Naming files for use on PC and Mac

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Lauren

In our orgainzation, we have copywriters that use PCs with
operating systems like Windows 98, 2000, and XP. Everyone
uses Word 2002. The writers give their Word documents to
Art Directors who use Mac OS X. Sometimes the Art
Directors will open the Word files through their version
of Word which runs in the Classic environment (not Office
X). If the copywriters need to go back into the file, the
name is significantly shortened to almost like shorthand
which is hard to tell which file is the correct one. Do we
need to tell our PC users to keep names to only 8
characters to avoid cross platform confusion or is there
another way to combat this? I appreciate any help with
this.

Thanks,
Lauren
 
[cross-posting to MacWord group for extra input, initial comments below]

In our orgainzation, we have copywriters that use PCs with
operating systems like Windows 98, 2000, and XP. Everyone
uses Word 2002. The writers give their Word documents to
Art Directors who use Mac OS X. Sometimes the Art
Directors will open the Word files through their version
of Word which runs in the Classic environment (not Office
X). If the copywriters need to go back into the file, the
name is significantly shortened to almost like shorthand
which is hard to tell which file is the correct one. Do we
need to tell our PC users to keep names to only 8
characters to avoid cross platform confusion or is there
another way to combat this? I appreciate any help with
this.

Thanks,
Lauren
Click to expand...

How long are these filenames? Anything below 31 characters should not
create a problem, and I thought that longer names would still be preserved,
just not show up on the Mac. Are you sure the Art Directors aren't changing
the filenames?
 
Yep, that's correct. Old Mac OS has a limit of 31 characters to a file
name. Tell your art people to go up to Word 2004, it has full file names.


[cross-posting to MacWord group for extra input, initial comments below]

In our orgainzation, we have copywriters that use PCs with
operating systems like Windows 98, 2000, and XP. Everyone
uses Word 2002. The writers give their Word documents to
Art Directors who use Mac OS X. Sometimes the Art
Directors will open the Word files through their version
of Word which runs in the Classic environment (not Office
X). If the copywriters need to go back into the file, the
name is significantly shortened to almost like shorthand
which is hard to tell which file is the correct one. Do we
need to tell our PC users to keep names to only 8
characters to avoid cross platform confusion or is there
another way to combat this? I appreciate any help with
this.

Thanks,
Lauren
Click to expand...

How long are these filenames? Anything below 31 characters should not
create a problem, and I thought that longer names would still be preserved,
just not show up on the Mac. Are you sure the Art Directors aren't changing
the filenames?
Click to expand...

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410
 
Thanks for both of your responses.

I will check on the length of the file names. I am
actually surprised that 31 characters will be preserved!

The Art Directors who work with us wouldn't knowingly
change the file names. However, I will double check with
them.

Thanks again.
Lauren
-----Original Message-----
Yep, that's correct. Old Mac OS has a limit of 31 characters to a file
name. Tell your art people to go up to Word 2004, it has full file names.


[cross-posting to MacWord group for extra input, initial comments below]

In our orgainzation, we have copywriters that use PCs with
operating systems like Windows 98, 2000, and XP. Everyone
uses Word 2002. The writers give their Word documents to
Art Directors who use Mac OS X. Sometimes the Art
Directors will open the Word files through their version
of Word which runs in the Classic environment (not Office
X). If the copywriters need to go back into the file, the
name is significantly shortened to almost like shorthand
which is hard to tell which file is the correct one. Do we
need to tell our PC users to keep names to only 8
characters to avoid cross platform confusion or is there
another way to combat this? I appreciate any help with
this.

Thanks,
Lauren
Click to expand...

How long are these filenames? Anything below 31 characters should not
create a problem, and I thought that longer names would still be preserved,
just not show up on the Mac. Are you sure the Art Directors aren't changing
the filenames?
Click to expand...

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

.
Click to expand...
 
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