Hi GK:
Errr... Blub! This is technically impossible. I'll talk about some
work-arounds in a moment. However, first I need to say that a Word Document
is not a collection of records, it's a single binary blob. Even if it did
have discrete records, Mac OS X and Windows file systems do not support
locking on a per-record level so you cannot technically have multiple people
working on the same file.
Now: Here's how to do it
The most popular way is to use the Compare Documents mechanism, which is
massively enhanced in Word 2004. Make sure you use a copy of Word 2004 to
do the merge.
1) Give every user their own local copy of the document and tell them to go
do their worst.
2) Send all the changed versions back to a single workstation with Word
2004 loaded. Make sure before you send them that each version has a
different file name (put the initials of the person making the change at the
right end of the file name).
3) Read the help topic " Merge comments and changes from several reviewers
into one document". Check in Word>Preferences>Security that you do NOT have
"Remove personally identifiable information from this file on save" checked.
If you do, you are removing the User ID information you will need for the
next step.
4) Edit each of the versions and add and remove a space, then save each one
and close it (this causes Word 2004 to write the new change tracking
information into the file: improves the accuracy of the result).
5) Now open the original, then follow the procedure in the help topic for
each of the changed versions, in the order of their importance.
6) After comparing the original with the last document, and before you do
anything else, save the file.
You will now have a complete copy with everyone's changes marked as a
tracked change labelled with the name, date and time of who made the change.
Display the Reviewing toolbar and accept/reject each change.
Notes: If you get an error about "Fields greater than 750 characters"
during the merge, remove the tables of contents from each of the documents
and try again. Compare Documents will not work with huge variable fields
such as the TOC.
If you try this using a copy of Windows Word, you also have to switch on
"Include unique number to improve merge accuracy" in Tools>Options.
This is the best way to handle the situation, and it's the second-favourite
way that a documentation professional would use.
The favourite method a professional would use is to issue the copies of the
document to each user with Track Changes locked ON.
1) Make a copy of the document for each user.
2) Call each document up and Turn Track Changes ON as described in the
Help.
3) Use Tools>Protect Document and check the Tracked Changes button. Assign
a password.
4) Save and close the document.
When the users are working, they will be unable to turn Track Changes off
without the password. When they return the files to you, everything they do
will be marked with their name.
This is my favourite way of doing things. Again, in Word 2004 it improved
hugely and it is bullet-proof now. Make sure the user's workstations are
set to NOT "Remove personally identifiable..." in Preferences>Security,
otherwise you won't know who made each change.
Run the procedure in the Help to merge the changed versions into the
original.
A third method for doing this is to use Net Meeting. This is built into MSN
Messenger, which much to your irritation was installed with Office 2004
whether you wanted it to be or not
Messenger does enable several users to collaborate on the same file in real
time. I am afraid I have not had time to test this on the Mac, and I am on
the train at the moment, so I can't.
Start Messenger and read its help file to see how to share your desktop with
other users. You need a nice fat broadband connection between the users to
do this. User 1 opens the document in Word, then allows the others to
control Word.
The limitation is that they must all be looking at the same part of the
document together, but each can see the other working.
Hope this helps
I am trying to sync word documents over a network. basically we are
using office mac 2004 and we have two people working on the same
documents. They are both making changes to different ares of the docs.
Does anyone know of a program or a way to sync these files to commbine
the work being done on the two computers?
thanks for your help
--
Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie <
[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410
