How to return to previous position in Word 2004

[Pitch]

I'm reading the very find "Bend Word to Your Will" doc by Clive.

I'm enjoying the hyperlinks, but I can't figure out how to easily
return to the previous position (after reading a hyperlink). Clive
mentions that the normal Command-Option-Z doesn't work (true), and then
gives what may be the only solution, which is Command-G, where you're
supposed to remember the page that the original hyperlink was on, type
it in, and hit Return.

Is that *really* the only method for returning to a previous page once
you've hit an in-doc hyperlink? If so, that makes hyperlinks not usable
in my situation.

Alternatively, is there any method for turning a Word doc into a PDF,
where the hyperlinks remain? If so, both Preview and Adobe Reader have
great "return to previous position" defaults, which can even easily be
wired to a multibutton mouse (I wire it to the back button, logically).


Last: Clive! If you're reading this: is there's no way to turn a Word
doc into a hyperlinked PDF, would it be possible to offer your Bend
Word doc as a hyperlinked PDF? I'd pay money for it.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Is that *really* the only method for returning to a previous page once
you've hit an in-doc hyperlink? If so, that makes hyperlinks not usable
in my situation.

Use CMD-OPT-<left arrow>. By default it's assigned to the WebGoBack
command, but you can obviously use Tools/Customize/Customize Keyboard to
assign any shortcut you want.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I was going to say:
Bringing up the Web toolbar in Word and using the Back button on it does
work, I think.
But that's the same as JE's solution, just different access.

Re pdf:

MacAcrobat does not convert hyperlinks in Word when making a PDF, but
WinAcrobat does. OS X print to pdf definitely doesn't. I have high hopes
for Macromedia's Flash Paper, but they will probably be disappointed. Not
sure what else is out there that would bring over hyperlinks.

Finding someone to do the conversion in WinAcrobat is a good idea. I'm not
sure how good it is--e.g., it might just be that headings come over but
internal links don't. And since the doc gets updated frequently, anything
that demands manual creation of hyperlinks at the pdf stage won't really
fly, unless a *bunch* of people were willing to pay.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello All -

I'm not in the vicinity of a Mac right now, so I haven't checked it,
but doesn't MacWord have the equivalent of WinWord's Shift+F5? I could
have sworn it works, but I haven't had occasion to use it on the Mac in
so long I can't remember.

Regards |:>)

 

[mmmmark]

Finding someone to do the conversion in WinAcrobat is a good idea. I'm not
sure how good it is--e.g., it might just be that headings come over but
internal links don't. And since the doc gets updated frequently, anything
that demands manual creation of hyperlinks at the pdf stage won't really
fly, unless a *bunch* of people were willing to pay.

<snip>

The WinWord's PDFMaker macro coupled with Acrobat brings over all the
links--headings and hyperlinks. It is essential in our workflow and you are
right--VERY time consuming without it.

-Mark

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Shift-F5 is the same thing as cmd-opt-z on the Mac--but that is defined as
"go back to previous edit point" (not previous cursor position). If you are
browsing but not making changes, it doesn't work.

I guess following a hyperlink doesn't count as an edit.

 

[CyberTaz]

Yeah, I just looked it up in MacWord Help & that's basically what it said:

SHIFT+F5 To a previous edit, or the location of the most recent edit when
the document was last saved.

But I ought to at least get credit for 'partial memory'

Regards |:>)

 

[Pitch]

I'm not finding that CMD-OPT-<left arrow> is working.

It does go back, but most definitely not to the last hyperlink that
brought me to the page I'm looking at.

Clive's Bend Word doc is a great one to try this out on, because it's
so long, and it has literally hundreds of links. Scroll down to around
page 150, for instance. Click on one of the links. Hit the
CMD-OPT-<left arrow>. Then do a few more, scattered around the 200-page
doc. I'm not sure where those keys are bringing me, but it's not to the
last hyperlink. Neither does the back arrow on the Web Toolbar.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I'm not finding that CMD-OPT-<left arrow> is working.

It does go back, but most definitely not to the last hyperlink that
brought me to the page I'm looking at.

Clive's Bend Word doc is a great one to try this out on, because it's
so long, and it has literally hundreds of links. Scroll down to around
page 150, for instance. Click on one of the links. Hit the
CMD-OPT-<left arrow>. Then do a few more, scattered around the 200-page
doc. I'm not sure where those keys are bringing me, but it's not to the
last hyperlink. Neither does the back arrow on the Web Toolbar.

Well, I beg to differ just a bit - "Bend" has exactly 2 hyperlinks. In
the VBE's immediate window:

?ActiveDocument.Hyperlinks.Count
2

The rest are TOC fields or REF fields that use the \h switch. MacBU can
call them hyperlinks, but they aren't, at least according to the Word
Document Object Model.

Nonetheless, it appears that Word04's Back function is indeed well and
truly hosed. Inserting multiple *actual* DOM hyperlinks shows the same
sort of behavior with CMD-OPT-<left arrow>, and with the Web Toolbar's
Back button (which isn't surprising since they use the same underlying
command).

<curmudgeon>Never cared for hyperlinks in Word documents anyway, much
less all those REF fields.... All the comings and goings and references
to other sections in "Bend" make it too difficult for me to read, and I
don't WANT to see all that grey (or have to flick my cursor over the
text to see if there's a field somewhere). If MacBU could only fix the
Document Map...</curmudgeon>

 

[Clive Huggan]

Same here. Other than the first time it's used, it doesn't go back to the
originating hyperlink ­ in fact it goes back to the first one.

That's why I recommended noting the page number ­ primitive though that may
be.

Re your comment earlier in the thread, I'd be interested to know why you
would particularly want a PDF of "Bend Word to Your Will" ­ other than to
"return to previous position". Part of the advantage of having it in Word
is that the formatting practices in the document itself exemplify what I
recommend, and features such as the Style Area allow more information to be
provided than if it were all in another application. I'd be interested to
hear your views.

Re your comment "... would it be possible to offer your Bend Word doc as a
hyperlinked PDF? I'd pay money for it": Sorry, but I do very little
consulting in Word and none in PDF software. By profession I'm involved in
strategic planning and policy development; "Bend Word to Your Will" is a
labour of love, about half of which is repaid by my own constant use of it
to remind me about some of the grinding detail in Word. The rest is my way
of saying "Thank you" to the marvellous people who also freely give their
time in this newsgroup.

Clive Huggan
(from a Land of a Very Different Time Zone).
============

 

[JE McGimpsey]

All the comings and goings and references to other sections in "Bend"
make it too difficult for me to read, and I don't WANT to see all
that grey (or have to flick my cursor over the text to see if there's
a field somewhere).

Even though I wrapped the above in <curmudgeon></curmudgeon>, it comes
across more harshly than I intended. I have used and expect to continue
using "Bend" simply because it's the most approachable reference to Word
that I've found. However, given my low tolerance for visual noise, I
*do* have to turn off field highlighting and redefine the color scheme
in order to make it readable for me on-screen, and I therefore make some
educated guesses about link locations. Most of the time I just keep a
separate window open to the Table of Contents, which is the same way I
read other long docs.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Even though I wrapped the above in <curmudgeon></curmudgeon>, it comes
across more harshly than I intended. I have used and expect to continue
using "Bend" simply because it's the most approachable reference to Word
that I've found. However, given my low tolerance for visual noise, I
*do* have to turn off field highlighting and redefine the color scheme
in order to make it readable for me on-screen, and I therefore make some
educated guesses about link locations. Most of the time I just keep a
separate window open to the Table of Contents, which is the same way I
read other long docs.

You are kind, JE, to think I might be chagrined. But since I just gently (I
hope) told someone that Elliott wasn't really "harsh", I couldn't jump back
even if I wanted to (which I don't anyway).

I have fairly low tolerance to visual noise too. I always keep the
non-printing characters off, except when I need to see the underlying
formatting. And I keep the field background shading off if I have created
the document.

Like you, I have the table of contents open in a separate window most times.

And I also use a keyboard shortcut that takes me to the ³Contents² heading
via a macro (p. 174 of "Bend Word to Your Will" refers). Doing that and
hitting the "Page Down" key a few times and clicking in the table of
contents gets me around quickly.

I'd have to say that Bend Word would be a lot bigger, perish the thought, if
"REF fields that use the \h switch" (awka "hyperlinks") were not used. They
are the main resource that allows most of the document to be laid out in
fairly self-contained dictionary-style entries.

Cheers,

Clive
=====

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I'd have to say that Bend Word would be a lot bigger, perish the thought, if
"REF fields that use the \h switch" (awka "hyperlinks") were not used. They
are the main resource that allows most of the document to be laid out in
fairly self-contained dictionary-style entries.

I have no doubt, and I commend you for it - it would obviously be
overwhelming to duplicate information (in addition to being a nightmare
to maintain).

My reaction is based largely on personal preference, I know. I read
documents on-screen entirely differently than on paper. On paper, I
don't much mind references to other sections, since I can keep my thumb
at the place I'm reading while I scan the reference. When I run out of
thumbs (I seem to have quite a few), I go back to where I started.

On-screen, however, any references to page numbers just gets in the way
for me. In Word, they're not real, anyway, and take a fair amount of
background processing to maintain. I much prefer a document meant to be
read on-line to be broken into many smaller documents with semantically
rich hyperlinks between the sections. Being able to open new
windows/tabs in my browser is like having a thumb between the pages - I
can easily return to where I started based on visual clues alone.

I'm looking forward to the new XML format - using transformations, one
*should* be able to create documents that will, without the need to
adjust content, allow radically different display options depending on
the medium (e.g., page references when printed, hyperlinks when
displayed on-screen, perhaps an auditory tell when spoken).