# apple word processing and .doc format



## Mofflet (Feb 12, 2005)

Hello

Can apple create and edit a .doc file and transfer it to a windows pc?

I want to know how compatible it is as sometimes certain features such as tables get messed up when u use them cross platform.

cheers

andy


----------



## MSY-Houston (Dec 5, 2004)

Mofflet said:


> Hello
> 
> Can apple create and edit a .doc file and transfer it to a windows pc?
> 
> ...


Microsoft Office (and Microsoft word with the doc extension) is pretty much cross-platform, in that data files created with Word on a PC can be opened with Word on a Mac--and vice versa. I say that because sometimes there are font issues between the two platforms (do you have the same fonts installed on both systems), or a Preference setting (i.e., Preference setting making the document use default fonts on your computer rather than the fonts used in the transferred data file). Even a default page Margin setting can cause some problems.

If you are talking about a Word doc created on a Mac and opened on a PC using Word Perfect, then that's another story.


----------



## thedooz (Jun 15, 2007)

Applications such as MS Office that are on both platforms generally have compatible/interchangable file formats, so that moving a file from Mac to Windows is really no different than moving it from Mac to Mac or Windows to Windows (i.e. having the issues already mentioned).

HOWEVER: The filesystems are totally different, so that the means by which you transfer is crucial. For instance, you can move a file on a floppy disk, but not on a USB flash stick. Likewise, network transfers are a real problem (in fact, I'm reading this thread while trying to find an answer to this issue). Emailing an attachment should work, if email service and client on both ends will accept the file, that is, not block it as "potential virus".


----------



## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

thedooz said:


> but not on a USB flash stick.


Depends on how you have it formatted. I've never had a problem with mine.


----------



## ThreeDee912 (Feb 11, 2006)

Make sure you format the stick as "FAT32" or "MS-DOS File System" so you can transfer files beween Mac and PC.

You can also get the free/open-source NeoOffice (based on OpenOffice), which is 99.9% compatible with Word docs.


----------



## thedooz (Jun 15, 2007)

An update based on my latest experience, in case this will help anyone (tested only on a Mac with OS X, though files can be transferred from Classic OSs by other means):

1. Files on the Mac must be renamed to have an "extension" that fits the file type, e.g. .DOC for Word documents or .PDF for Adobe Reader (Acrobat) files.

2. Files transferred by some means, such as USB stick, are seen by the PC as two files, "filename" and "._filename". This can work; often you can just open the "filename" and ignore the other (and delete it). I haven't tried it (lacking the hardware), but burning a CD on the Mac and sneaker-netting to the PC should work, except that filename format could be a problem (needs to be compatible with CD filesystem rules).

3. A Mac with OS X and a Windows PC can talk to each other if they're on the same network. In this case, if you push files from the Mac (connect from the Mac and work at the Mac), you'll get the doubled files, but if you pull from the PC, files will be single files, just as if they were created on a PC. (I have no idea why it works that way, but it does.)

The quest I was on when I discovered this thread is resolved. I pulled the needed files from a PowerMac with OS 8 into an iMac with OS X, converted those which were not in a format I could use (e.g. ClarisWorks), made sure I had the file extensions on the names, pulled the files into the PC, and I'm mostly done. Just cleaning it all up now.

Fun talking with you all. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


----------

