Formatting problems when converting Pages to Microsoft Word

Question

Formatting problems when converting Pages to Microsoft Word

I am having trouble keeping the spacing in Pages and Word documents the same. For example, when I write a ten-page paper in Pages and then convert it to Word to send to my professor (since she requests .doc files) the length of the paper changes even though all the settings (font type, font size, double space, margins, etc.) are the same in both.

I have read on MacWorld, below, that there is a way to change the character/spacing to pixels in order to fix the problem but have not been able to follow these directions:

"A common problem is text spilling over from the end of a page onto another page. This can happen when your Mac doesn’t have the font used in the original document, when Pages will substitute another font that is a slightly larger physical size. To fix the issue, redefine the line spacing in both Word and Pages as pixels rather than lines. A setting of 16 pixels is usually equal to 1 line in most fonts. Pixel settings in Word and Pages are the same size, so the imported document will look more like the original."

Many thanks!

-Bennett

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 17, 2012 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jerrold Green1

Level 7

30,223 points

Jan 17, 2012 9:41 AM in response to benunderstands

Bennett,

Select all your text. Then, in the Text Inpspector, Text tab, Spacing section, look at the Line Spacing control. It probably is currently set to 1. Under that field, there is another menu, probably set to Single now. In that menu, set to Exactly and enter a Point value where there used to be a 1.

Now, here's someting to look out for. Sometime down the road, you may insert something taller than a line of text. I predict that you will then wonder why you have text overwriting your tall Inline object. The reason is that your Exaclty setting is overriding the automatic line height controls. If that happens, Choose "At Least" for that line rather than "Exactly".

Regards,

Jerry

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Answer 2

Jan 17, 2012 10:28 AM in response to Jerrold Green1

Thanks for your response! I did try that and it helps it to align better. Nevertheless, by the end of the document it is still off by about two lines. I think ultimately these two programs just don't see exactly (or "at least") eye-to-eye, but hopefully I'm not missing something.

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Answer 3

Jan 17, 2012 12:42 PM in response to benunderstands

Send her PDF files exported from Pages, you may thus control the accuracy of files. She should understand that you do not use Word, and she cannot oblige you to do that. A PDF reader is available to anyone, including to her.

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Answer 4

Jan 17, 2012 4:54 PM in response to benunderstands

benunderstands wrote:

Yeah, the spacing seems to go out of whack at a numerical list of items. There are no graphics otherwise.

The reason that I asked is that there are spacing settings in the Wrap Inspector, with respect to Tightness of Fit.

One other place to look is in the "Before Paragraph" and "After Paragraph" spacing parameters, but I suspece you already looked there.

Jerry

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Answer 5

Jan 17, 2012 9:27 AM in response to benunderstands

Also, I am using Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac and version 4.1 of Pages.

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Answer 6

Jan 17, 2012 10:38 AM in response to benunderstands

Bennett,

Can you isolate the page(s) that have the problem and identify the offending text?

Are there any graphics involved?

Jerry

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Answer 7

Jan 17, 2012 12:08 PM in response to Jerrold Green1

Yeah, the spacing seems to go out of whack at a numerical list of items. There are no graphics otherwise.

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