How do I keep the same layout between Pages & MS Word?

[19SK91]

So, I'd like to switch from MS Word to Pages but I have to work with one simple document layout all the time which I have to send other people to work with who only use MS Word. The layout consists of 2 columns, specific page margins and simple Arial text in Size 10. Most of the time I just need to write in one column and leave the other one empty so I just continue writing on the next page in the same column as before. Now I've tried to open one MS Word .docx document with said layout in Pages but end up not having full columns of text but three empty lines at the end before the next page begins. I've tried to tweak and compared (imo) every setting with MS Word, saved the document as .docx but when I open it in MS Word there's always something messed up. I just can't get one single simple document to display the same way in MS Work and Pages. Could anybody help or is there simply no way to make that happen and I have to stick with MS Word? Any help is highly appreciated!

 

[chscag]

My advice to anyone who has to exchange documents with others who use MS Office Word is to stick with Word and do not try to send them Pages documents saved as Word documents. I use both Pages and Word and while simple documents may exchange fairly well, complex documents do not.

 

[jpn]

unfortunately, if you are unfortunate enough to need to send MS Word formatted document to people for them to be able to edit, then get a copy of MS Word for mac an d use that (as has been already recommended by chscag.)

i learned long ago that sending exported MS versions of Pages and Keynote do not in any way look like I want them to.
I'm not complaining about this actually.
i prefer Pages, Keynote, and even Numbers, to the MS equivalents since the resulting documents look so much better, and is easier to take control of the creation process.
luckily for me, Numbers exported to Excel works well. and Excel is the only MS format that I am usually asked to share.
for word and presentation documents I just send PDF versions which look exactly what i want them to.

expression of your view point involves everything about the document.
not just fonts. but placement, spacing between lines, between words, columinzation, etc etc

 

[Sackofnickels]

Stick with Word. I work in a corporate environment where Microsoft Office is king. Even using the Mac version of Word, I still sometimes have issues with my PC coworkers. Especially if they are using an older version of Office. It has got a lot better over the years, but still sometimes things don't format the same way from the PC to Mac versions of Word. I tried using Pages in the past, but unless it has underwent a major overhaul and they fixed all the issues, I don't recommend it. But don't take my word for it, try sending some coworkers documents formatted in Word from Pages. You'll see what I mean pretty quick.

As to answering your question, I have found when using Pages, you sometimes have to tweak the margins slightly one way or the other, or move the indent, changing column sizes slightly, spacing, etc. It requires a bit of tweaking and then testing it in Word to see if it looks the same. Too much work IMO.

 

[kohlson]

Even using the Mac version of Word, I still sometimes have issues with my PC coworkers.

I kept a full Windows VM with the Windows Office installed, just so I could double-check what docs created with Mac versions would look like before circulating to clients and co-workers. Even with years of feedback loop, I would estimate 90+ percent of all documents I created on Mac had some formatting issues. Pages is hugely different.

 

[Sackofnickels]

I kept a full Windows VM with the Windows Office installed, just so I could double-check what docs created with Mac versions would look like before circulating to clients and co-workers. Even with years of feedback loop, I would estimate 90+ percent of all documents I created on Mac had some formatting issues. Pages is hugely different.

In what way? More compatible, less compatible?

 

[kohlson]

In what way?

Less compatible. Usually Office (Win and Mac) just has line break issues related to font metrics. As word processors have tried to become more like page layout programs, much is subject to interpretation. But the main point here is that even within the same company, the same product (at least the same product name...) produces different results. And it's not unusual for the "normal" template (normal.dot) to get changed, especially when passing around for review.

Anyway, in my experience, while there may be a few minor format issues between different flavors of Office, there have been major format issues when moving between Office and other, similar apps.

 

[19SK91]

Thanks everyone for their replies! I really wanted to go all in on Apple Software but was already expecting it to be impossible, so I will stick to Office for Mac 2016 for the time being.