Playing nice with Windows, episode 1: Extensions

Today's article is geared toward those of us (you) who work with their Macs and frequently save files that they need to send to others, including Windows users.

In some cases, it is necessary to make a couple of small changes when sending out these files...the problem is with 'file extensions', and it is an age old issue.

For instance, when you create a Word document, it is saved as (for instance) 'mydocument.doc'. The '.doc' is the extension. In most Windows applications, that extension is necessary for the computer to know what program opens it (as opposed to your Mac, which uses the files metadata to associate it with an appropriate application).

This article will help you ease the pain of sending/receiving a file that needs to be used cross-platform. We'll be using Office 2004 applications as the example programs, but most software has similar settings.

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Part one - Fixing Entourage (in which we fix one of Entourages many flaws)
When sending an attachment using MS Entourage, the default action is to NOT append the file extension automatically. This behavior can be remedied though, by doing the following:

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  • Click the 'Entourage' menu (top left of your screen). Then choose 'Preferences'.
  • Using this screenshot as a guide, check/uncheck the appropriate boxes. Please note that there is a 'bonus' checkbox for you to uncheck, since you're in here, after all. This bonus will fix an annoying error about 'the name could not be found in the directory' you might get when you attempt to send email.
  • After closing 'Preferences', Entourage will automatically append the file extension to outbound attachments, assuming you have provided one or that the system knows what the default typically is (such as Word = .doc).

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