When I send a Word document as an e-mail attachment, the receiver cannot open
the Word doucment unless she saves it first, then opens it directly from
Word.

Last week, when I created a document in Word, it saved as a Word document,
but a Word file I created yesterday is actually an application/octet-stream
document. What changed?

Yes, it would just be easiest if the receiver saved it and opened it, but
the receiver is a difficult person who likely won't be able to figure that
out when I try to explain it to her.

I have Office:Mac 2004

I think you are sending your attachments wrong.

First of all, for Mac questions it's best to ask on the Mac-specific
newsgroups.
See here for Google/Entourage gateway to newsgroups for MacWord, MacExcel,
and other MS programs for the Mac:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups

Second, re your question today: Word does not save as an application. I
think you have the attachment encoding in your email program set to send to
Mac computers rather than Windows, so you need to change the encoding (see
below). If you have further problems or questions with this, please post on
the MacWord newsgroup using the link above.

A Mac email program, Entourage, has this to say in Help:

About attachment encodings
When you choose an encoding format, it is helpful to understand how
Macintosh files differ from files created on other computers. Macintosh
files include additional resource information that files created on other
types of computers do not. If you are sending a data file, such as a
Microsoft Word document or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, such resource
information may not be necessary. However, if you are sending something more
complex, such as a program, to another Macintosh computer, you must choose
an encoding format that preserves all the data.
The AppleDouble encoding format preserves the additional resource
information, and can be read by both Macintosh and other types of computers.
AppleDouble is a good choice for your default encoding format; it works most
of the time with most computers. However, if AppleDouble fails, you can
choose a different encoding format depending on the type of computer you are
sending the attachment to:
€ To send an attachment to a Macintosh computer, use BinHex, which
preserves the Macintosh resource information and data.
€ To send an attachment to a Windows-based computer, use MIME/Base 64,
which preserves the data only.
€ To send an attachment to a UNIX computer, use UUEncode, which preserves
the data only.




On 11/18/05 1:36 PM, "rdiane1" wrote:

When I send a Word document as an e-mail attachment, the receiver cannot open
the Word doucment unless she saves it first, then opens it directly from
Word.

Last week, when I created a document in Word, it saved as a Word document,
but a Word file I created yesterday is actually an application/octet-stream
document. What changed?

Yes, it would just be easiest if the receiver saved it and opened it, but
the receiver is a difficult person who likely won't be able to figure that
out when I try to explain it to her.

I have Office:Mac 2004

--
Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word
Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/
MacWord Tips: http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/
What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Hi Diane:

"application/Octet stream" simply means that whatever you sent was sent in
MIME format. That is correct, and that's what you should be doing. If you
send it any other way, the recipient probably won't be able to open it at
all :-)

The problem is at the recipient's end (between her ears, but let's not go
there...). Tell her to consult her Help Desk. Microsoft Outlook, and many
antivirus programs, prevent users from opening various file types directly
from their email system.

That's because double-clicking a document in an email program is an
EXTREMELY dangerous practice :-) Users who do that are almost guaranteed to
have a virus within a week.

It's not your job to explain to the user that if she keeps trying that,
she'll be sacked. Let her Help Desk do that :-)

I strongly suggest that you do not change any settings, otherwise you will
have problems with any other users you email to. This is coming from a
Macintosh -- can you tell? No? Good... The first secret of successfully
using Office 2004 on the Mac is: don't TELL anyone that's what you're using.
If you say nothing, it will all work. If you tell them, users start doing
things "differently" and that's when you get problems :-)

Cheers

On 19/11/05 8:36 AM, in article
, "rdiane1"
wrote:

When I send a Word document as an e-mail attachment, the receiver cannot open
the Word doucment unless she saves it first, then opens it directly from
Word.

Last week, when I created a document in Word, it saved as a Word document,
but a Word file I created yesterday is actually an application/octet-stream
document. What changed?

Yes, it would just be easiest if the receiver saved it and opened it, but
the receiver is a difficult person who likely won't be able to figure that
out when I try to explain it to her.

I have Office:Mac 2004

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410