Office v.X

[ryme4reson]

I tried to open my work timesheet with my powerbook Office v.X in 10.3.1 and it doest display correctly.

the timesheet is for two weeks starting on a Sunday. For example, 12/4/2003 is one cell. the next cell is (=(cell1Name)+1). This should enter 12/5/2003 into the next cell. These is repeated for the 14 days, so you only update the first Sunday.

It opens fine on the windows PC's, but in the Mac Office it shows #### ##### after the third or forth day.

Also, will thinkfree, or Org open this file? Its depressing a rather simple .xls has so much trouble.

So much for compatibility.

(**EDIT**)
I downloaded thinkfree, and it opens the file perfectly. So the file is fine on Windows, and Thinkfree, but Office v.X doesnt work. What a pile of crap!

Thanks for any help.

 

[jxyama]

this would seem trivial, but are you sure your cell is wide enough? if any cell is not wide enough to display the content, it will show ####. it could be that the first few days is 12/X/2003 but after a few days, it's 12/1X/2003 - making the cell size too thin.

 

[ryme4reson]

Thanks for the reply. You are correct. The problem is many of the cells are locked by our administration so I cant change the cell width. So the formatting in Office v.X is incorrect. Thinkfree works and displays it correctly.

So I guess my problem is with Excel on my Mac not understanding the formatting

 

[Westside guy]

Originally posted by ryme4reson
Thanks for the reply. You are correct. The problem is many of the cells are locked by our administration so I cant change the cell width. So the formatting in Office v.X is incorrect. Thinkfree works and displays it correctly.

So I guess my problem is with Excel on my Mac not understanding the formatting

Warning: nit-picking ahead... and I realize since you've gotten your file read you probably don't really care about this. But I've run into too many problems in the past with 3rd-party programs not being compatible with one aspect or another of MS Office.

It seems like the real solution would be to ask your administrators not to lock the column widths, or else to provide a little more "slack".

I would hazard a guess that that font displays slightly differently on Windows versus Mac, and the spreadsheet designer didn't leave any room for error. It's not a case of Mac Excel "not understanding the formatting". Especially if the font is anti-aliased, since the Mac and Windows are not using the same system for font smoothing they will probably not be totally identical.

Back in my Windows days I'd had spreadsheets given to me that exhibited this problem because the font the spreadsheet designer chose (on their own Windows machine) didn't exist on my machine. Excel had to substitute a similar font in there, and some of the cells were too small for that font - so I got the pound ("#") signs instead of dates or numbers. Drove me nuts cuz one was a required payroll form.

Thinkfree could be substituting a different font; or it may be using the correct font, but stretching the columns so the numbers display even with a differently rendered font (which is technically incorrect behavior even if the end result is what you wanted).

 

[ryme4reson]

Thanks Westside!

The only problem I have then if a cell is set at fix to width, then it's going to be font specific correct? I work at a police department, and peopel seem to have such a problem with excel and filling out a simple timesheet, so they lock the entire sheet.

Thinkfree uses a different font, but the printing sucks in thinkfree.... go figure.

 

[Nuc]

save under another format

You are able to get rid of the protection on the excel file by saving it under a different format.

I usually save as a text (tab delimited). And then open it up in excel again. It will appear different than before, but with a little editing you can get it back to the original state.

There may be a better way to do this, but at least it works. Word is the same way, just save it as a text file and the protection goes away....

Hope this helps.

Nuc

 

[Westside guy]

Originally posted by ryme4reson
Thanks Westside!

The only problem I have then if a cell is set at fix to width, then it's going to be font specific correct? I work at a police department, and peopel seem to have such a problem with excel and filling out a simple timesheet, so they lock the entire sheet.

Yeah I see what you're saying. If the cell is a bit wider than it absolutely has to be then probably this wouldn't be an issue; but a lot of times people are trying to fit a ton of information onto a single page, so they make things as tight as they possibly can.

You know, I hadn't thought of Nuc's idea of saving it in another format, then reopening it. It might be worth a try!

Another idea is to highlight the whole spreadsheet, then change the font size to one step smaller. So if it's originally "Arial 10" you might see if you're allowed to make it "Arial 9".

 

[MarkNadia]

Language change

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone knows how to change the language on Office v.x. My dad picked it up while he was in France but that means we got as a default the French Version.. With this I have no idea what it says and can't find how to change it to english

Any ideas??

 

[Pseudonym]

(This is in Word) does going to tools and selecting language do the job? Somehow I can't believe that it would be that straightforward!

 

[MarkNadia]

The extra difficulty I have is that its all in French... And I don't have a clue what it's on about.. I have gone to what I think is tools language and selecte Anglais...


Then the three buttons below are Par Defaut, Fermer, and OK

When I select OK it does nothing and Par defaut pots up with another window which I have no idea what it says

 

[MarkNadia]

Does anyone know if there is an addin that will allow the french version to have english added... When I look at the help file from what I can make out it says there is a CD for this but not sure if I am reading it right

 

[Pseudonym]

The three words mean make default, close and OK. Click on 'par defaut'. The next screen says are you sure, so click on Oui.

This will certainly change the language options as to dictionary etc. I suspect it won't help the menus etc. being in french. I've googled around on this issue and had a look at the MS support pages but can't find anything more. Sorry.

 

[MarkNadia]

cool thanks... I surpose there maybe an english addin somewhere I just have to find one now... It seems to be all a bit of a challenge but what a bore life would be without it..

Thanks once again