Cannot import MS Word .doc with equations

I, too, am having this same problem, but it is with my Trial version of Pages '09. I'm an engineering grad student, and I use MathType heavily. I need for all of my current Word documents authored in Windows (Office '07, .docx) to correctly translate any embedded MathType equations as such in my Pages documents. The pdf images just won't cut it. Can anyone help with this? I'd really love to make the full switch to iWork '09, but this will be a show stopper for me if I can't get it resolved...

You got the designed behavior.

If you aren't satisfied,
_Go to "Provide Pages Feedback" in the "Pages" menu_, describe what you wish.
Then, cross your fingers, and wait _at least_ for iWork'10 😉

I understand that you can't wait for a year so at this time, iWork is not the tool to use.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE jeudi 15 janvier 2009 18:14:14)

When I first read your post, I thought "all of mine are converting correctly". I have some docs that I created in Word for Mac and then some were created in Word for PC (before I switched to Mac). What I have come to realize is that all of my documents created on Word for Mac that contain equations convert perfectly. All of my docs created pre-Mac, on Word for PC don't. I know that this info doesn't help you in any way...just thought I would add this for people who may be going through the same thing.

Thanks Terry.

It appears that the equations are stored differently in .doc from PC and .doc from Mac.

It would be useful to report that thru the feedback channel. Maybe the developpers where unaware of that .

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE dimanche 18 janvier 2009 18:11:54)

These were all .doc files. I just tried a .docx file and you are correct, it doesn't work. However, I saved it as a .doc file and it then worked correctly.

I just tried that with one file and purposely opened and closed all equations except for one. When I then opened the .doc file in Pages, all equations opened successfully except for the one that I didn't originally open. So, while this is a tedious process, at least it will work for you. One other thing....not sure if it matters, but I am opening these in Office 2008.

I can say that I am very happy to see MathType support in iWork '09. I am a math teacher and I had used Word for writing tests and Powerpoint for my lessons for years. About 3 years ago, I converted all my lessons to Keynote (opening the Powerpoints in Keynote and then saving). For new lessons or adding stuff to them I was having to drag and drop MathType formulas into them (which was a pain). I, over the summer, just started to get into and use Latex. It was easier dragging and dropping MathType formulas in, but not nearly as easy as using MathType with Powerpoint. Now with MathType abilities in iWork '09, I feel it is easier. All this time, I still had to use Word. Now...I can stop using Word and Powerpoint all together and that makes me happy.

I found the trick to editing Word docs containing Mathtype equations in Pages '09 ... if the objects were created in a version of Mathtype prior to v6.

The basic problem is that Pages '09 can only create and edit Mathtype 6 objects, but does not provide a way to convert older Mathtype objects. Since you want to use MathType with Pages '09, I will presume that you have already installed MathType 6. What you have to do is open the old document in Word first. From the MathType menu choose "Convert Equations ...", choose "Whole Document"(if that is what you want), click the "Convert" button, and wait for all of your objects to convert to v6 objects. Once you get the dialog box confirming the conversions, save the document.

This new document, with MathType v6 objects can now be opened in Pages '09, and the objects will edit properly.

Wasn't that easy?

Message was edited by: Ray Bentsen

I suppose that I should have mentioned that the process that I described was done in Word X.