Word for Mac seems lousy

[Guest]

I've been using MS Word and MS Office for Windows for well over a decade and
I am quite proficient in the product. Word 2003 in particular, I know pretty
much inside and out. I just bought a Mac and bought a copy of Office for Mac
and I'm really frustrated. Nothing seems to work properly. I want to do
simple things like create a macro to paste unformatted text and it always
reverts to pasting formated text. In general, Word for Mac strikes me as a
grossly inferior product to Word for Windows. I'm I just experiencing culture
shock and there is a remedy or is this really an inferior product?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Graham Mayor]

Don't know anything about the Mac, but how are you creating the macro? The
macro recorder is not capable of recording this action, so you would have to
code it manually even in the Windows version

Sub PasteUnfText()
On Error GoTo oops
Selection.PasteSpecial DataType:=wdPasteText, Placement:= _
wdInLine
End
oops:
Beep
End Sub

works for Windows.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Summer]

Use Bootcamp (Windows XP or Vista) and run Office 2003 or 2007 or both.
Works great.
I also have Office 2004 for Mac. They work quite well together..

News - Mac Office 2008 will no longer support VBA but Apple Script instead -
a parting of the ways.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Bob -

The two versions are "97%" the same, and the 3% covers some things that Mac
Word offers that PC Word doesn't as well as the opposite. How that
translates to Inferior/Superior - Better/Worse is in the proverbial eye of
the beholder, and if what you need falls within that 3% it _could_ be
problematic. But I believe that once you get oriented to the differences
-many of which are imposed by the *operating system* - you'll find them less
significant than you might think & enjoy a far higher comfort level than
what you're currently experiencing.

If you need any assistance with the Mac version there are separate forums:

microsoft.public.mac.office.word,

microsoft.public.mac.office,

where you'll find Mac-specific expertise, and many of the contributors there
are proficient with the PC version(s) as well. We'll be more than happy to
"translate" for you if necessary

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Guest]

Bob,
Thanks very much for your reply. I hope I didn't come across as too much of
a whiner, but I am encouraged by your response. I am not a Microsoft basher,
but my last laptop "died" and for a variety of reasons, I got a Mac. I can
deal with the differences in the OS, but what has troubled me most is the
differences in MS Word. (PowerPoint for Mac seems better to me.) In any
case, I was hoping to get some feedback to determine whether I should go out
and get Parallels and just run Word for Windows on a Mac. Your email is
giving me the encouragement to at least stick with it.

About the addresses you gave me, I copied them into the address area of my
browser and they didn't work. Excuse me for my lack of knowledge here, but
you give me the complete web address: "http://..."

I should not that I had previously gone to the main Office Discussion Group
area at http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx#5
and Mac wasn't listed.

Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Bob

 

[Guest]

Graham,
Thanks very much for your reply. I tried to use the code you gave me, but I
was surprised to see that even the way of editing a macro is very different
from that in Word for Windows and so I wasn't sure how to draw on your
advice. If you can explain how to use this, great. If not, I appreciate
your help in any case.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

[Guest]

Summer,
Thanks for your reply. I have resisted buying Parallels because I wanted to
see if I can make a switch for basic programs like Word. I plan to use
Parallels for MS Access, but if I find that I can't get what I need from Word
from Mac either I'll follow your advice, or buy another machine and return to
the Windows fold.

Thanks again.

Thanks,
Bo

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Bob -

Let me be up front - I don't want to lead you down the primrose path
There's no guarantee that you'll find Mac Word a suitable alternative - it
just depends on how severely you need the few things that may be less potent
or "among the missing". Odd you should mention PPt, though, because (to my
eyes, anyway) there are more/more glaring distinctions between the PC & Mac
versions than there are with Word or Excel

Perhaps I should have provided this link - especialy if you use a browser
rather than a newsreader:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=community

It links directly off the Mactopia site:

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