readability of documents prepared using macros

[jobardu]

I've recently prepared a report using the Tech Tav macros using Word 2003 and
Windows XP SP2.
I saved the report as a Word document .doc .

My question is whether other people will be able to read the document on
their computers, again assuming they are using Word 2003 or Word 2007?

More generally, since I use templates or macros for a number of documents,
are documents prepared using templates hosted on my machine readable on
machines that don't have those templates installed?

Similarly, are documents prepared using macros resident on my machine
readable on machines that don't have those macros?

Finally, if not, what do I do to make them transferable?

In the past the size of the group I addressed was much smaller than the one
I have now.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

The documents created from any template are just documents, and whether they
are created using macros or not makes no difference to their readability on
other computers. All that is "lost in translation" is access to the macros,
so as long as you don't expect/require others to use the code stored in the
template for anything, you should be fine. The only exception is that when a
document in 2003 format is opened in 2007, it's opened in 'Compatibility
mode', but this generally doesn't have much impact apart from
"[Compatibility mode]" being displayed in the title bar - and users of 2007
should be familiar with this already.

If you do need others to have access to the code in your templates, then you
will need to work out a way to distribute the template to them. There are
several sources of information on this process, so if this is something you
may be interested in post back and we'll point you in the right direction.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

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[jobardu]

Thanks a lot for your rapid and ultimately reassuring reply. There are
two/three related issues that I'd hope you or someone else could address.

One is the access to the template or macro codes, and some references on how
to distribute them would be welcome.

The other is incorporating edits or corrections to my documents. If someone
adds changes to my documents and sends the document back to me, can I accept
the changes and have the document follow the original style/template/macros?
I suspect a recipient making changes to my document could really break my
preset template formatting or macro actions. The second part of this question
is how to take an edited part of a document and insert it back into the
original and have it regain/retain all the original setup.

Thanks a lot for any help you can provide on this.

regards, Jobardu

The documents created from any template are just documents, and whether they
are created using macros or not makes no difference to their readability on
other computers. All that is "lost in translation" is access to the macros,
so as long as you don't expect/require others to use the code stored in the
template for anything, you should be fine. The only exception is that when a
document in 2003 format is opened in 2007, it's opened in 'Compatibility
mode', but this generally doesn't have much impact apart from
"[Compatibility mode]" being displayed in the title bar - and users of 2007
should be familiar with this already.

If you do need others to have access to the code in your templates, then you
will need to work out a way to distribute the template to them. There are
several sources of information on this process, so if this is something you
may be interested in post back and we'll point you in the right direction.

I've recently prepared a report using the Tech Tav macros using Word 2003
and

[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]

I have now.
Thanks for any help.