Linked text in autoshapes?

[LauriS]

Question: Is it possible to link text between two autoshapes?

Background: Document has two autoshapes. When you highlight the text in
one of the shapes the text in the other shape is also highlighting. These
are autoshapes - not text boxes.

Also, when you print the doc - neither shapes text prints (does show up on
screen and in print preview).

And finally, if you delete one of the shapes it removes the text from the
other shape but when you try to save it generates an error and kicks you out
of Word.

I fixed the crashing by copy the existing text to a new document (and it did
NOT copy the text in those two shapes) and then I could delete one shape and
save.

I figured out how to fix the problem but just wondering how it happened in
the first place.

Thanks!!

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TGF1cmlT?=,

I take it this is a fairly recent version of Word? 2003, perhaps?

There's a basic problem in Word 2003 with text boxes that occurs most often
when a text box is copied and re-used. Something seems to be broken in how Word
manages these in the binary file format in the background.

Since a text box is an AutoShape, and the same principle is used in AutoShapes
for their text, I'm guessing it's basically the same problem, which can be
summarized as "document corruption".

Best way to prevent it is to never copy and re-use anything created with a
drawing tool.

Question: Is it possible to link text between two autoshapes?

Background: Document has two autoshapes. When you highlight the text in
one of the shapes the text in the other shape is also highlighting. These
are autoshapes - not text boxes.

Also, when you print the doc - neither shapes text prints (does show up on
screen and in print preview).

And finally, if you delete one of the shapes it removes the text from the
other shape but when you try to save it generates an error and kicks you out
of Word.

I fixed the crashing by copy the existing text to a new document (and it did
NOT copy the text in those two shapes) and then I could delete one shape and
save.

I figured out how to fix the problem but just wondering how it happened in
the first place.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
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[LauriS]

Thanks, Cindy.

Yes, it's actually Word 2000 (forgot that in my original post).

Good to know about the problems with copying autoshapes and text boxes.

Lauri S.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Cindy, do you have any information on or impression of whether there is a
difference between copying/pasting and using Duplicate? I've just been
working on a document that had to have twelve numbered circles placed on a
map. The only practical way to make these circles uniform is to create one
and copy or duplicate it.

Interestingly, this document (which was a retread), after being sent as an
attachment, refused to open, declaring itself corrupt. When I used Open and
Repair, it presented a long list of repaired items (many involving "numbered
styles," though I couldn't see any problem there), but most of them were
text boxes. Paging through the document, I found one page where a small text
box saying "SUBJECT" had been layered probably a dozen times in the same
place (in the top left margin). At first I thought selecting and deleting
was having no effect, but when I selected one and dragged it, revealing an
identical one beneath, I realized that they were in fact stacked up. I
assume they were the result of what I probably thought were unsuccessful
attempts to copy and paste a text box in the original document (the one this
was based on), as there were no SUBJECT text boxes in this file.

 

[Cindy M.]

Hi Suzanne,

Cindy, do you have any information on or impression of whether there is a
difference between copying/pasting and using Duplicate?

No, I've never encountered anyone with the corruption problem who's said
they used "Duplicate". I think that command is so well hidden that most
people never discover it. (I know I forget it's there.)

The problem you describe with the multiple graphics is one I've encountered
personally, any number of times. You paste, think nothing has happened, try
again... And that can, indeed, damage the document at some point (even
without the "known problem" of adding text to an AutoShape). I think it
might have something to do with all the anchors sitting in the exact same
place.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks, Cindy. The layered text boxes were something I'd encountered once
before when Barney was trying to add labels to charts inserted from Excel
(because he couldn't get the built-in labels to work right). He kept
starting over without deleting existing text boxes and ended up with quite a
stack!