document layering

[DavoD]

word 2008 - why can't I click on a document window in a pile of them to make it active?!!!!
(I am using spaces)
And when I go back to word the doc I last worked on is no longer at the top.
I can go to windows and recent files and select a doc and it still stays behind others.
The ones in front stay greyed out and don't move.
I am going Pages next week if I can't get this to work.
And all my clients with 2004 can't read .docx files. Fun.

 

[John McGhie]

Because you are using Spaces

Sorry: Spaces are broken for Word and some other applications.

We're waiting on a patch.

There is a free converter your clients can (and should...) download from the
Microsoft/mac website that will enable them to read (and edit!) .docx files.

Cheers

word 2008 - why can't I click on a document window in a pile of them to make
it active?!!!!
(I am using spaces)
And when I go back to word the doc I last worked on is no longer at the top.
I can go to windows and recent files and select a doc and it still stays
behind others.
The ones in front stay greyed out and don't move.
I am going Pages next week if I can't get this to work.
And all my clients with 2004 can't read .docx files. Fun.

--
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/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

And all my clients with 2004 can't read .docx files. Fun.

You do know you can change the default file format in Preferences?

 

[MC]

You do know you can change the default file format in Preferences?

How hard would it have been to make .docx backward compatible, I wonder?

It's clearly an issue. My major clients aren't up tospeed on this, and
probably wouldn't take too kindly to being asked to install a patch to
accommodate me. They expect me to give them what they want without
jumping through a single hoop. And I aims to please if I wants to get
paid!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

How hard would it have been to make .docx backward compatible, I wonder?

I believe they *have* promised an update to Office 2004 that will let it
read and write .docx. But it will probably have to wait until .docx,
..xlsx, and whatever the new PPT format is, are ready--and the current
beta convertor doesn't handle .xlsx. Hard to tell whether the 2008 or
2004 update would be higher priority.

I suspect that making .docx backward compatible such that Word 2004
could open it as if it were a .doc would have sacrificed all the
advantages of moving to a new file format.

 

[MC]

How hard would it have been to make .docx backward compatible, I wonder?

I believe they *have* promised an update to Office 2004 that will let it
read and write .docx. But it will probably have to wait until .docx,
.xlsx, and whatever the new PPT format is, are ready--and the current
beta convertor doesn't handle .xlsx. Hard to tell whether the 2008 or
2004 update would be higher priority.

I suspect that making .docx backward compatible such that Word 2004
could open it as if it were a .doc would have sacrificed all the
advantages of moving to a new file format.[/QUOTE]

That would all seem to make sense.

Just out of curiosity, is there a site somewhere that explains all the
advantages?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Just out of curiosity, is there a site somewhere that explains all the
advantages?

Good question. No idea. Google turns up a bunch of different people
discussing it. Here's the first hit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jun/21/comment.comment1

I'm actually willing to trust that any file format developed in 2005 is
more reliable and powerful than one developed in 1995, even if it means
trusting MS.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi MC:

How hard would it have been to make .docx backward compatible, I wonder?

It is.

That's what the converter DOES. It's an external application that enables
any 32-bit version of any Office application (basically, anything younger
than Word 5.1) to read and write .docx.

It's clearly an issue. My major clients aren't up tospeed on this, and
probably wouldn't take too kindly to being asked to install a patch to
accommodate me.

Try them. I suspect you will find they have the patch already (and most of
them don't even know it). Windows machines were updated automatically about
12 months ago.

If they haven't got it, Windows will go and get it automatically. On the
Mac, if they have Software Update turned off, you may need to provide the
URL for them to go and get it.

You should alert them to the fact that sometime in the next five years or so
(probably sooner...) EVERY Word document will be in .docx format. They can
choose how many times they want to have a problem before they solve it once
and for all by installing the free converter. Or they could upgrade Office
and it will have the converter built-in.

They expect me to give them what they want without
jumping through a single hoop. And I aims to please if I wants to get
paid!

You have that problem too, huh?

The reason Microsoft switched file formats is to stop the crashes and
corruptions we get in the .doc format. If they could have made the .doc
format support all the modern widgets we want to put in it these days, they
would. But it's a bridge too far. The design of the format just can't
reliably handle the things we want to put in documents these days. They
tried

Hope this helps

--
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/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[MC]

It's clearly an issue. My major clients aren't up tospeed on this, and
probably wouldn't take too kindly to being asked to install a patch to
accommodate me.

Try them. I suspect you will find they have the patch already (and most of
them don't even know it). Windows machines were updated automatically about
12 months ago.

If they haven't got it, Windows will go and get it automatically. On the
Mac, if they have Software Update turned off, you may need to provide the
URL for them to go and get it.

You should alert them to the fact that sometime in the next five years or so
(probably sooner...) EVERY Word document will be in .docx format. They can
choose how many times they want to have a problem before they solve it once
and for all by installing the free converter. Or they could upgrade Office
and it will have the converter built-in.

They expect me to give them what they want without
jumping through a single hoop. And I aims to please if I wants to get
paid!

You have that problem too, huh? [/QUOTE]

Yes... and a I'm 1-man business working for a billion-dollar
corporation.

I *should* tell them, sure, if I could even find the person responsible,
but in the meantime I will hear from the people commissioning me -- all
on severe deadlines -- saying "I couldn't open your file."

When they get to the point where all docs have to be docxs I'm sure
their IT people will handle it.

Until then, I'll let 'em have the docs.

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah, well, I am happily spraying .docx files around to my clients, many of
whom are Crusty Old Blue Chips with IT Departments that make Guantanamo Bay
seem like a holiday camp.

So far, I have not experienced much of a problem. The ability to handle
..docx is much more widespread than many people think.

But whatever you SEND, you should keep the master in .docx. It's a lot more
rugged and less prone to corruption.

Then again, I suppose we could mischievously suggest that the time to find
out which file format the client can cope with would be at the "start" of
the project. But hell, we wouldn't want to set any precedents like that:
they might start to expect it, yeah?

Cheers

Try them. I suspect you will find they have the patch already (and most of
them don't even know it). Windows machines were updated automatically about
12 months ago.

If they haven't got it, Windows will go and get it automatically. On the
Mac, if they have Software Update turned off, you may need to provide the
URL for them to go and get it.

You should alert them to the fact that sometime in the next five years or so
(probably sooner...) EVERY Word document will be in .docx format. They can
choose how many times they want to have a problem before they solve it once
and for all by installing the free converter. Or they could upgrade Office
and it will have the converter built-in.


You have that problem too, huh?

Yes... and a I'm 1-man business working for a billion-dollar
corporation.

I *should* tell them, sure, if I could even find the person responsible,
but in the meantime I will hear from the people commissioning me -- all
on severe deadlines -- saying "I couldn't open your file."

When they get to the point where all docs have to be docxs I'm sure
their IT people will handle it.

Until then, I'll let 'em have the docs.[/QUOTE]

--
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/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]