Microsoft Office Documents created on Mac not opening on a PC

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Level 1

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Microsoft Office Documents created on Mac not opening on a PC

Hi,

I create a lot of Word and Excel documents using the Office program for Mac. Often I have to send these as attachments to emails to other people. Many can open them without any difficulty whether they own a iMac or PC. However I have one contact who can never open a Office document sent to her by email, on her PC.

I really cannot understand this because, as I say, others have no difficulty. Can anyone suggest reasons why she is having this trouble??

many thanks

John

iMac 27″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Jul 8, 2023 12:46 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ku4hx

Level 7

23,700 points

Jul 8, 2023 5:01 AM in response to Seeker777

We had a version of that issue at work before I retired. The problem was solved by making sure the Office version of the person receiving the file was the same as the file was created in. This was particularly worrisome with Word documents.

As a temporary workaround, those who had old versions got a file saved with an extension that worked. But that got tiresome by causing double work for certain recipients.

The ultimate fix was those one the receiving end were upgraded, That was easy all in one company; if you have a client resisting upgrade then you have may not only a compatibility problem, you have a political problem as well.

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Answer 2

Rudegar

Level 10

182,406 points

Jul 8, 2023 1:55 AM in response to Seeker777

maybe that client have a version of office which is too old to open newer office files versions

the client can try to install the free libre office and see if that will open the file the free office suit open most office files really

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Microsoft Office Documents created on Mac not opening on a PC

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