Disappearing Text; Problem Comparing

[Dan Clore]

Word 2000

Two related questions:

I've been working on a large file for years. I recently discovered that
some text that I had entered was for some reason not in the file. I know
that the text had been in the file in the past.

What might have happened and how can one prevent this problem?

Second, I have a version of the file that I saved several months ago as
an extra backup. This *does* have at least one piece of text missing
from the more recent version. I attempted to compare the two versions in
the hopes of finding at least some of the other things that have
disappeared (some might be more recent), but after a short way into the
file, it labels everything as deleted from the older version. What might
the problem be here and how can one get compare to work correctly?

(This is a very distressing problem, as this is a *very* large file and
I only discovered by chance that some of it has disappeared. It is not
as if I can simply read it through, see what's missing, and enter it again.)

--
Dan Clore

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-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Dan

Word 2000

Two related questions:

I've been working on a large file for years. I recently discovered that
some text that I had entered was for some reason not in the file. I know
that the text had been in the file in the past.

What might have happened and how can one prevent this problem?

you might have

- accidentally deleted the text
- written the text while using TrackChanges and either rejected this
change later on or display a different view
- a corrupt document

In any case, if you're really working on a document for years, you had
better follow a pedantic backup strategy. Then you could search for this
text in all your versions. If it's really not in any, chances are it
never was.

Second, I have a version of the file that I saved several months ago as
an extra backup. This *does* have at least one piece of text missing
from the more recent version. I attempted to compare the two versions in
the hopes of finding at least some of the other things that have
disappeared (some might be more recent), but after a short way into the
file, it labels everything as deleted from the older version. What might
the problem be here and how can one get compare to work correctly?

With long files, Word's compare feature doesn't seem to be all that up
to the task (which is not an easy one, granted).

(This is a very distressing problem, as this is a *very* large file and
I only discovered by chance that some of it has disappeared. It is not
as if I can simply read it through, see what's missing, and enter it
again.)

See above: important and long file, long duration of editing --> you
basically want to save to a new file at least every day you're working
on this file.

0.2cents
Robert