XP user can't open my word doc

I've been working with a bunch of PC users for neary 12 months now since I migrated to Mac. Not really had any problems with PC users not being able to open my word docs. But in the last two days suddenly a 2MB word doc I'm working on is not even able to be opened by an XP user. I've done the compatibilility check and it says there is font substitution but no other problems. Anyone else having this problem? Any hints on how to avoid. We're working to a deadline (of course) and this really isn't helping.

The first thing I can think of (since you are working to a deadline) is that you save the word document in RTF format on your mac. Just open the word document on your mac, go to the "file" menu and select "save as". Towards the bottom of the save dialog you should see a dropdown list to select what format the document should be saved as. I believe the very last option is something like "Word 4.0/RTF". That format should be somewhat more compatible with Windows.
I do have to say I still haven't encountered a situation in which a word document created on a mac is not readable on a PC. If my coworkers new that for the past year they've been getting word documents from me created on a mac they probably wouldn't believe me.
Another thing you can try: Save your word document normally. then go to the finder and create an archive of the file. This will generate a ZIP file. Transfer the ZIP file onto the XP computer, uncompress it, and try to open that file in Word. That may increase your chances of having a readable file.
I hope this helps. Regards,
Julian

Similar Messages

  • Snow leopard  to lion so I could use cloud. Now I can't open any word doc. that I receive in emails. Is there any way to remedy this?

    My Macbook pro came with snow leopard. I decided to upgrade to lion so I could use cloud. Now I can't open any word doc. that I receive in emails. Is there any way to remedy this?

    You don't tell us what version of Office for Mac you presently have, but I'm guessing it might be Office for Mac 2004. If so, in addition to the suggestion to download OpenOffice you can purchase the most recent version of Office for Mac 2011 directly from MS <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/buy>. You can also purchase Pages productivity suite from the Mac App Store <http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id409201541?mt=12>.

  • Can not open MS word docs

    I have an emac running 10.2.8, two users, when i sign in and try to open a word document from the desktop a window opens and says i can not open the document because it's in use by another user. I created this document and the other user has not signed on in months. I then tried all of my word docs and the same message appears. I've shut down the computer, restarted putting in my password but same problem occurs. I repaired permissions but no change. These are my docs and no one else is "signed in" or using them. I cannot copy them or send them via email (which now unexpectedly quits upon opening), Do I need to archive and install?, How much free space on the hard drive do I need to reinstall the OS?
    Thanks for any response.
    Joe

    Many system issues can happen as the hard disk drive's capacity is over-full
    with saved content and there is no room left in the hard drive for the OS X
    and applications to function. The drive should have more than 10% free of
    content in order for the OS X and Applications expected to run in the Mac
    to have room. This space is for swap files, virtual memory, and flex space
    where the system has to automatically find and use free space for most
    everything the computer can do.
    {There are specific rules (seen online in helpful articles, some in Support)
    on how to transfer iTunes music libraries or make and restore archives
    to external hard disk drives and maybe save to DVD if possible; these
    and iPhoto libraries eat up essential space on a hard disk drive.}
    The drive is over-full and a failure (including damage to the physical drive)
    is a matter of time. He should try to archive music on DVD off the Mac
    & then free-up that space on the internal hard disk drive so the OS X
    and apps can use the free space for their required functions. Moving a
    few dozen original items, after saving them off the computer, to Trash
    may be helpful, but that would take a lot of time & looking.
    An externally enclosed drive, properly formatted for OS X and capable
    of booting the computer (firewire 400) is advised; at this point.
    My computers have about 50% empty hard disk drives; that free space
    allows the OS X's automatic virtual memory allocation to create and use
    that space to help the apps and system function properly. When it is not
    there, the system tries to overwrite non-essential files or could cause a
    kind of corruption to happen on the main hard disk drive...
    The documents and other permission issues are a symptom of other stuff.
    A computer in a good state of maintained health requires some effort;
    and when that is not done routinely, things get slower and as the drive
    gets full, stuff can fail. So, to free-up user created files such as music
    (including hidden duplicates if they exist) so that space can be reclaimed
    and used by the OS X, is a good idea.
    To get and use an externally enclosed hard disk drive in a self-powered
    unit with AC Adapter, probably a FireWire ported one so the transfer
    rate is fast enough to get the job done (USB 1.1 is too slow to boot an
    older computer, so FireWire can; a clone of the entire computer could
    be created on a formatted FireWire bootable externally enclosed drive
    and that could be used as a bootable backup.) Archiving this way is a
    way to keep all the files and their status collectively together; then if
    something happens to the computer's internal drive, this remains.
    To boot the computer from the OS X install disc and see if a disk repair
    and a permissions repair can be done in that disc's version of Disk Utility
    may be helpful. Not sure if that old of a system will tell you much in this
    Disk Utility (on installer disc, but not used to install anything) but you
    can Verify the SMART status of a hard disk drive & also try to repair it.
    But the drive is over-full if there are only mere MBs of free space. He
    should look into the Get Info (File menu in Finder) on the Hard Drive
    Icon to see what the total capacity of that drive was, and how little is
    remaining; then work on getting rid of non-essential items, so as to
    save the system itself from damages. Also, if the computer is getting
    older, it may be time to consider a new replacement hard disk drive;
    and if so, a larger capacity one could be installed, and the older one
    put in an external FireWire enclosure, then the content may be cloned
    back into the computer on a partition or direct; so there'd be more
    free space that way for the contents. (Or weed out non-essentials, too.)
    More information would be needed to proceed, since this situation is
    at best sketchy and could be problematic to say the least.
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • Can't open 2008 word .doc's in Pages 09.  Any Ideas?

    I am trying to open 2008 word docuemtns in Pages 2009.  It won't open.  Anybody know why?

    Tried several word 08 ducuments, and get the same error...can't open.  I have tried to open them through pages, and by right clicking on the word document and selection open with/pages.  Most recent Mac OS on a 2008 MacbookPro...
    Is Pages 09 developed top open Word 08 documents?

  • Can't open MS Word .doc files from SharePoint 2013 document library?

    Hello,
    I have uploaded some MS Word files with .doc extension into a SharePoint 2013 document library, but they don't open when clicked.  I can do a number of things to the file, like view and edit properties, download and other things, but it does not
    open up when mouse clicked.  There are PDF files in the document library and they open up just fine.  Any ideas?
    I should add that MS Word 2010 .docx files can not be opened either.
    Thanks.
    Paul

    Hi,
    Whether you use office 2013.
    Considering this .doc file can be smoothly opened in Office if you downloaded it to your local, it indicates that the Word document and Microsoft Word doesn’t have any problems. The issue may be caused by the compatibility between Office
    and your site.
    1.Check whether you have the SharePoint OpenDocuments Class add on enabled at first.
    Internet Explorer >Tools iron > Manage add-ons >
    Choose to Show All add-ons. Find SharePoint OpenDocuments Class and make sure it’s enabled.
    2.go to Compatibility view settings > add your SharePoint site to compatibility view
    3.go to Internet Options,
    Advanced > Reset… > Check Delete personal settings and reset
    Security > Trusted sites > sites > add SharePoint sites to trusted sites
    4.If it doesn’t work, please open Word, go to Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View > Uncheck all.
    Best Regards,
    Lisa Chen
    Lisa Chen
    TechNet Community Support

  • I have a brand new macbook pro 15" with latest Lion.Can anyone tell me why, when I open word or preview etc that multiple files open?For eg if I open a word doc, the last 1-3 docs that I have worked on all open. why?

    I have a brand new macbook pro 15" with latest Lion. Can anyone tell me why, when I open word or preview etc that multiple files open?For eg if I open a word doc, the last 1-3 docs that I have worked previously on all open. Can anyone tell me why?

    You have a choice as to whether or not applications in Lion like Word or Preview (or even Safari) save and re-open previous documents or windows... just hold down the option key while quitting a program and when you re-open it you won't get the previous documents or windows when you re-open the application. You can see this by selecting the open program in the menu bar and when holding down the option key the quit function will change to quit and discard open windows. This feature in Lion is referred to as "Resume" and is great if you want to restart an app and return to what you're doing (for example in Safari re-opening existing windows and tabs from your previous session). You still have the option to close individual windows within an app before quitting and they will not re-open when the app is launched again.
    This Resume function is not related to saving your work (a word or text document for example). This is handled by Lion's "Auto-Save" and "Versions" functions. See http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/whats-new/auto-save.html
    Hopefully this is the complete answer you're looking for.

  • I cannot open my word doc on my iMac.  I got this error message, The applicThe aplation Microsoft Word can't be opened.?

    I cannot open my word doc on my imac.  I got this error message, "The application microsoft word cannot b opened" #1712. Can you help?

    Word can't open or does it open but you can't open documentts?
    If you have Office does Excell or Power Point open? If they do you can perhaps check for updates with either of them: Help > Check for Updates. You can also try to reinstall Office with your installation disks. Don't delete Office, just try to install it again.

  • Why can't I open some word docs on the iPad2?

    Someone at my work has an iPad2. He has a problem of not able to open some word docs. Does anyone reconize this and what is the solution? Thank you.

    Is there an app installed that's capable of reading Word and other Office files such as QuickOffice or DocsToGo?

  • How do I set Pages to automatically open all Word (.doc) documents?

    Being a relatively new Mac User, I haven't yet figured out how to associate programs with particular file types.
    How do I set Pages to automatically open all Word (.doc) documents?
    Thanks.

    Hello Argelius
    If you select a word file in the Finder and do File>Get Info you will see a section in there where you can specify which application should be used to open files of that type.

  • Can you open a word document in pages 08

    Quick question however stupid it is
    can you open a word document from a pc in pages 08?
    sorry in advance if i have posted this in the wrong discussion area
    cheers
    Message was edited by: Lama323

    The answer is as above wrote yes. Does it do it perfectly, the answer is no. Opening a .doc/.docx in Pages'08 will generate a frame warning message I find. I find text and symbols are preserved well, but formatting is not perfect. An example of my own is in the screenshot below. Same page 28 on a .docx but formatting of the document is not exactly preserved as you can clearly see. Where preservation of formatting is critical Pages is good, but not perfect alternative to Word '08.
    http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2461/docxcu2.png

  • I opened a word doc in pages but when I went to edit the doc all I could do is activate boxes of text....no cursor or keyboard showed up.  How do I edit an imported doc?

    I imported and opened a word doc to pages.  When I went to edit all I got was highlighted boxes of text....no cursor or keyboard.  How do I edit an imported doc in Pages?

    No, it's a document I created and it's not locked.   I did it at work and sent it to Pages so I could work at home.   It opens but I can't type or edit.

  • Performance issue when opening DOCX Word Doc with Excel Links

    Is this a bug or is there a config setting that can prevent Word from needlessly opening Excel repeatedly (upon initial open of a DOCX Word doc) when pre-existing links should NOT be updated. The behavior is good using 2003 formats (DOC & XLS),
    but varies significantly (~100:1 range in performance) depending on the test scenario (see below) using DOCX with XLSX.
    We can't move our environment to the new XML formats until we can find a fix. We were led to believe Microsoft knew this to be a bug in Office 2007, but it has NOT been corrected in Office 2010. Omitting a detailed explanation for why we need to
    do this, here's our test scenarios:
    -Currently testing Office 2010 Pro Trial version on WIN XP SP3. (We have found similar results using Office 2007 with Win7 or XP).
    -Word Option Deselected/DISABLED: "Update Automatic Links at Open"
    -The Word Doc contains 100 linked Excel tables and is 130K in size (DOCX).
    -Each link points to the same 10x10 cell range in one Excel Workbook located in same directory as the Word Doc, although other tests using separate directories produced similar results.
    -The Excel Links were inserted into Word via Paste Special/Paste Link/MS Excel Worksheet Object.
    -The workbook (XLSX) is 15K in size.
    -All Links are set for "Manual" update, our testing showed no difference if links are set to "Auto".
    -Again, Word is set to NOT update Automatic links when the document is opened.
    -Results shown below are for local hard drive test.
    -Network response times are slightly greater on 100mb LAN
    -Word is completely restarted prior to each test to make sure there's no application caching involved.
    LOCAL DRIVE RESPONSE TIMES TO OPEN THE WORD DOC in Docx format:
    1. Open the Word Doc from Word with Excel closed - 175 seconds (Excel appears to be opened and closed once per link)
    2. Open the Word Doc from Word with Excel open & workbook closed - 33 seconds (Excel appears to be accessed once per link)
    3. Open the Word Doc from Word with the linked workbook already open - 7 seconds (Excel appears to be accessed once per link)
    4. Rename Excel XLSX workbook so that Word can't find it. Then open Doc the from Word. 1-2 seconds (Excel does not appear to be invoked)
    5. Repeat ALL of the above scenarios 1-4 using DOC and XLS files. These files are created with "Save AS" option based on original test files and then re-pasting the links.  1-2 seconds to open the Word Doc (Excel does not appear to be invoked)
    Summary
    Using DOCX/XLSX, if Word can't find the linked spreadsheet it gives up and performs nicely during file-open. Otherwise, Word performs needless, time-consuming access to Excel, and in the worst case, opens and closes Excel repeatedly in the background.
    Testing with DOC/XLS formats gives good performance across all scenarios.

    It is a known bug and one for which AFAIK, there has been no fix.  The only way that I could get around it in a particular application was to do something like save the linked information as document variables and then on opening the document recreate
    all the information.  My memory on exactly what I did is a bit hazy, but I can go back and check if you are interested.
    -- Hope this helps.
    Doug Robbins - Word MVP,
    dkr[atsymbol]mvps[dot]org
    Posted via the Community Bridge
    "galmcrantz" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    Is this a bug or is there a config setting that can prevent Word from needlessly opening Excel repeatedly (upon initial open of a DOCX Word doc) when pre-existing links should NOT be updated. The behavior is good using 2003 formats (DOC & XLS), but varies
    significantly (~100:1 range in performance) depending on the test scenario (see below) using DOCX with XLSX.
    We can't move our environment to the new XML formats until we can find a fix. We were led to believe Microsoft knew this to be a bug in Office 2007, but it has NOT been corrected in Office 2010. Omitting a detailed explanation for why we need to do this,
    here's our test scenarios:
    -Currently testing Office 2010 Pro Trial version on WIN XP SP3. (We have found similar results using Office 2007 with Win7 or XP).
    -Word Option Deselected/DISABLED: "Update Automatic Links at Open"
    -The Word Doc contains 100 linked Excel tables and is 130K in size (DOCX).
    -Each link points to the same 10x10 cell range in one Excel Workbook located in same directory as the Word Doc, although other tests using separate directories produced similar results.
    -The Excel Links were inserted into Word via Paste Special/Paste Link/MS Excel Worksheet Object.
    -The workbook (XLSX) is 15K in size.
    -All Links are set for "Manual" update, our testing showed no difference if links are set to "Auto".
    -Again, Word is set to NOT update Automatic links when the document is opened.
    -Results shown below are for local hard drive test.
    -Network response times are slightly greater on 100mb LAN
    -Word is completely restarted prior to each test to make sure there's no application caching involved.
    LOCAL DRIVE RESPONSE TIMES TO OPEN THE WORD DOC in Docx format:
    1. Open the Word Doc from Word with Excel closed - 175 seconds (Excel appears to be opened and closed once per link)
    2. Open the Word Doc from Word with Excel open & workbook closed - 33 seconds (Excel appears to be accessed once per link)
    3. Open the Word Doc from Word with the linked workbook already open - 7 seconds (Excel appears to be accessed once per link)
    4. Rename Excel XLSX workbook so that Word can't find it. Then open Doc the from Word. 1-2 seconds (Excel does not appear to be invoked)
    5. Repeat ALL of the above scenarios 1-4 using DOC and XLS files. These files are created with "Save AS" option based on original test files and then re-pasting the links.  1-2 seconds to open the Word Doc (Excel does not appear to be invoked)
    Summary
    Using DOCX/XLSX, if Word can't find the linked spreadsheet it gives up and performs nicely during file-open. Otherwise, Word performs needless, time-consuming access to Excel, and in the worst case, opens and closes Excel repeatedly in the background.
    Testing with DOC/XLS formats gives good performance across all scenarios.
    Doug Robbins - Word MVP dkr[atsymbol]mvps[dot]org

  • How do I  set the default view size when I open a word.doc from mail

    I use the mail program all day long and open MS Word docs and the size is default of 100% but the actually view of the screen make it look like a font of 7 or 8
    I have a difficult time even viewing the document until I blow it up to 150%. It's not because I'm blind I have excellent vision..
    HOW DO I SET THE DEFAULT VIEW OF DOCUMENTS

    This document can help you set the print settings for any type of printing. Not just for photos as the title suggests. You should not have to keep setting it every time.
    Printer settings
    007OHMSS
    I was a support engineer for HP.
    If the advice resolved the situation, please mark it as a solution. Thank you.

  • I have a mac g 5 and i uploaded Microsoft Office 2008 for my 90 year old mother. Now when she tries to open earlier word docs, they won't open at all  :-(  what happened?

    HELP!!! i have a mac g 5 and i uploaded Microsoft Office 2008 for my 90 year old mother. Now when she tries to open earlier word docs, they won't open at all  :-(  what happened?  I SEE THE WORD IN THE NAVIGATION BAR BELOW, but when she tries to open a word doc, the navigation bar opens and closes around the Word symbol and nothing happens :-(  i'm going crazy :-( PLEASE CAN SOMEONE HELP AND LET ME KNOW WHAT TO DO?

    If you have not already done so, repair permissions and restart your computer.  Or boot up from your install DVD and run "Repair Disk" from the Utility menu.  When done, restart back to your desktop, repair permissions and restart your computer. Suggest that you post in the Microsoft Office for Mac Forums if the above does not work. 
     

  • How can I edit a word doc received in my icloud mailbox on my ipad?

    how can I edit a word doc received in my icloud mailbox on my ipad?

    You need a compatible app in which to save it such as Pages or Documents to Go.
    Find an app that is compatible with Word that you want to purchase and then after you download that app - go to that email and you can select the "open In" option. Tap and hold down on the open document in the email and select "open In' and select the app that you purchased.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Proper procedure for patching from Single User mode

    Typically when I install a patch cluster from Sun, I do a sanity reboot from the console of the server using: shutdown -y -g0 -i6 When the system comes back online, I log into the console again and then do: shutdown -y -g0 -i0 (to go into OBP) then b

  • Not critisism, but...

    I don't want to start a flame war here by any means, but I feel I need to point a few things out. I am a long time Netbeans user, forced to change to JDeveloper in my new job (will check which IDE they use next time I move :) I would just like to say

  • Advice sought re converting existing Bc site to a responsive design

    Hi, I read today that Google is shaking up its search rankings to favour mobile-friendly sites. I have an existing e-commerce Bc site (fixed width) that I'd like to convert to a responsive design. At the moment I don't have the time to do it myself b

  • Azure Service (Health) Dashboard - Accuracy and timeliness of service status indicators

    The Azure SHD is a really nice tool to get an overview over current service degradation and interruptions. But currently I am wondering what the more accurate or recent status of an incident is. In the following example the incident is classified as

  • Removing small shiny mark from front corner of new MBA

    New 11 inch MBA (2 days)  noticed small shiny mak=rk on front LHS case - seems the soft aluminium has been marked with silver shinny appearance.  Any idea how to restore to proper finish again - o=it's like the paint has come off - not knowingly dama