Format Stability from Mellel to Mellel?

[Markus]

I have sent a Mellel-File (about 300 pages with quite komplex formatting) written with Mellel 2.2.5 to someone, who still uses Mellel 2.1
No I get the report from him, that the format doesn't look the same anymore after his has opened my fille (compared to the same pdf file version, which I have also send to him). For instance the page-breaks are now at other places, which of course changes the whole outlook.... Is there a problem using different Mellel-Versions or using Mellel in different OS X Versions (I use 10.4, he still uses 10.2). Thanks for any insight about this.
Markus

[Reiner]

First of all on both macs the same used fonts have to be installed.

[Markus]

There is only one font used (Helvetia New) in that file, which is a standard font on both computers.

[Reiner]

next I would try what happens if the latest Mellel-versions run on both Macs.

Another thing which could be the reason for different line- and page-breaks are different hyphenation dictioaries, if hyphenation is used at all.

[Markus]

Thanks for your next suggestion, Reiner. But this is not done so easily as the other computer is in Indonesia running on OS 10.2 and Mellel 2.1 and at this time it is not possible to get it upgraded by now (many there are happy to get a 50kb email downloaded in 20 Minutes by the download capacities available there...)
Anyway what I dont' understand: I have sent this file with a template attached to, where hyphenation was activated. Why should this be an issue? Am I wrong in my assumption that Mellel from the other computer just takes over that format, including the hyphenation and language setting for that specific document received? (I have to add, both mellel versions use German setting).
Thanks for further insights. Markus

[Reiner]

hyphenation dictionaries are saved at ~/Library/Application Support/Mellel/Hyphenation Dictionaries

If you don't use the same the same hyphenation dic it is possible that line- and page-breaks are different because the hyphenation is not saved within the document but is done when Mellel displays a file.

[redlers]

I have sent a Mellel-File (about 300 pages with quite komplex formatting) written with Mellel 2.2.5 to someone, who still uses Mellel 2.1
No I get the report from him, that the format doesn't look the same anymore after his has opened my fille (compared to the same pdf file version, which I have also send to him). For instance the page-breaks are now at other places, which of course changes the whole outlook.... Is there a problem using different Mellel-Versions or using Mellel in different OS X Versions (I use 10.4, he still uses 10.2). Thanks for any insight about this.
Markus

That may be a problem with hyphenation dictionaries, although it is fairly likely that there may be a problem of default page size configured differently.

[Eyal Redler]

It is perfectly normal for documents to appear a bit differently on different versions of Mellel because we made some changes that affect the pagination and other formatting aspects between Mellel 2.1 and 2.2.5, for example, we changed the behavior of combining space above and below paragraphs, made citations break over lines and more.

Also note that if you open and save a Mellel 2.2.5 document with Mellel 2.1 you might lose some of the Mellel 2.5.5 features like formatted citations, markers and so on...

[Markus]

Thanks Eyal, this makes many things clear to me. Is that always the case with new upgrades, or was this something only between 2.1 and 2.2 ?
Markus

[Eyal Redler]

Thanks Eyal, this makes many things clear to me. Is that always the case with new upgrades, or was this something only between 2.1 and 2.2 ?
Markus

Most changes we make don't affect old layout because when we add an option we usually have a "none" state for which is the default but sometimes there's no way to avoid such changes as was the case with 2.2 which added formatted citations that can break across lines and 2.2.5 which changed the way space above and below are calculated (my guess is that this is the cause for the significant differences).
At any rate we are aware that this might cause people trouble and try to avoid it is much as possible but we wouldn't want to have these considerations stand in our way to make Mellel a better program.