Microsoft Word (docx) files from Mac to Windows

[yodachoda]

Hey all, so I have a 2011 MPB with Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 installed. So far, all four programs (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and Outlook) have been working fine, except...

I've noticed some small problems with Word files when I send them to a Windows computer and try to read them. When I emailed my resume to myself, in DocX format, when I clicked "view" to see the file, the formatting was messed up in a few spots. On the Windows PC, some of my bulleted lines are aligned at the far right of the page rather than the far left of the page. Also, some bullet sizes are different (I created some bullets using the regular bullet category drop down, and some bullets using the insert symbol method, but they look the exact same on my Mac), despite looking the exact same on my Mac.

But when I clicked "download" to see my file on a Windows PC, the file looked fine and the exact same as on my Mac. I don't want to take any chances though, in case employers look at my resume through "view" rather than "download". Any ideas what's going on here???

 

[vansmith]

Depends on what's being used to view the Word document.

If you want perfect compatibility, send out your resume as a PDF. PDFs look the same everywhere (indeed, the P stands for portable as the format was designed to make documents perfectly portable).

 

[harryb2448]

And consider changing the save format to simply .doc. Older MS Office versions for Windows may not have the XML Converter.

 

[chscag]

I second Van's suggestion to use PDF. When it comes to mailing out resumés to prospective employers, why take a chance? The portable document format (PDF) will look the same on a Windows machine or any other that can read PDFs.