My Clipping Path isn't working? Please help...

Question

I am working in Photoshop CS4 on Mac. I have followed the steps below to create a clipping path:
* Opened image that I want to add a clipping path to
* Selected the part of the image that I wanted to clip (with the eliptical marquee tool)
* On the Paths tab, selected "Make Work path"
* In the pop-up box tolerance is set to 0,5pixels
* I can now see an outline of a shape on the image
* In the Paths tab - double clicked on the work path and saved the path as "Path 1"
* Select the created path on the path tab and then chose "Clipping Path" from the tab dropdown
* Left "Flatness" blank in the pop-up provided
* The name "Path 1" now looks outlined in the paths tab
I have tried to save the image as a JPG, PNG, TIF... RGB and CMYK... nothing seems to work. The entire image still previews.
I turned off OpenGL and there are no layer styles applied to the image. There is only one layer in the file. I am very confused... this function used to work and now for some reason it doesn't. Are there any other settings linked to creating a clipping path that i may have changed by mistake without knowing it would affect this?

Answer 1

Tiff format definetly works - i have used it in the past. I just tried EPS and the clipping path works - so thank you!
It seems that I have been a bit stupid though... I just realised my error - to check if the clipping path was applying correctly, I have been opening the clipped image in Preview... It seems that Preview can't "see" the clipping path on a .tif and it "sees" the area outside the clipping path on an .eps as "flattened" (so i see a hard white background, when i am expecting it to be transparent). I just imported the .eps and .tif into Indesign and Illustrator and the clipping path applies fine in both cases. it seems that the real issue is between Mac and PC.... I am running Adobe on Mac and Corel Draw on PC... Corel Draw seems to have an issue with .eps and .tif files with clipping paths.
png works in Corel Draw but transparency causes distortion for elements behind the transparent section... will keep trying :-)
...this is the story of my life! I hate working on PC but every now and then a client gives me a file where the artwork has been created in Corel Draw and I'm faced with these anomolies...
Thanks for helping me to think this through logically!
FYI on tiff format clipping paths...
Source: http://www.espressographics.com/text/fileformats.html
Photoshop EPS (.eps): EPS stands for Encapsulated PostScript format, which is based on the PostScript printing language. Most .eps graphics are created and edited in a draw (vector) application like Illustrator, and when you open an Illustrator vector .eps image in Photoshop, Photoshop will still convert it to pixels. As such, an Illustrator .eps doesn't have the same editable properties as a Photoshop .eps graphic so don't confuse the two. Photoshop .eps format is primarily used for creating images with clipping paths and monotone/duotones. It used to be that an image with a clipping path could only be saved as in .eps format in Photoshop. This is no longer true with later versions of Photoshop where you can save graphics with clipping paths in .tif format as well. When you create a monotone or duotone image in Photoshop, it is still best to save it in this .eps graphic file format, although .psd and .pdf options are also available.