[JeffZPgh]

Do the Mac Office 2001 programs have 100% file format compatibility with their Office for Windows counterparts? I'm considering buying Word 2001 and later upgrading to Office 10, but only if that means I can definitely exchange documents with Windows users without any loss of formatting, etc.

In other words, does Word for the Mac do a better job with Word 97/2000 docs than AppleWorks does? AppleWorks can handle simple documents well, but produces some bad results on documents with lots of tables, etc.

Jeff

[dtc]

The file formats are the same for Office 98, Office 2001, Office 10, Office 2000, Office XP from what I've seen.

Gosh that's a lot of Offices!

Originally posted by JeffZPgh:
<STRONG>Do the Mac Office 2001 programs have 100% file format compatibility with their Office for Windows counterparts? I'm considering buying Word 2001 and later upgrading to Office 10, but only if that means I can definitely exchange documents with Windows users without any loss of formatting, etc.

In other words, does Word for the Mac do a better job with Word 97/2000 docs than AppleWorks does? AppleWorks can handle simple documents well, but produces some bad results on documents with lots of tables, etc.

Jeff</STRONG>

[Shades of Gray]

I have been exchanging Word and PowerPoint files with Windows users, and have never had a problem. One helpful hint is to make sure that the fonts are cross-platform.

[dtc]

Oh yeah, another great idea is to make sure that your file has the 3 letter extension (.doc, .xls, .ppt)

I always forget. Luckily Entourage does it for me.

Stupid file extensions.... argh.

Originally posted by Shades of Gray:
<STRONG>I have been exchanging Word and PowerPoint files with Windows users, and have never had a problem. One helpful hint is to make sure that the fonts are cross-platform.</STRONG>

[Toxi]

Maybe a bit off topic, but not a lot - i am considering buying an iMac (will be my first Mac) but am a bit worried about compatibility with MS Office in the windows world and think the price MS asks for the mac office version is a bit in the high side. I noticed that Appleworks comes with a product from Dataviz called Maclink plus that ensures compatibility with Word and Excel.

Do you have experience with this product - if so, does it work both ways and how well does it work?

thanks

Toxi

[peterthorn]

DATAVIZ: Do you have experience with this product - if so, does it work both ways and how well does it work?

Haven't tried the new version - but it has worked for me in the earlier versions (have only tried it with word and excel files). But, when using it, I think it just converts the actual content - not comments etc.

But, when using Office 2001, I haven't had any problems exchanging files with win-users (as long as they have the extensions)

Peter

[dtc]

Well there is the Entourage-Word special edition bundle... i think its like $150 or something....

Originally posted by Toxi:
<STRONG>Maybe a bit off topic, but not a lot - i am considering buying an iMac (will be my first Mac) but am a bit worried about compatibility with MS Office in the windows world and think the price MS asks for the mac office version is a bit in the high side. I noticed that Appleworks comes with a product from Dataviz called Maclink plus that ensures compatibility with Word and Excel.

Do you have experience with this product - if so, does it work both ways and how well does it work?

thanks

Toxi</STRONG>

[popheader]

My wife uses our mac at home to produce powerpoint and tons of word docs. She then uses her pc at work to run her docs. . She has never run into any problems with formatting as long as the fonts cross over. We currently use an acaedemic version of Office 98. I would recommend against Apple works.