[philm]

I want to understand why some images in MS Word appear with the dreaded red cross. In my experience this happens frequently when using Word 10.1.3 with OS X 10.2.6, although I know it happened with previous versions of Word and the Mac OS. Usually (always?) it happens when opening a Word file which was generated in Windows.

Today for example, someone gave me a file which consisted of six Excel graphs which he had copied and pasted into Word. One was visible; five had the red crosses.

So, can anyone explain why this happens on the Mac (apparently somewhat randomly) and if there is any way of improving matters.

I assume I am not the only one to see this?

Phil

[CharlesS]

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[JKT]

Originally posted by philm:
I want to understand why some images in MS Word appear with the dreaded red cross. In my experience this happens frequently when using Word 10.1.3 with OS X 10.2.6, although I know it happened with previous versions of Word and the Mac OS. Usually (always?) it happens when opening a Word file which was generated in Windows.

Today for example, someone gave me a file which consisted of six Excel graphs which he had copied and pasted into Word. One was visible; five had the red crosses.

So, can anyone explain why this happens on the Mac (apparently somewhat randomly) and if there is any way of improving matters.

I assume I am not the only one to see this?

Phil

From my bitter experience with Word97 and 98 a few years ago, it tends to indicate that the image is corrupted and your document is about to get badly hosed. Make backups and make them now

Alternatively, is the image in a windows specific format that Mac Word can't open?

[biscuit]

I've had this problem too, only I never thought to bring it up here (duh!). I see it when someone has a file from Windows too, although it does seem to be entirely random.

There was one occasion when it was a real pain. A colleague had burnt a report to CD (from Windows). My boss's TiBook gave the red cross, but not always for the same images. My iBook didn't see them although another colleague's did. We all have the same version of Office under Jag. A PMac G4 with 10.1 saw them fine, oddly...

The only way around it I know of is to use a Mac to save the file. Of course you have to get them to display first, so it's not much of a solution, sorry.

My explanation for it is lame programming by Microsoft, probably on both sides of the fence.

biscuit

[philm]

Originally posted by biscuit:
My boss's TiBook gave the red cross, but not always for the same images. My iBook didn't see them although another colleague's did. We all have the same version of Office under Jag. A PMac G4 with 10.1 saw them fine, oddly...

This is exactly the problem. It seems to be almost random, which makes me suspect it might (a) have a complex aetiology and (b) be impossible to solve.

It feels like the cross-platform capabilities for using Word in a mixed Mac and Windows environment is less good now than ?5 years ago when Word 98 came out.

Phil

[euphras]

I never did experience such problems and i work cross-platform in a Win2k-env. (Me: Tibook, 10.1.5, Office X). Maybe the pic´s are not really inserted in your Word-doc, but only linked. Have you checked that possibility?

[Mrjinglesusa]

Same problem here. My advisor frequently tries to send me Word documents that have imbedded images from Chemdraw and they NEVER show up correctly. I am on an iMac w/ 10.2.6 and Office v.X. Also, why can't I double click on Chemdraw figures I insert into Word and have Word open up Chemdraw so I can edit them? Microsoft sucks.

[philm]

Originally posted by euphras:
I never did experience such problems and i work cross-platform in a Win2k-env. (Me: Tibook, 10.1.5, Office X). Maybe the pic´s are not really inserted in your Word-doc, but only linked. Have you checked that possibility?

That's not the case here. In my example above (and I see this all the time, not just occasionally), six graphs were generated in Excel in Windows - same format graphs. Then, each was sequentially copied and pasted into Word. File was burned onto CD and given to me. When I open it, I can see the fourth graph, and none of the others. Bizarre.

Phil