Office for Mac 2008 & File Compatibility

[Justin]

I am an Accounting student and as such I use Excel quite a bit.
Sometimes the assigned are essay form so using Word is obviously a
better choice.
Usually what I do, is once I have the Word document open, I write the
essay questions normally, and for exercises that require a spreadsheet,
I create a new Excel document and insert the file into the Word
document. That way I'm not sending my professor 15 different files.
My questions is, how can I ensure compatibility? Today he told me about
another student on a Mac who sent in an assignment and when he (the
prof) opened it up it was completely blank.
When I open up one of my Word files with Excel files embedded in Neo
Office - they just don't show up. I used NeoOffice just to test, and I
keep it installed on the system in case somebody sends me a wacky file
format like ODF.
I am thinking I should just set all Office Apps to save as doc, xls, and
ppt rather than the XML (docx, xlsx, pptx) format, ad make sure I only
embed xls (Excel 2004 format) files into my Word file.
In the meantime I print everything to PDF and send him both files -
which he said is OK for now.

 

[Dick Burns]

If he has a version of Office that doesn't read the xml files, he won't see
them without a converter.

Yes: >I am thinking I should just set all Office Apps to save as doc, xls,
and

 

[Peter Flynn]

I am an Accounting student and as such I use Excel quite a bit.
Sometimes the assigned are essay form so using Word is obviously a
better choice.
Usually what I do, is once I have the Word document open, I write the
essay questions normally, and for exercises that require a spreadsheet,
I create a new Excel document and insert the file into the Word
document. That way I'm not sending my professor 15 different files.
My questions is, how can I ensure compatibility?

Don't send people documents with externally-embedded fragments. Better
still, don't submit editable documents: they are far too easy to change.

Today he told me about
another student on a Mac who sent in an assignment and when he (the
prof) opened it up it was completely blank.
When I open up one of my Word files with Excel files embedded in Neo
Office - they just don't show up. I used NeoOffice just to test, and I
keep it installed on the system in case somebody sends me a wacky file
format like ODF.
I am thinking I should just set all Office Apps to save as doc, xls, and
ppt rather than the XML (docx, xlsx, pptx) format,

That will not improve anything. Using ODF would be only marginally better.

and make sure I only
embed xls (Excel 2004 format) files into my Word file.
In the meantime I print everything to PDF and send him both files -
which he said is OK for now.

That is the correct answer. It's not "OK for now", it's "that's the
right solution".

///Peter

 

[Justin]

Don't send people documents with externally-embedded fragments. Better
still, don't submit editable documents: they are far too easy to change.


That will not improve anything. Using ODF would be only marginally better.


That is the correct answer. It's not "OK for now", it's "that's the
right solution".

///Peter

The only problem is sometimes professors send files back with notations
- hence I need to send a editable file.
So far I haven't had any problems with XLS objects embedded in DOC files.
I go to INSERT -> OBJECT and then I choose Excel 97-2004 Sheet.
Remember I'm using Office 2008 for *Mac.* if that makes a difference.

J

 

[Mike Rotch]

Office for MAC forums:
http://www.officeformac.com/productforums/