February 2001 || Volume 01, Issue 07

Using Your Mac in a Windows World: Cross-Platform Tips, Tricks and Solutions.

Very rarely does it come up in conversations that I am a Mac user. Not because I am in ANY way ashamed, believe me, all six colors of the Apple spectrum run through my veins! It's just that it's never really an issue in my professional career. I work with individuals that use PC's, regularly collaborate on projects with individuals that solely use PC's, and receive, create, edit and transfer word processing documents, spreadsheets, graphics, etc., created on PC's.

In a Windows oriented world, our ability to open and use PC disks, files, and applications is a necessity. Couple that with having to share those files via the Internet and the occasional floppy and it's no wonder that novice Mac users pull their hair out. "But the Mac is supposed to be easier to use than Windows!"...they cry out as they lament their iMac purchase. The truth is that it's not easy to remain a Mac user in a PC world but it is possible.

The trick is knowing how to get over those occasional hurdles while training your PC friends, relatives, or peers. The trick is not to fool the individuals but to fool their computers. To make the PC realize that using a Mac file is no big deal. This article will cover what you can do to operate as a Mac user in a PC world.

Open Sesame

Most of the time, the "cross platform" problems we face are not because we are using a different platform, but because we are attempting to open files created in different versions of the same program. The rule of thumb is: An application can usually open documents created in an earlier version but not a later one. Since most of us use Word to transfer documents, you're pretty safe opening a Word 97 Document in Word 98 for the Mac, but you may get gibberish if you try it with Word 6.

Another reason we encounter problems is when we don't have the application that created the original document installed. The result ends up being that our Mac becomes confused and displays a "generic icon." When we encounter a generic icon, we can usually troubleshoot the problem by jogging the Mac's memory.

When in doubt, the Mac displays a "Generic" Icon.

Trouble? There's No Trouble:

Solution 1: Try installing the application that the file was created in, it's that simple.

Solution 2: Don’t freak out and just try to open the rogue file. PC Word 97 files open without any problems in Word 98 for the Macintosh, inclusive of formatting and embellishments. Just double click on the file to open it and you may be surprised to see that the file opens without a problem.

Solution 3: Let the program handle the conversion of the file. MS Word does a fairly good job of translating the files from other versions and programs but sometimes it needs for you to jog its memory. The best way to do this is to drag and drop the file into an icon of the application you want to open the file with. Remember to use your "handy drag and drop savvy launching bay" (refer to last issue's article: The Often Misunderstood Macintosh Finder, to set up your own launching bay).

Solution 4: You can also use a shareware application such as TypeShuffler to reassign the type and creator codes of a document. That way, you can simply double click on the document and it will open in the program you designate.

Drag your file onto TypeShuffler.

The dialogue window appears.

Select the format you want to change the file to (you can also add additional creators).

The file type is converted!

Solution 5: Convert the file yourself using a conversion program such as MacLink Plus which lets you translate PC documents into Mac documents, either individually or en masse, without having to open them first.

MacLink Plus makes file conversion a breeze!

Tools of the Trade

Know common PC extensions: When we deal with PC's we have to resign ourselves to the fact that everything is much more complicated than it really needs to be. With that in mind, we need to remember that the Windows OS relies on three character extensions to identify the file type. Familiarizing ourselves with the most common ones can save us a lot of grief. To us, a Word document named "The Human Genome Map" is just that, our Nobel prize winning discovery. More often then not, Windows needs the same file to be named "The Human Genome Map.doc" or better still "genome.doc", to avoid OS confusion issues. When transferring files between the Mac and the PC, err on the side of simplicity and use the 8 character.three letter extension naming convention, remembering to avoid spaces and the special characters: ?[]=+|<>;",

File Extension Reference Chart in printer friendly format.

Be Aware of New Releases: When a new version of a popular program is released, make a mental note of it. Remember, you can usually open files created in previous versions of a program, so opening a document created in PC Word 97 on a Mac running Word 98 is a usually isn't a problem. But if someday, Microsoft releases Word 2002 for the PC (likely sometime in 2011) and you still have Word 98, you may have difficulties opening those files.

Save to a Simpler Format: To ensure that your documents can be opened and viewed in just about any word processing application, be sure to save it in Rich Text Format (.RTF). This special cross platform file type preserves formatting across platforms and applications.

Saving your file in Rich Text Format is extremely simple and useful.

Use Currently Available Resources: If you have the Mac's File Exchange control panel installed (OS 8.5 and later) or Mac OS Easy Open (pre OS 8.5) you will no longer get cryptic error messages when you attempt to open a file whose program you may not have.

You can also join a local or Internet users group (check out the Macintosh Internet Users Group) or visit a MacWindows, a site totally dedicated to Macintosh-Windows integration solutions.

Apple's File Exchange Control Panel (OS 8.5 and later).

The PC Exchange tab, allows you to designate which program will open a file with a particular PC extension, and map additional PC extensions to Mac programs.	The File Translation tab allows you to configure alternate applications used to open files in the event you don't have the program that created the original document.

And when in doubt, your Mac gives you a very polite warning and dialogue box...."that's a good Mac"!

Exchanging Graphics Files: Aside from text files, the next most popular format to exchange are graphics files. The trick to sharing graphics files is to familiarize yourself with common file extensions and having a decent graphics editing program (such as Adobe Photoshop or the powerful shareware program, GraphicConverter) installed.

Common Windows graphics formats:

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Files: A common cross-platform Web format best limited to displaying 256 colors.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) Files: Another common cross-platform Web format, this format is usually used to display graphics with more than 256 colors, such as scanned photographs.

TIFF (Tag Image File Format) Files: A common format for exchanging raster (bitmap) images, such as those that result from scanning.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) Files: A format usually used by high resolution image-setters in the print world.

BMP (Bitmap) Files: The most common Windows graphics format. Hint: If you're sending a PC friend a graphics file, you may want to use this format.

Sharing Across "The Great Divide"

The Internet is a wonderful communications medium, designed to be cross-platform friendly, so that any computer connected can communicate with any other computer and share information. Ironically, it is this flexibility that usually causes the most problems. Have you ever received an attachment and scratched your head, wondering: "Now what the heck do I do with this?"

Know Your Formats and Extensions: I can not stress this enough my friends, that familiarizing yourself with common PC formats can save you from some of that head scratching. Remember, if you come across an unfamiliar format or extension it's OK to email the sender for clarification.

Use a Universal Format: Send word processing documents in Rich Text Format (.RTF) and remember to use three character extensions. You may also want to add a courtesy line in your email to your PC recipients so that they don't end up scratching their heads wondering what an .rtf file is, as many of them aren't familiar with the format. Also, if you know that the individual you are trading files with has the latest version of Word (and you don't), head the problem off a the pass and ask them to convert the files to .rtf format before sending them to you. They may end up scratching their heads and saying "huh?" but it's easier to guide them through a "save as" than it is to try to open an incompatible file. Think of it as a little bit of charity you're performing for the Windows community.

Compress the PC Way: If we want to save space and time when we transfer files over the Internet to our PC friends, we should compress or "stuff" them the PC way. Keep in mind that a file sent to the average Windows user in a standard Macintosh compression format (.sit or .sea) usually throws them into fits. Once afflicted, they can be found in the corner of their offices, sucking their thumbs while gently rocking back and fourth. To avoid them any additional trauma (remember, it's bad enough that they're using Windows) you may want to stuff your attachments in the less traumatic and PC friendly .zip format. You can check out Aladdin’s Stuffit Products or the freeware application MacZip for your zipping needs.

Pick a compression utility to .zip files for the "Platform Impaired".

Encoding 101

On the Internet, decompression is usually half of a download. The other half, encoding, usually presents a separate set of issues. Encoding a file (not to be confused with compressing a file) ensures that it will be transportable between different operating systems when sent over the Internet. Because each operating system has its own idea of how a file should be structured, encoding ensures that your recipient will receive the file in the format you intended (once decoded). Luckily, most email programs take care of decoding in the background.

Common Encoding formats:

.bin: Macbinary II, a standard Mac file encoding scheme (your best bet is to use this option to send files to users you KNOW are using a Mac).

.hqx: BinHex, another standard Mac file encoding scheme (again, use this option to send files to users you KNOW are using a Mac).

.MIME/Base 64: Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions. (Hint: This is one of the safest encoding schemes to use on files sent to Windows users).

.UUEncode: (A.K.A.Uuencode/Uudecode) Is a standard UNIX encoding format. (The format of choice in sending files to UNIX users).

Configure Your Email Program: Now that you have a better idea of what encoding is, the next step is to configure your email programs encoding preferences."Why do that", you ask? Well most Macintosh email programs are by default, configured to encode for the Mac OS. Consequently, corruption of the file usually occurs when their email program decodes the document. To avoid this, just set your preferences to encode in a PC encoding scheme and don't worry about your Mac recipients, they should have no problems with PC encoded files.

(For this example, I'll be configuring Outlook Express 5, so if you don't use OE, just poke around your email client's preferences, the process should be similar.)

Step 1: Launch IE, select Edit > Preferences, click on the compose tab and click the attachment options box.

Step 2: Select your encoding format. I leave mine set at Windows (MIME/Base64). This enables me to send attachments to PC users and Mac users alike.

Clean Up Those Nasty Characters: Programs often insert formatting and forwarding characters to documents and email messages. Cleaning them up by hand can be time consuming. Luckily, you can use MS Word's rectangular selection trick or a shareware application like TextSoap to straighten up the mess.

In MS Word, you holding down the Option Key and dragging downward with your mouse lets you select vertical lines to text.

Be All That You Can Be... Emulate

One of the simplest ways to open the occasional .exe program attachment is to use a PC Emulation program such as Connectix VirtualPC or FWB's SoftWindows. Even though emulation program hardware requirements are usually hefty and performance less than speedy, they serve as a economic alternative to buying a PC.

You can use VirtualPC to emulate a PC on your Mac.

When Only a Disk Will Do

From time-to-time, we need to transfer files the old fashioned way. Either by floppy disk (remember those?) or other removable media such as a Zip, Jaz, Orb or CD-ROM. Here are some quick tips to make those file transfers a bit easier.

Formatting and using PC floppies: Whenever possible, don't use the Mac's built in "Disk Formatting" feature. The results, in my experience, have been unpredictable and usually result in the dreaded Windows "My OS is too stupid to read this format correctly... do you want me to initialize this disk" dialogue.

Alternatively, just format a bunch of disks on a PC and set them aside for a rainy day. Writing onto these disks, however, usually isn't a problem because the Macintosh OS is "smart like that".

Avoid formatting PC floppies on your Mac, the results are unpredictable.

Using PC CD-ROMs: Again, reading a PC CD-ROM usually isn't an issue on a Mac as long as you've installed and configured the File Exchange control panel. Three extensions need to be present in order to ensure trouble free PC CD-ROM access: Foreign File Access, ISO 9660 File Access and High Sierra File Access. If you're having problems mounting PC CD-ROM's, you may want to double check your extensions folder to make sure that these are present.

Dual Format CDs: One of the reasons that Mac CD-ROM sales seem to be so "low" when compared to their Windows software counterparts is that many software companies place both a Mac and PC version of their programs on the same CD-ROM. These Dual CDs, or "hybrids", usually end up in the Windows software sections and the sale is rung up as a PC software sale. So the next time you're searching for that elusive Mac program, head over to the PC section and read the side of its PC counterpart. You may be surprised and find out that a Macintosh version is also included [Editor's Note: Remember to always fill out those registration cards, marking the Mac purchase, so that manufacturers know how many sales are actually going to Mac users].

Hasta La Proxima Vez! (Until next time)

The PC world would have us believe that we are second class citizens... we are Mac users. They try to convince us that if we were to "suddenly see the light" and buy a PC, we would be endowed with superhuman powers enabling us to map the human genome in our minds while running with the bulls in Pamplona. Love it or hate it, it is a Windows world, but by taking the time to learn a few tricks, we can occasionally visit Pamplona, get our jobs done, and return to a kinder, gentler, more logical place: The Macintosh Community.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to contact me with questions, comments, and suggestions for future articles.

José D. Morales - jose@macosjournal.com
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