A different equation opens in MathType than the one double-clicked in Word

Issue

After opening a previously saved Word file containing MathType equations, you double-click an equation to edit it. The equation that appears in MathType is different than the one you double-clicked in Word.

Reason

In any Microsoft Word document with MathType equations, two sets of data synchronize to make up the equation objects. Those two types of data are WMF data, which stands for Windows metafile, and MTEF, or MathType equation format data. Windows looks at the WMF data, and MathType looks at the MTEF data. Both types of data are synchronized under normal circumstances, but the data in the files you're working with has become unsynchronized or broken.

This is how the break-in data occurs…

When users copy equation objects from one Microsoft Word document to anotheror even copy and paste an equation object within a Word document, this can cause the problem. Microsoft Word will try its best to interpret both data sets but sometimes fails. It has trouble analyzing the MTEF data and breaks the equation object. It is best practice when copying an equation out of Word to open MathType via 'Insert Inline Equation' (or other commands), then paste the equation into MathType and close MathType. As a result, MathType will insert the equation into the Word document. The two data sets in Word are synchronized when inserted this way and tend to remain synchronized.

Solution

The best way to perform copy/paste operations and ensure these problems don't happen is to follow these steps when you want to re-use an equation in a document:

Note that generally, this is caused by copying a MathType equation from one place in a document and pasting it into another place in the document or a different document, then perhaps double-clicking to edit it. Therefore, following the process above is the best way to prevent this problem (copy the equation and paste it into MathType — do not paste it directly into Word).

Unfortunately, we have not found a way to repair or recover the affected equations. You must re-type the equations to correct them. This is an issue we continue to investigate, but so far, we know of no way to prevent this from happening, nor to recover the equations, except by following the steps above.

We hope this has been helpful. As always, please let us know if you have questions about this or if you have additional techniques that work. We'd love to hear from you.