Word 5.1a layout & columns

linguist1 · #1 January 22nd, 2007, 06:07 AM

Sorry to be posting, but I can't find anything about these problems on the web.

When I open my Word 5.1a documents in later versions of Word, the page layout is totally different. Namely, one page of text in Word 5.1a comes out as 1.5 pages in later versions. I can't seem to reproduce the "style" of Word 5.1a, but I know I can't use 5.1a any more, unfortunately. Does anyone know how I can tweak later versions of Word to mimic the Word 5.1a layout?

I'm also having *major* problems with my multi-column (4+ column) Word 5.1a documents. When I open them up in later versions of Word, they are all messed up. I tried re-creating the document in later versions from scratch, but the same content takes up way more space (maybe more than 3 times); I suspect this is related to my problem above. Help!! I have a huge number of catalog entries in multi-column documents, and I don't want to carry out many-times-longer printouts!

Thank you so much....

DeltaMac · #2 January 22nd, 2007, 07:57 AM

I just looked in my Word 2004. If you go to Word Preferences/compatibility - you will see a long list of items that you can check for compatibility with older versions of Word. Several are specifically for Word for Mac 5.
You can also just click the dropdown 'Recommended options for:' and choose Word for the Macintosh 5.x. The on-screen formatting changes instantly.
Hope this helps you.

MisterMe · #3 January 22nd, 2007, 09:11 AM

When you open a Word 5.1 document in Word 2004, it should "just work." Make sure that you check View>Page Layout.

DeltaMac · #4 January 22nd, 2007, 06:09 PM

Sure, an old Word doc will open, but being at least 5 Word generations old, there is noticeable changes to spacing and other formatting issues, especially table and columns. A complex layout will need some help, and the compatibility settings help with that.

MisterMe · #5 January 22nd, 2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

Sure, an old Word doc will open, but being at least 5 Word generations old, ...

As implied by my previous post, the OP's problems sound suspiciously like Word 2004 is set to open in Normal view rather than Layout view.

All Mac versions of Word have excellent conversion filters for previous formats. Unless the Word 5.1 documents were prepared by the dumbest user in the World, there should be no problem opening files in the older format. I have many such documents prepared by various authors. None of my older Word documents required more than minor tweaks when opened in any newer version Word:mac.