Excel incompatible mac to pc column width changes

[Dr_Wood]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel I created a document in excel mac 2008. I used fonts arial narrow 7.5 and arial 9. I carefully lined up the columns so that the page would fit to the maximum without spilling over or reducing. I saved the file as .xls and .xlxs. When I open this on a pc (office 2007) the columns change from original. The columns reduce and the original full page reduces to about 75% without the correct line up. I have tried changing the font to arial 8 but problem persists.
Any suggestions

 

[Jim Lange]

Similar problem­Excel 2008 page formatted with .75² margins all around, with
horizontal and vertical centering set to ³on² but when opened in Excel 2007,
extra .5² added to both left and right margins. Which causes a line of text
at bottom of page (not in Footer, in first column) to cut off before end of
sentence. It was worse until I unmerged cells at bottom where line of text
is situated.

Odd thing is, upon first opening in Excel 2007 (Page Layout view) it looks
fine. Once changed to Page Break Preview, the line of text flows onto page
2---even though the original had no page 2!

Could this be related to an Autoformat setting in Excel 2007? Or perhaps
Arial TT font is rendering differently. Maybe because of 72dpi on Mac
versus 96 dp1 on Windows? Ready to pull out whatever hair is left.

 

[John McGhie]

Both of you: Try again with everything formatted as Calibri.

The Calibri font was developed to format as close as possible to the same on
either Mac or PC. (All of the "c-series" fonts supplied with Microsoft
Office 2008 were...)

Make sure you are using the same printer driver for both: that's where Excel
gets its measurements from.

Cheers

Similar problem­Excel 2008 page formatted with .75² margins all around, with
horizontal and vertical centering set to ³on² but when opened in Excel 2007,
extra .5² added to both left and right margins. Which causes a line of text
at bottom of page (not in Footer, in first column) to cut off before end of
sentence. It was worse until I unmerged cells at bottom where line of text
is situated.

Odd thing is, upon first opening in Excel 2007 (Page Layout view) it looks
fine. Once changed to Page Break Preview, the line of text flows onto page
2---even though the original had no page 2!

Could this be related to an Autoformat setting in Excel 2007? Or perhaps
Arial TT font is rendering differently. Maybe because of 72dpi on Mac
versus 96 dp1 on Windows? Ready to pull out whatever hair is left.

--

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]

 

[Jim Lange]

Thanks, John, for the advice. Will have to pass, though, on Calibri;
creating this spreadsheet for client whose branding standards specify Arial
and Helvetica as my only choices.

Best regards

 

[John McGhie]

Thanks Jim:

Yeah, I know. I have a client who had the same issue.

My advice to them was/is "Well then, it's not going to work."

There's no way around it: you either leave enough slack in your layout so
things can move around a little without wrecking the design (sometimes not
possible) or you use the "C-series" equivalents to those fonts, designed for
exactly this purpose; or "it can't be done".

Calibri looks a lot nicer, too: maybe enlist the services of a graphics
designer to convince them of that

Cheers

Thanks, John, for the advice. Will have to pass, though, on Calibri;
creating this spreadsheet for client whose branding standards specify Arial
and Helvetica as my only choices.

Best regards

--

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]