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PC to MAC & office 2016 help

lakelandwarrior

lakelandwarrior

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 23, 2015
10
0
Hi all

New to this forum and seeking help

Have been working with windows for the last 14 years using Microsoft word, excel etc. and downloaded all my work onto an external hard drive before leaving. I have just purchased the 13" macbook pro along with office 2016.

Problem I now have is when the hard drive is plugged into the mac and I chose a word/excel file it won't open and allow me to work on this file.

Any help appriciaated as if I can't open and work on these files i'm in the proverbial mire.

Thanks in advance
 
Likely because your external drive is formatted with Microsoft's NTFS-filesystem. OSX only comes with read support for NTFS, not write. Either:
1. Reformat your external drive in Mac own file-system or exFat if you still need to work on it from windows.
2. Buy thirdparty NTFS write support. Tuxera or paragon. I prefer Tuxera
3. Copy your files into your machine and work on them there. (you can't copy them back again, unless you do either 1 or 2)
 
Significant1 said:
Likely because your external drive is formatted with Microsoft's NTFS-filesystem. OSX only comes with read support for NTFS, not write. Either:
1. Reformat your external drive in Mac own file-system or exFat if you still need to work on it from windows.
2. Buy thirdparty NTFS write support. Tuxera or paragon. I prefer Tuxera
3. Copy your files into your machine and work on them there. (you can't copy them back again, unless you do either 1 or 2)
Click to expand...
Thanks Significant1
Not really computer literate, but if i choose option 1. and reformat to exFat does that mean i can open all files on the external hard drive, work on them and send them on to others (others being PC users who will want to open what i have worked on in Mac and maybe do more work on the files themselves).

Thanks in advance
 
lakelandwarrior said:
Thanks Significant1
Not really computer literate, but if i choose option 1. and reformat to exFat does that mean i can open all files on the external hard drive, work on them and send them on to others (others being PC users who will want to open what i have worked on in Mac and maybe do more work on the files themselves).

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Yes, that should work. Both Windows and osx can read/write exFat.
 
Just so there's no confusion - and no unhappy surprises - you can't just change the format of the external drive with your files still in place.
You will need to back up (copy everything off that drive to other storage), then erase the drive (changing to another format), then copy everything back.
 
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Thanks DeltaMac

I'm getting there slowly - but surely with a little help along the way from all you guys :)
 
Just one other thing to clarify, with these options of software available and once chosen which software to use can I send the mac excel/word file to a PC user with the PC user being able to open and read/write the file without that person having to download or alter their computor settings.


Thanks in advance
 
lakelandwarrior said:
Just one other thing to clarify, with these options of software available and once chosen which software to use can I send the mac excel/word file to a PC user with the PC user being able to open and read/write the file without that person having to download or alter their computor settings.


Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
The only solution, which will affect a pc-user ability to read/write documents on your external drive, is formatting it in Mac own file-system (1a). Then pc-user will end up with similar problems, as you have now. So don't do that and they will not have to change a thing.
 
I think there's a little confusion. The format of your external drive will have ZERO impact on others you send files to through email or other means of communication. The only impact the drive format has is on the read/write on a local computer or using the drive itself to access the files.

If ONLY you need to access the drive and you've gone "all-in" on Mac, I think the best solution is to copy the files to another drive/location then format your external to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). As noted before, changing the format of a drive is a destructive process, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP!
 
Hi guys

Thanks for all the advice, I have downloaded Tuxera on a free trial and it is working, can open excel files work on them and send (I sent one to my phone to try and good). Should I go for the paid version as all seems spot in at this moment in time.
 
lakelandwarrior said:
Hi guys

Thanks for all the advice, I have downloaded Tuxera on a free trial and it is working, can open excel files work on them and send (I sent one to my phone to try and good). Should I go for the paid version as all seems spot in at this moment in time.
Click to expand...

As I noted, the only factor in sending files to others is what file type it is (XLSX, DOCX, PPTX in the case of Office) and if it's compatible with the version of office the receiver is using. The format of the drive the file is stored on will have ZERO impact on the receiver opening the file. By buying a 3rd-party application, you're adding a level of complexity that just isn't needed if the external drive isn't being used with anything other than a Mac.
 
Hi all

Signed up for Tuxera now and all seems fine, one thing I have noticed is when I open files in word that have a company logo picture the logo is just highlighted in black (no logo visable) any ideas why this doesn't highlight the logo, when in excel the logo is not there and text says "This image cannot currently be displayed"

Thanks in advance
 
lakelandwarrior said:
Hi all

Signed up for Tuxera now and all seems fine, one thing I have noticed is when I open files in word that have a company logo picture the logo is just highlighted in black (no logo visable) any ideas why this doesn't highlight the logo, when in excel the logo is not there and text says "This image cannot currently be displayed"

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
The picture might not be embedded into the document, but instead linking to an external file, which is either not present or no longer at the same location/path.
 
Significant1 said:
The picture might not be embedded into the document, but instead linking to an external file, which is either not present or no longer at the same location/path.
Click to expand...
Hi Significant1

Thanks and excuse my ignorance as don't really understand, is there a way round this or does it not matter.
 
lakelandwarrior said:
Hi Significant1

Thanks and excuse my ignorance as don't really understand, is there a way round this or does it not matter.
Click to expand...
Find the logo and add/replace it in the document's.

Without your document, it is difficult to know for sure what your problem is.
 
If that is YOUR company logo, then you might like to fix it. Use the logo in a format that the Mac version of Office will recognize. You'll have to experiment a little, probably just a very slight change.

You COULD post a file that should show the logo, here to this thread, and you will likely be surprised how quickly you will get your answer.
 
Just another word of caution - excel files written on a pc that have macros may be a problem. Some macros are written in VBA and they won't run on a mac. Or, at least I have several spreadsheets that will open on a mac - but I can't use the macros because they are in VBA. I have some really old spreadsheets that have macros written in excel 2003 (pre-vba) that run fine.
 
johnh57 said:
Just another word of caution - excel files written on a pc that have macros may be a problem. Some macros are written in VBA and they won't run on a mac. Or, at least I have several spreadsheets that will open on a mac - but I can't use the macros because they are in VBA. I have some really old spreadsheets that have macros written in excel 2003 (pre-vba) that run fine.
Click to expand...
I am no expert on this. But Excel 2011 has Visual Basic Makro editor. A lot of people are disappointed that Excel 2016 is still 32bit and that is blamed on no 64bit Visual Basic part on Mac. Again I am no expert and have done any Visual Basic coding in Office or anywhere.
 
"I am no expert on this. But Excel 2011 has Visual Basic Makro editor. A lot of people are disappointed that Excel 2016 is still 32bit and that is blamed on no 64bit Visual Basic part on Mac. Again I am no expert and have done any Visual Basic coding in Office or anywhere."

I'm more old school. I haven't written macros since the good old days when they were script. VBA is a foreign language to me, I wouldn't know where to even start.
 
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