C
Clive Huggan
Hello Nigel,
I have only been casually watching this thread, and whether the following
comments have been implied already -- but if not, here goes for anyone else
who's watching.
I know that feeling when you don't know how a document you've received is
going to behave, but it's only staggering on. I have tried every conceivable
measure to reduce the effects of other people's pillaging, with the timer
on, and have settled on the following:
First, inevitably I copy such documents without the final paragraph mark and
paste them into a new blank document, to greatly reduce the chances of
corruption.
Then, if I'm going to have to work extensively on a received document, I
will more often than not print it out, then create a new blank document and
put the insertion point at a blank paragraph styled in Body Text (because
it's the most frequently occurring style). Then back to the document with
the text in it, select all and copy and paste it into the new blank document
(Edit menu -> Paste Special -> Unformatted Text -- but I use this so often,
e.g. to paste in text from PDFs and web pages that I use a keyboard
shortcut). This causes all the pasted-in paragraphs to be Body Text.
After that I re-assign formatting by styles (quickest to read off the
print-out to do this). This takes much less time to do than seems likely at
first -- believe me, I've had my timer on for all the possible variations!
First I apply a Heading 1 to all chapter headings, using Command-y or
Option-Return to repeat the action after the first instance. Then all
Heading 2 instances, and so on. It gets easier with the lower-level heading
styles.
The result is a document you can *really* trust. And while my conservatism
has held me back from going to Tiger, with Panther 10.3.8 and Word 2004 on a
1.5MHz 17" PowerBook I find Word is very fast with almost everything -
certainly I have none of the problems you have been benighted with.
If any of this interests you, take a look at some notes on the way I use
Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a
free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm). Start with Appendix A:
The main "minimum maintenance" features of my documents.
[Note: The document is designed to be used electronically and most subjects
are self-contained dictionary-style entries. Be sure to read the front end
so you can use the document to best advantage and select the right settings
for reading it.]
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================
I have only been casually watching this thread, and whether the following
comments have been implied already -- but if not, here goes for anyone else
who's watching.
I know that feeling when you don't know how a document you've received is
going to behave, but it's only staggering on. I have tried every conceivable
measure to reduce the effects of other people's pillaging, with the timer
on, and have settled on the following:
First, inevitably I copy such documents without the final paragraph mark and
paste them into a new blank document, to greatly reduce the chances of
corruption.
Then, if I'm going to have to work extensively on a received document, I
will more often than not print it out, then create a new blank document and
put the insertion point at a blank paragraph styled in Body Text (because
it's the most frequently occurring style). Then back to the document with
the text in it, select all and copy and paste it into the new blank document
(Edit menu -> Paste Special -> Unformatted Text -- but I use this so often,
e.g. to paste in text from PDFs and web pages that I use a keyboard
shortcut). This causes all the pasted-in paragraphs to be Body Text.
After that I re-assign formatting by styles (quickest to read off the
print-out to do this). This takes much less time to do than seems likely at
first -- believe me, I've had my timer on for all the possible variations!
First I apply a Heading 1 to all chapter headings, using Command-y or
Option-Return to repeat the action after the first instance. Then all
Heading 2 instances, and so on. It gets easier with the lower-level heading
styles.
The result is a document you can *really* trust. And while my conservatism
has held me back from going to Tiger, with Panther 10.3.8 and Word 2004 on a
1.5MHz 17" PowerBook I find Word is very fast with almost everything -
certainly I have none of the problems you have been benighted with.
If any of this interests you, take a look at some notes on the way I use
Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a
free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm). Start with Appendix A:
The main "minimum maintenance" features of my documents.
[Note: The document is designed to be used electronically and most subjects
are self-contained dictionary-style entries. Be sure to read the front end
so you can use the document to best advantage and select the right settings
for reading it.]
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================