Does Microsoft Office for Mac Play Nice?

I hope I've managed to put this in the right place... I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the Switcher Hangout.

I'm seriously considering buying a mac off of ebay but the guy selling it claims in the description that any files created in MS Office for Mac are completely unworkable if opened with a PC. Since I'm a student creating files that are PC friendly is a must since I don't really want to have to switch back to my PC whenever I need to do something for school.

I have a feeling this guy is pretty negative about anything made by Microsoft - he has a bit of a mini-rant about them in the description - and I have my doubts that a mac version of the software would even exist if it didn't creates files that were compatible with PCs but I want to be sure before I buy.

In summary (since I can't seem to get to the point :Blushing: Can files (in particular Word files) created with MS Office for Mac be opened in the PC version of the software without any problems?

I am using MS Office for Mac and there are no compatibility issues with the Windows version of Office ..... Use it every day.

I used to use OpenOffice for 2 years and that is also pretty compatible with MS Office, except for a couple of tricks in Excel..... that is why I went for the MS Office version for Mac.

Cheers ... McBie

The Mac version of MS Office is completely compatible with the Windows version. The guy is either lying or just doesn't know how to use his machine.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products

I have a feeling this guy is pretty negative about anything made by Microsoft - he has a bit of a mini-rant about them in the description - and I have my doubts that a mac version of the software would even exist if it didn't creates files that were compatible with PCs but I want to be sure before I buy.

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You might mention to him that Microsoft was programming Office applications for the Mac before Windows - which came later. As you've been advised already, MS Office 2011 for the Mac is 100% compatible with the current Windows version(s). I have both Office 2011 and 2010 and routinely interchange documents and templates.

Yes. The only advice I would give is that if you are planning to use Word documents created in Office for Mac on a Windows PC, I would save them as .doc and not .docx.

fdcampbell16 said:

Yes. The only advice I would give is that if you are planning to use Word documents created in Office for Mac on a Windows PC, I would save them as .doc and not .docx.

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Actually with 2011 it seems to be fully compatible. At least what I have seen so far.

fdcampbell16 said:

Yes. The only advice I would give is that if you are planning to use Word documents created in Office for Mac on a Windows PC, I would save them as .doc and not .docx.

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Why do you save that? I've had no problem saving as docx with Windows compatibility.

There were a few issues between the two (spacing and margin problems) when you moved from a Mac to Windows but that was resolved via a patch. Gave me a bit of a fit with a paper I had to turn in. That being said, it was resolved via a patch.