Word X to Word 2004 problems

[Mike Tuller]

I have been seeing problems with Word 2004 where a document that was created
in Word X, or on a PC that filled one page, when opened in Word 2004 now
spans onto a second page. I have tried formatting, margin settings, etc.,
and nothing works. Is there something that I can do to make it so that
documents in older versions of Word look correct in Word 2004?



Mike

 

[Fredrik Wahlgren]

I have been seeing problems with Word 2004 where a document that was created
in Word X, or on a PC that filled one page, when opened in Word 2004 now
spans onto a second page. I have tried formatting, margin settings, etc.,
and nothing works. Is there something that I can do to make it so that
documents in older versions of Word look correct in Word 2004?



Mike

I think that your Word X or PC documents used a font that isn't present for
Word 2004. Try to create a document with a font common to both machines.

/Fredrik

 

[Mike Tuller]

That's what I thought too, but the files were in Helvetica, so that
shouldn't be the problem. I have seen this on more than one file too, so I
am not sure what it could be except compatibility problems.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Mike:

Word processors are designed to reflow text, and that's what they do.

It is possible to format a Word document so that it reformats itself
correctly on any computer. If you elect not to do that, documents will
reflow: and there's little point in expending effort trying to prevent it.

To attempt this, you would need to get the versions, revision levels, and
patch levels, of the Printer, Printer Driver, Fonts, Operating System, Word,
and your display drivers exactly the same. If you could, a document would
match on two different machines.

However, there's a hell of a lot of work involved in getting two machines
that similar: it's difficult enough to do it with two different UserIDs on
the SAME machine.

Between Word X and Word 2004 it will never be possible, because one uses
QuickDraw and the other uses ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode
Interfaces) to make up their pages. There will always be a small but
distinct difference in the way even the exact same font lays up between the
two versions.

I can only suggest that you put your effort into formatting your documents
so that when the text does reflow, the document still paginates correctly.
That's what I do. But then, I need to produce documents that work across
every version of Word there is, going back to Word 2, on both the PC and Mac
platforms

Hope this helps

That's what I thought too, but the files were in Helvetica, so that
shouldn't be the problem. I have seen this on more than one file too, so I
am not sure what it could be except compatibility problems.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Mike Tuller]

I took the Word document and opened it in Word 2003 on a PC, and the the
formatting changed there too. It looked just like Word 2004 on the Mac, so
it's not an OS/Printer/Font issue, it's a Word issue.

If we take the Word document, open it in TextEdit, save it as RTF, open the
RTF file in Word, and then save it as Word, everything is formatted
correctly.

I can see this is going to be a huge problem as we move everyone to Word
2004.

 

[matt neuburg]

I have been seeing problems with Word 2004 where a document that was created
in Word X, or on a PC that filled one page, when opened in Word 2004 now
spans onto a second page. I have tried formatting, margin settings, etc.,
and nothing works. Is there something that I can do to make it so that
documents in older versions of Word look correct in Word 2004?

Word > Preferences > Compatibility. Now try different options from the
popup menu ("Recommended options for") until the document reflows the
same way as on the other machine. I would suggest starting with
"Microsoft Word 2000-2004 and X"; it looks like this is initially
selected, but in fact it is not - you must explicitly choose it in order
to get it to go into effect. m.

 

[Mike Tuller]

That didn't change anything. I also ran a compatibility check, and nothing
came up. I then ran a a check to see if the fonts in the document are
installed on my system, and everything came out ok.

I can't believe that I am the only one that has this problem.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Mike,

Did you read John McGhie's earlier reply to you? The fact is that there are
inherent differences between Office X and Office 2004, as he explained. I'm
sure you're not the only one who has experienced the problem and
(unfortunately) has had to learn to workaround or live with it.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Mike:

You are certainly not the only one who has noticed that Word X and Word 2004
use different rendering engines to produce their text

However, I am willing to bet a small sum of money that you will find that
when you migrate your users, most users don't notice, and the ones that do
notice don't care. I've been through a large number of Word migrations over
the years: it's just not a significant issue. Sure, there are documents
that will need a tweak on the new platform: but most of them won't. The
only documents that have significant problems will be the ones that were
badly formatted in the first place.

Correctly formatted documents will have their page breaks fall naturally in
appropriate places. These places will be "different" on the two versions of
Word. Why would that matter?

If a document is formatted correctly, text that should remain together on
the same page will do so (because it has been formatted with the "Keep With
Next" paragraph property). Text that should land at the top of a page will
(because it has been formatted with the "Page Break Before" paragraph
property). Paragraphs that should not be broken at the end of pages won't
(because they have been formatted with the "Keep Lines Together" paragraph
property.) And paragraphs that can be divided will split appropriately so
that at least two lines remain on either page (because they have been
formatted with the "Widow/Orphan" paragraph property).

If your users are not formatting their documents correctly using styles with
those properties set appropriately, then their documents will not paginate
correctly on any version of Word, and will be different as they move from
machine to machine, Word version to Word version, and printer to printer.
That's what word-processors DO: they format the open document for the exact
current environment, and change them whenever the environment changes.

Users in a setting where such formatting matters know this, and employ the
tools provided in Word to ensure that wherever their documents are opened
they will paginate correctly.

To assist the process, tell your users to remove hard page breaks from their
documents wherever possible. Word will format the documents correctly if it
can, but manual page breaks prevent this happening.

Cheers

That didn't change anything. I also ran a compatibility check, and nothing
came up. I then ran a a check to see if the fonts in the document are
installed on my system, and everything came out ok.

I can't believe that I am the only one that has this problem.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Clive Huggan]

Mike,

For further manifestations of what John has said, take a look at appendix A
('The main "minimum maintenance" features of my documents') to "Bend Word to
Your Will", available as a free download from
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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