Converting Word templates into Wore Documents? (Mac)

[Salmon Egg]

Somehow I created Word templates when I wanted a vanilla document. Whenever
I create a new document as a modification of this, I get another template
even though I select Word Document from the Options menu in the save window.
Microsoft Help is useless. Ot os even difficult to find good definitions
that distinguish a template from a run of the mill Word document. Help?

Bill

 

[Elliott Roper]

Somehow I created Word templates when I wanted a vanilla document. Whenever
I create a new document as a modification of this, I get another template
even though I select Word Document from the Options menu in the save window.
Microsoft Help is useless. Ot os even difficult to find good definitions
that distinguish a template from a run of the mill Word document. Help?

That's right. Once a template always a template. On the Mac, to create
a document based on your favourite template, you should open it through
your project gallery.

Microsoft help is useless?
I couldn't agree more.

Things go better if you move your template to wherever Word thinks your
templates should be.

I shudder to say so, but that is usually in the cringe-ingly named My
Templates folder. Use Word prefs » file locations to discover where you
and the Borg have decided between you to hide them.

Have a look at the save-as dialog. If the stupid thing is suggesting it
ought to be a .dot, then it probably *is* a template.

The whole set-up is broken, ugly, and anti-intuitive.

 

[Salmon Egg]

That's right. Once a template always a template. On the Mac, to create
a document based on your favourite template, you should open it through
your project gallery.

Microsoft help is useless?
I couldn't agree more.

Things go better if you move your template to wherever Word thinks your
templates should be.

I shudder to say so, but that is usually in the cringe-ingly named My
Templates folder. Use Word prefs » file locations to discover where you
and the Borg have decided between you to hide them.

Have a look at the save-as dialog. If the stupid thing is suggesting it
ought to be a .dot, then it probably *is* a template.

The whole set-up is broken, ugly, and anti-intuitive.

Thanks for the answer. You point out the basis for my love/hate relationship
with Microsoft. Lately, the emphasis is on hate.

Older versions of Word seemed much more suited to my limited usage. Every
time new features are added something else gets screwed. In particular, I
used to make mailing labels using Word taking data from an Excel database.
After Word was updated, I could no longer figure out how to do what was
previously easy to do. Printing labels was an adventure every time.
Fortunately, I do not need to prepare those labels any more.

I would be willing to buy stuff from Microsoft if they get rid of their bugs
and leave out new features.

Bill

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I would be willing to buy stuff from Microsoft if they get rid of their bugs
and leave out new features.

But how *much* would you pay for bug fixes? Most people expect them for
free...

 

[Salmon Egg]

But how *much* would you pay for bug fixes? Most people expect them for
free...

I would not want to pay much but I would pay. The way it works now,
Microsoft gets rid of some bugs, and plenty of new ones, obfuscates any
instructions, adds plenty of useless features, and charges a pretty penny
for the upgrade.

Bill

 

[Elliott Roper]

On 8/9/07 3:25 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "JE McGimpsey"

I would not want to pay much but I would pay. The way it works now,
Microsoft gets rid of some bugs, and plenty of new ones, obfuscates any
instructions, adds plenty of useless features, and charges a pretty penny
for the upgrade.

Ah! So the mis-spelling in the subject was carefully crafted?

That is a pretty accurate description of Microsoft's upgrade model.
Sadly, it is endemic in much of the toy computer industry.

While enough customers put up with it, the supplier makes far more
money than he would by shipping good stuff.
Your alternatives are LaTeX, the various Open Office implementations
and now Pages.
You can see why Microsoft appears to think they can milk the old cow
for a few more years without trying too hard.
I know there are excellent programmers inside Microsoft who would be
saddened if not offended by this characterization of their work. As
customers, it is in our interests to ensure their work is 'heard' and
appreciated whenever we see it.

This newsgroup is a good place to do some of that.

 

[Phillip Jones]

Ah! So the mis-spelling in the subject was carefully crafted?

That is a pretty accurate description of Microsoft's upgrade model.
Sadly, it is endemic in much of the toy computer industry.

While enough customers put up with it, the supplier makes far more
money than he would by shipping good stuff.
Your alternatives are LaTeX, the various Open Office implementations
and now Pages.
You can see why Microsoft appears to think they can milk the old cow
for a few more years without trying too hard.
I know there are excellent programmers inside Microsoft who would be
saddened if not offended by this characterization of their work. As
customers, it is in our interests to ensure their work is 'heard' and
appreciated whenever we see it.

This newsgroup is a good place to do some of that.

Are their any employees that know how to do original code at MS?

everyone knows every piece of software in MS arsenal started out life as
something created by someone else and the either shadily (Though we
can't say stolen), or legitimately acquired. This even down to the DOS
they started out with. Is there really anyone that can actually design
really truly new code no one else has used.

But Ms is not the only one that uses this model of for every 10 bugs in
one release that is fixed there are 20 new ones in the new upgrade.
Intuit has learned well from MS. Intuits' Quicken the very first version
they ever designed was and is the most bug free version they ever put
out. Sad to say they built on the bugs with each new version . It
usually takes up to at 4 revision to work around the bugs, some years
its been up to r6.

So MS doesn't have this feature cornered!
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
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Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[Elliott Roper]

Are their any employees that know how to do original code at MS?

Phillip! You are being curmudgeonly.
I know two of them personally. One is probably the best programmer on
the planet. The other is not *that* far behind.

 

[John McGhie]

Hey Phillip:

You wouldn't be behaving like a journalist and making things up, now would
you??

Microsoft does more pure research than any other software company. It not
only invents new applications from time to time, it has also created some of
the standards and methodologies by which the largest majority of software
developers work these days.

On the other hand, it does have a large cheque book, and if someone else
comes up with a better idea, it's not shy about buying it.

Cheers

Are their any employees that know how to do original code at MS?

everyone knows every piece of software in MS arsenal started out life as
something created by someone else and the either shadily (Though we
can't say stolen), or legitimately acquired. This even down to the DOS
they started out with. Is there really anyone that can actually design
really truly new code no one else has used.

But Ms is not the only one that uses this model of for every 10 bugs in
one release that is fixed there are 20 new ones in the new upgrade.
Intuit has learned well from MS. Intuits' Quicken the very first version
they ever designed was and is the most bug free version they ever put
out. Sad to say they built on the bugs with each new version . It
usually takes up to at 4 revision to work around the bugs, some years
its been up to r6.

So MS doesn't have this feature cornered!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones]

Not not really.

I'm Glad to her they've hired two programmers that can knows how to
create bug free new code.

I hope they are working the MacBU section

Phillip! You are being curmudgeonly.
I know two of them personally. One is probably the best programmer on
the planet. The other is not *that* far behind.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

Afraid not.

Hey Phillip:

You wouldn't be behaving like a journalist and making things up, now would
you??

Microsoft does more pure research than any other software company. It not
only invents new applications from time to time, it has also created some of
the standards and methodologies by which the largest majority of software
developers work these days.

On the other hand, it does have a large cheque book, and if someone else
comes up with a better idea, it's not shy about buying it.

Or taking it over .

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Elliott Roper]

Not not really.

I'm Glad to her they've hired two programmers that can knows how to
create bug free new code.

Phillip, you *are* being silly. Microsoft has thousands of excellent
programmers writing new code. They pay a lot of attention to making
sure it is good too. My sample of two was meant to indicate that really
great programmers are not all that short of equally talented company.

You just don't have a clue how the big software biz works.

Many of them can type accurately, and string grammatical sentences
together too.

 

[Phillip Jones]

Phillip, you *are* being silly. Microsoft has thousands of excellent
programmers writing new code. They pay a lot of attention to making
sure it is good too. My sample of two was meant to indicate that really
great programmers are not all that short of equally talented company.

You just don't have a clue how the big software biz works.

Many of them can type accurately, and string grammatical sentences
together too.

left out a slash didn't I?

should have been:


I'm Glad to her they've hired two programmers that can/knows how to
create bug free new code.

I wish I were being funny.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

Oh, you *were* being funny: you were repeating one of the industry standard
jokes. There is no such thing as "bug free code". At least, not for any
piece of code complex enough to actually do something useful.

The industry has been claiming that bug free code is possible for decades.
It isn't, and never will be. That's the joke!

At least, there will never be bug-free code unless you can get 500-million
people all over the world to AGREE exactly on what they want Word to DO, and
be prepared to pay a price that would even frighten the Defence Department
for each copy of Word.

The rest of us tightwads will continue to blame Microsoft every time we
screw up and wreck our documents. Have you any idea how much trouble my
career would be in if everyone knew that Word never made mistakes so I had
nothing else to blame??

Cheers

left out a slash didn't I?

should have been:


I'm Glad to her they've hired two programmers that can/knows how to
create bug free new code.

I wish I were being funny.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]