
.xlsx files.

Couple of problems:

1. They save on my computer as a read only. Although I am able to open
and edit.

2. When I send to PC users they are unable to open the format and
document opens as jibberish.

3. Even if I change the file to an extension of .xls they are unable to
open the file.

Help
Must send Excel to PC users in a friendly format.

K

Extensions do not matter at all. Excel senses the file's content. You do
not have to do anything to change the file format, Excel on mac and
Windows use the same file format and structure. The problem usually
arises in how the file is sent to the PC and vice versa. The mail
program may be corrupting the file. Also, save the file to the disk and
use file open. Don't double click it from the mail program.

 

[kvphoenix]

Thanks Bob.

Have you found that sending the file from iMail creates a problem? Is it more beneficial to use Entourage?

Please advise.

Thanks,
K

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Thanks Bob.

Have you found that sending the file from iMail creates a problem? Is it
more beneficial to use Entourage?

Please advise.

Thanks,
K

I do not use imail. I have never had a problem with Entourage. I am
frequently sending and receiving Excel files to and from my windows
clients with Entoruage with no problems.

 

[John McGhie]

If the email program at the PC end is modern and correctly installed, it
doesn't matter much what you do, it will all just work.

However, in the real world, you need to know what you're doing (because PC
users never do...)

1) You can't simply change the extension from XLSX to XLS.

The extension is a "label" that tells the recipient computer in which format
the information in the file is stored. If the file contains XML (a .xlsx
file) and you change the extension to .xls (a binary file) you make it
considerably more likely that you will get trouble.

2) PCs typically open each file that is emailed to them to check it for
viruses. Older PC email programs often corrupt the file when they do this.
It helps if you ZIP such files so that even if the PC email is badly set up,
it can't do too much damage.

3) Users on PCs often try to open their files inside their emails. This
often doesn't work very well (and it's a very unsafe practice). Tell them
to save the files to their disk before trying to open them.

4) Given the cluelessness on the PC side, even though Excel shouldn't need
the extension, it can make things a lot more reliable if you get it right.
Don't send files without an extension: problems are likely.

5) Some freemail services, such as Google, make a mess of attachments on
the way through. You get what you pay for: avoid mail services for which
you pay "nothing" because they're worth exactly that Your ISP provides
a commercial grade email service: use it

If you send .xlsx files, zipped for safety, as an attachment, with the
correct extension: it will work 99.99% of the time. The other times, it's
the other end's fault, and nothing you can do will make it any better

I don't believe Entourage has any advantage over Apple Mail, provided you
have set Mail up to send "Windows-friendly attachments".

Hope this helps

Thanks Bob.

Have you found that sending the file from iMail creates a problem? Is it more
beneficial to use Entourage?

Please advise.

Thanks,
K

--

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]

 

[kvphoenix]

Helps? It is awesome!

Thanks so much for spelling it out for me. You just saved me a ton of work changing to entourage.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

K