"Getting That File From a Mac to a PC"-January 1996
Contact: Mike DiFrisco, Creative Services Director, Financial Independence
Network Limited
310 Second St., Boscobel WI 53805 Tel:(608)375-3100 e-mail:DebtFree01@aol.com
It's a 90s version of Murphy's Law: your customer or client gives you an important file, but the files in a format your computer can't read. At one time, you had only one alternative: get a hard copy and start typing! Today, with a minimum of foresight, you can work around this situation. When transferring files across platforms,We have three separate issues to deal with disk formatting, name conventions, and file formats. As you'll soon discover, most of the work comes from the MAC side.
Disk Formatting
This one's easy: work with the DOS formatted disk.
MAC OS versions 7.1 and 7.5 can open and format DOS disks (When a Mac inserts
an unformatted disk in their floppy drive, they'll get a pull down menu
asking if they want to format in MAC, DOS or ProDos formats. In fact, I
keep some DOS formatted disks just for file transfer, and recommend MAC
users do the same.)
When a MAC user inserts a PC disk in their system, it opens just like a
MAC disk does. PC files will have a special icon with the word "PC"
on it. If you have a utility to recognize DOS extensions, such as Dayna's
DOS Mounter or Apple's PC Exchange, you can double click on it as you would
a MAC file. If not, you can open it from within the appropriate application
file. (As I'll explain in a second, the major business applications have
built in translation capabilities.) For PC users handing off a file to a
MAC user: disk formatting isn't a problem for you. A DOS disk formatted
on a MAC behaves exactly like the disks your format yourself:IF the MAC
user follows the next step and adheres to DOS naming conventions. If your
a MAC user, pay close attention to the next section. DOS users, please don't
skip it: I'll give you two valuable tips for correcting mistakes on the
MAC user's part.
What's in a Name?
Quite a bit when we're talking MAC and DOS. MAC files can have names up to 31 characters long. while DOS files have a eight character name followed by a three character extension. Therefore, once again, MAC users need to use the DOS convention. Furthermore, the three character extension in a DOS file name determines which applications can open the file (though this can be modified with the Windows "Associate" command in the File Menu.) Therefore, the MAC user should know what extension the DOS user needs to use. Again, the DOS user need not be concerned with file names-the MAC is perfectly happy with DOS file names. If the MAC user ignores the DOS conventions, all is not lost. DOS will read the first eleven characters of the MAC file name and make a DOS name and extension (for instance, the MAC file "Chuck Vermette's column" will be translated by DOS as CHUCKVER.MET.) IF that happens, the DOS user can give it a more appropriate name. Please also note another potential problem in this situation: if there's another file on the disk named "Chuck Vermette's Tirade", it will be given the same name. This is why the MAC user needs to be familiar with-and adhere to-the DOS file naming conventions. The most important concern of both MAC and DOS users are the file translation formats. Things can get complicated here unless we ask the right questions.
File Formats: What You Need to Know
Before doing a file transfer, both parties need to
know the following:
1.) Is it a text file that's being transferred? If so, is formatting important?
If not, SAVE THE FILE AS ASC II UNFORMATTED TEXT. Virtually any application
can read a text file. Even if formatting is important, it's still easier
to format text than it is to rekey it. Furthermore, formatting does NOT
come across over all translation. Again, wherever possible, use a text format
for transfers.
2.) Is it a spreadsheet or database format? If so, TAB DELIMITED TEXT can
be read by all spreadsheet and database applications.Make sure that tabs
are used to delimit fields and paragraph marks are used to delimit records.
You may need to rekey formulas. If so, ask the recipient of the file to
give you a printout of the formulas in a spreadsheet with their cell locations.
This will help you to rebuild the sheet. (Sorry, no quick fix here! Unlike
text, however, you can at least drop and drag spreadsheet formulas.)
3.) What applications will the file be transferred from and transferred
to? Most high level applications can read their competitors formats. For
Instance, Microsoft Word can read Word Perfect ,Word for Windows, RTF, and
MacWrite formats. Excel can read and open Lotus 1-2-3 sheets. If your application
can create a file in a format the other party can read, you're all ready
to do the transfer. The best situation, of course, is if you are both working
with the same application (i.e., you have Word for Windows and I have Word
for MAC.) These files transfer seamlessly across platforms. From firsthand
experience, I can vouch for the ability of Microsoft products to transfer
across platforms; Quark XPress will also open across platforms. DO KEEP
IN MIND that you need to be on the same VERSION of the program you are using.
Just as Word 5 for Windows can't open a Word 6 for Windows file, Word 5
for Windows can't open a Word 6 for MAC file. In this case, save the file
as text (or if possible, in a previous version of the program. Word 6 ,
for instance, allows you to save files in Word 5 format.) Working cross
platform has come a long way in the past two or three years. Two or three
years from now I don't think it will even be an issue. In the meantime,
don't let it keep you from getting an important client or missing an important
deadline.