Windows Font Compatibility

Question

Let's assume I'm using the latest version of Microsoft Word for Mac and my document will be later viewed on Windows 8.1 using the latest version of Microsoft Word. How do I know what fonts to use and what to avoid, so that my document looks the same way on both ends? Is there any compatibility mode or something?

Answer 1

You can refer to my font chart of useful Office fonts: Useful Office Fonts A font that has checkmarks in all columns is available on all platforms.

Answer 2

When you open Word, you should open to Home tab on the Ribbon. The ribbon shows just above the ruler (if turned on)and has series of tabs if I were on my computer and not my iPad, I could insert a screenshot. Hope this helps.

"Sent using a 12.9 inch iPad Pro."

Answer 3

On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click the ⍌ then point to Font Collections [it should be at the very top of the menu]. Then point to Windows Office Compatible & select from there.

Answer 4

When you open the Font list on the Ribbon...

What do you mean exactly?

Answer 5

When you open the Font list on the Ribbon, point to Font Collections, then to the listing for Windows Compatible Fonts. As long as you use those there should not be any font compatibility issues.

This guide was published for Office 2011 but most of it still is pertinent. The main difference is that Office 2016 does not provide a Compatibility Checker as referred to in the article: **Best practices for working with Windows** - Word **for**...

Keep in mind, though, that you never have absolute control over how any Word document will display on another computer. Not to be an alarmist, but there are numerous variables involved. As long as the document is properly constructed there should be few issues & they should be minor.

Unless the document is to be revised by the recipient the best practice is to send a PDF rather than the Word document file. If the recipient must be able to revise it, send a PDF along with it.