Microsoft releases OOXML Word 2007/2008-to-RTF converter for Mac OS X; no Excel, PowerPoint or macro support yet

Microsoft has released a long-awaited Mac OS X-compatible drag-and-drop OOXML converter (which can convert Word 2007 for Windows and Word 2008 for Mac OS X [when released]) documents to RTF (rich-text-format) documents, readable by Word 2004, Word v.X and other applications.

Currently, the converter provides read-only access to Office Open XML files in the following formats (which are converted to RTF):

• Word Document (*.docx)
• Word Macro-Enabled Document (*.docm)

A full converter, which will translate OOXML Excel and PowerPoint files will not be released until this Summer.

The Microsoft MacBU says users might experience the following issues with this initial release:

• Graphics and other objects in the document might appear with a different size.
• Color fills and shading in tables might not be preserved.
• Conversion might not succeed if the document contains a bibliography or citations.
• Conversion might not succeed if the document contains WordArt.
• Document layout and formatting might not be preserved.
• Some Unicode characters might not be preserved.
• Conversion might not succeed if the document contains very large pictures.
• Conversion might not succeed if you use an SMB network volume as the preferred destination for converted files.
• Picture bullets might not be preserved.
• Fonts might be substituted.

Additionally, macros and Visual Basic content are not included in the converted file. This may change when the final converter is released, as Microsoft representatives previously confirmed to MacFixIt that macros would indeed survive the translation process offered by a converter.

Further, charts and SmartArt graphics are converted to pictures with this release.

The new release is available as a 24.9 MB standalone download.

For more coverage of this issue, see these articles:

• Keeping Visual Basic macros in Office for Mac OS X: Microsoft says macros will survive translation
• Office 2004 with Open XML converters may be the most cross-platform compatible edition of Office -- even after Office 2008 ships
• Unofficial converter for Word 2007 documents released
• Working with Office 2007 documents under Mac OS X: Extracting text from .docx files, more
• Microsoft Mac BU: Office 2007 file converters for Mac OS X due in Spring '07; new Mac Office will natively read new formats

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