Evil Doc Hangs Word

[scott mesick]

Yes I have a document that causes Word to hang under a variety of
cicumstances including Save As, Printing, and selecting large areas of text.

The doc. is based on a template and I have many other documents based on the
same template which exhibit none of these problems - this particular doc. is
just evil.

There are no macros, one graphic (inserted from .jpg file). I am up to date
with NAV etc. so I don't believe there's anything here other than some
formatting or ??? that is causing the doc. to hang Word.

Any suggestions are welcome.





Ps. Does MS have a support protocol for cases like this? Where does one go
for assistance?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

 

[RWN]

Do you have Track Changes turned on?
In addition to Suzanne's usual excellent advice I'd like to add my own
non-expert two cents worth based on an experience I had today at work
with an "Evil Doc".

One of our users experienced the similar symptoms (Word would hang when
performing different tasks including simply scrolling through the
document, after a time it would come back, only to hang again).
I noticed the "TRK" was highlighted (Wd'97) and accepted all changes and
attempted to turn it off, but it kept hanging.
I saved the doc as an "RTF", closed and then re-opened it. The document
had all the changes displayed (deletions etc etc).
This allowed the user to manually clean up the doc and it was ok from
there. I'm assuming that the high amount of changes was the culprit as
it turns out that they were using a single document as a "template" and
somewhere along the line (last March) the Tracking got turned on (they
use the doc over and over).
Interestingly enough, we are in the midst of replacing our machines with
new machines running WinXP and Off03 so I took the original doc and
opened it in Wd'03 - No problem (that's how I knew the tracking was
started in March).
So either it was a case of Of'03 being "smarter" or simply that the xp
m/c's have more ram than the old ones - I don't know, as stated - I'm
not an expert (just a "hero" in this user's eyes - oh, the glory!).

 

[Beth Melton]

That's interesting, Rob.

There's a thread on issues with tracked changes in the
word.docmanagement newsgroup where they didn't realize they were
creating documents with tracked changes enabled for some time. This
was easy enough to do in Word 97/2000 since you could suppress the
view of revisions and those options were stored in the document.

Now that they are using Word 2003 and are seeing the tracked changes
when they open previously created documents, since by default
documents will display tracked changes and the view of tracked changes
is no longer document dependent, and see all of the tracked changes
they aren't happy. :-(

I suspect they were using the same document over and over again as
well. Yet another reason you should always start with a new document!

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[RWN]

Beth;
"and the view of tracked changes is **no longer document
dependent,**..."

Could you explain what the foregoing means?

"I suspect they were using the same document over and over again as
well. Yet another reason you should always start with a new document"

No matter how often I tell/show them, they can't seem to grasp the
concept of a template (dot). They will continually use an existing doc
and change it to suit the new purpose. Hopefully the pain experienced
will give them an appreciation of the concept.
If they do catch on, then I'll (gently) introduce them to Styles!!
--
Regards;
Rob
------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's interesting, Rob.

There's a thread on issues with tracked changes in the
word.docmanagement newsgroup where they didn't realize they were
creating documents with tracked changes enabled for some time. This
was easy enough to do in Word 97/2000 since you could suppress the
view of revisions and those options were stored in the document.

Now that they are using Word 2003 and are seeing the tracked changes
when they open previously created documents, since by default
documents will display tracked changes and the view of tracked changes
is no longer document dependent, and see all of the tracked changes
they aren't happy. :-(

I suspect they were using the same document over and over again as
well. Yet another reason you should always start with a new document!

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

<snip>

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Rob,

As of Word 2002 they changed the behavior of tracked changes and a
security option was added to automatically display tracked changes
upon opening the document. The security option can be turned off in
Word 2003 however it is an application preference - not a document
preference.

In both versions the view of tracked changes is controlled by the user
and not by options stored in the document. For example if you save a
document in the "Final" view and send it to me, provided I have the
security option turned on, it will open to "Final showing Markup".

In Word 97/2000 a user could go to Tools/Tracked Changes/Highlight
Changes and turn off the view of tracked changes both on the screen
and in printing. These options were stored in the document and users
could easily not realize the document contained tracked changes.
Especially if tracked changes had been turned off but the document
still contained unaccepted changes. IOW, "TRK" will not display in
bold in the status bar and current revisions are not being tracked but
older tracked changes are still present.

It's this combination that users are finding the most troublesome.
They are certain Tracked Changes were not enabled on and "TRK" did not
display in bold in the status bar but when they open the document in a
later version of Word tracked changes appear due to the new security
option. Of course this leads to a lot of confusion and many start
thinking Word is tracking their modifications even though Tracked
Changes are not enabled. <sigh>

Best of luck convincing your users to stop recycling documents.
Perhaps that concept may help, just like recycled products contain
some impurities, recycled documents contain impurities and remnants of
the old document as well.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[RWN]

Beth;
Thanks.
If I understand you correctly then we may get some rude surprises when
we convert ('97->'03) in February!

By the sounds of it, it means that if we have the track changes ('03)
turned off we'll still have the risk of tracked changes "travelling"
with the converted documents. This could open us up to potential
problems with anything sent outside the company and also may cause
problems with corruption.
So, if I'm following you, we would want to ensure that the security
option is turned on and, where any changes are present, we'd "accept"
the changes to get rid of the tracked items.
Post conversion we would turn the option off as we have no-or very
little-need for it.
Am I close to understanding this(?) - I can't "play" with it at home as
I have 2k.

Think I'll subscribe to the docmanagement ng!

Again, thanks.

--
Regards;
Rob
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Rob,

As of Word 2002 they changed the behavior of tracked changes and a
security option was added to automatically display tracked changes
upon opening the document. The security option can be turned off in
Word 2003 however it is an application preference - not a document
preference.

In both versions the view of tracked changes is controlled by the user
and not by options stored in the document. For example if you save a
document in the "Final" view and send it to me, provided I have the
security option turned on, it will open to "Final showing Markup".

In Word 97/2000 a user could go to Tools/Tracked Changes/Highlight
Changes and turn off the view of tracked changes both on the screen
and in printing. These options were stored in the document and users
could easily not realize the document contained tracked changes.
Especially if tracked changes had been turned off but the document
still contained unaccepted changes. IOW, "TRK" will not display in
bold in the status bar and current revisions are not being tracked but
older tracked changes are still present.

It's this combination that users are finding the most troublesome.
They are certain Tracked Changes were not enabled on and "TRK" did not
display in bold in the status bar but when they open the document in a
later version of Word tracked changes appear due to the new security
option. Of course this leads to a lot of confusion and many start
thinking Word is tracking their modifications even though Tracked
Changes are not enabled. <sigh>

Best of luck convincing your users to stop recycling documents.
Perhaps that concept may help, just like recycled products contain
some impurities, recycled documents contain impurities and remnants of
the old document as well.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

<snip>

 

[Beth Melton]

Yep, you may have some surprises. But in Word 97 you can always check
under Tools/Track Changes/Highlight Changes and make sure "Highlight
changes on screen" is turned on if you're in doubt. Then if you find
any make sure you use Tools/Track Changes/Accept or Reject changes to
remove them.

I personally leave the security option turned on. There's really no
reason to turn it off - it just causes tracked changes to
automatically display if they are present in the document. Think of it
like a smoke detector.

Also, if you are working with sensitive documents when you upgrade to
Word 2003 you may want to download the Remove Hidden Data utility and
run sensitive documents through it prior to distributing them:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ed-d43e-42ca-bc7b-5446d34e5360&displaylang=en

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[RWN]

Beth;
As I understand it then;
The "Security Option" function is separate from the "Track Changes"
function and, as such, I would agree that it would be best if it were
left on (the "smoke detector").
With the Security Option on we will see any existing tracked changes
when the converted docs are opened for the 1st time. At this point we
would Accept the changes, which would wipe them out (i.e. only the final
doc would exist).
We would ensure that the Track Changes function is off going forward to
prevent problems.

Thanks again (especially for your patience!)

 

[Beth Melton]

I do believe you have it. Glad to help.

The security option will automatically display tracked changes any
time you open a document that contains tracked changes which is why
it's best left enabled. You'll find it under Tools/Options/Security.

Also, there isn't necessarily a 'conversion' that will take place.
They haven't changed the file format since Word 97.
--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/