Why does my Microsoft Word document display differently on different computers?

This issue is bigger than Ben Hur and yet so few people know about it. As Leo has stated, printer and fonts can change the look when the document is opened on another computer. Problems due to printer characteristics are fairly easily fixed by setting the page setup on the target computer to be the same as that on the source computer. Fonts... well just stick to the common fonts on the source computer for maximal compatibility.

Other sources of major problems on target computers are 'styles', or lack of them, and 'lists'. It's beyond the scope of this brief comment here to explain why but they are the source of many problems. It's more noticeable in large documents because page numbers in cross references and table of contents are obviously wrong. On closer inspection you'll start to notice that lists are not always correct, more noticeable with numbered lists, and that some styles are no longer correct.

Word is not designed for handling large document collaboration, which includes sending clients reports. As Leo has suggested, create the PDF of your report and send that your client. If they want changes, have them communicate them back and you make the necessary changes and then PDF the revised report again. It's the only way that you can be absolutely certain that your client sees what you intended.

Hi, I would like to know how to change the font inside the comments locally. If I use the Format, Style and Formatting, this will change all the comments globally. I need to change the font just for one of the comments. Thanks for your advice.
Mioko

My sister's printer prints out everything but her website address on her works cited pages of her references. When she send it to me it comes out fine but won't print out for her. She has MS Word and uses a HP PC Please help
Thank you
J

I have two computers a laptop and a desktop. They both have Win XP and Office 2003 and were working fine. But recetly I bought a bigger HD to my desktop and reinstalled everything. Now the documents I write in my laptop look different in my desktop! Its driving me nuts as it was not happening before.

Same configuration of the paper layout, same printer, same style and type of word, same programs, etc. But the lay out is different! any clue?

i have a similar but bigger problem... the thing is that i installed the same font on 2 different machines (both with same os and software) the font is gill sans condensed, but it looks different on each one... the machines have exactly the same stuff and configuration... i even checked the screen dpi, the font smothness, etc but had no luck, anyone had this problem before? they look way too different, as if it was another font, but if i open a flash document, it would warn you if the font wasn't installed, but it doesn't (so this means that the font is installed) it just displays different... any clue?

I have found that even the same letter fonts within word vary from installation to installation. If you want to establish a estandar in portable documents definetely use PDF but if you MUST MUST be able to see a word document exactly as it is seen in another computer (because you have put a lot of work already fixing it and its too long) what you can do is in the original computer where the the documents looks right, go to c:/windows/fonts then copy all fonts and paste them to a pendrive. then go to the computer where the document is not been seen right and install all fonts anew. It will say that some fonts are already installed, its ok if you do not install them and install everything else. This way you ensure that every font used in the original computer is also in the other one and no sustitue is being used. Good luck!
PS: I have tried this several times and is the only solution I have found for this problem so far.

My problem is similar but it happens when the same printer is used and different pcs. We have several word docs that are the direction inserts for the products we make. They were all created with Word XP and all are formatted to fit to 2 pages. We got 2 new Dell Optiplex pcs last year. No problem. We got 2 new Dell Vostro pcs in April. No problem. We upgraded to Word 2003 in June. There is no problem with the new pcs but on the old pcs, the direction inserts spread to more than 2 pages, a lot more. The pcs are networked and they are all accessing the same files. They all run Windows XP home edition. When you print the insert from the old pc it is evident that the font looks a little bigger. Of course we could change the formatting but then, when printed from the new pcs the text would be too small. It’s the same story whether we print to local printer or network printer.

Any help would be appreciated.

The problem we are having is that 2 computers in our house are viewing special characters differently. For my job we use the plus minus sign a lot. One one computer it works fine, the other computer it appears like an upside down A. They both have word 2003, they both have windows XP and they both use the same printer. So, what is causing this and is there a way to rectify the problem?

I am just in the process of having a website designed and when I view the website on my desktop it looks fine. Everything is aligned, pictures and tables where they are suppose to be, but when I look at it on my office computer or home laptop, it looks a mess with the tables all distorted and pictures smaller and overlapping. The programmer is telling me there is nothing she can do about that....this seems strange considering I see everyone elses websites and they look consistent. I'm thinking she doesn't have the experience to do the website. I sent her a 22 page PowerPoint presentation to use for the web design layout, but I'm not sure of what software she is using to to convert the Powerpoint file to a website. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm really concerned about how unprofessional the site is going to look,

I have installed MS 2007 home/studen on 2 computers in my home; a desktop and a laptop. The programs do not even have all the same fonts. The laptop has some fonts that the desktop doesn't have and visa versa. Both systems are running Vista and both were installed with the same disk. I have also seen many occasions where the document comes through totally different.
My daughter often does her homework of the laptop the send me the things she needs printed. We almost always have to revise to document before printing, due to changes in layout and fonts. It is very frustrating.