Setting MS Word 2008 Preferences and "Bend Word to Your Will"

[Norm]

I'm in the process of applying the suggestions in "Bend Word to Your
Will" to my base settings in Word 2008. Finding it very helpful!

A couple of beginner questions on setting preferences:

1. Are Preferences global in MS Word? Do "my" preferences rule if I open
a document created by someone else?

2. Is there a "best" way to save changes to Preferences. A couple of
times they didn't seem to "take" and I had to reapply. Maybe I just
plain goofed. In applying changes, I had one of my documents open and
I'd do a Save All after each series of changes.

3. What is the reason that Clive does not select "Include Paragraph Mark
when selecting paragraphs"? Just curious.

4. I haven't finished all Clive's notes on settings (starting on page
33) but I don't think it covers all of the MS Word 2008 Compatibility
preference options. If that is in fact the case, do the experts here
recommend selections for those Preferences for beginners?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

I'm in the process of applying the suggestions in "Bend Word to Your
Will" to my base settings in Word 2008. Finding it very helpful!

A couple of beginner questions on setting preferences:

1. Are Preferences global in MS Word? Do "my" preferences rule if I open
a document created by someone else?

Most are, some are specific to the document. Your settings to global
preferences hold for any document on your computer. Anything in the
Compatibility and Security tabs is specific to the open document.

2. Is there a "best" way to save changes to Preferences. A couple of
times they didn't seem to "take" and I had to reapply. Maybe I just
plain goofed. In applying changes, I had one of my documents open and
I'd do a Save All after each series of changes.

Quit Word: It's the ONLY way to save "Preferences"

3. What is the reason that Clive does not select "Include Paragraph Mark
when selecting paragraphs"? Just curious.

It was called something else when he wrote it.

4. I haven't finished all Clive's notes on settings (starting on page
33) but I don't think it covers all of the MS Word 2008 Compatibility
preference options. If that is in fact the case, do the experts here
recommend selections for those Preferences for beginners?

Yes: "Take the time to understand what each one does, then set them
appropriately for YOUR circumstances."

There are a few setting recommendations we would make: Clive should have
them all in Bend Word... I tend to turn OFF everything whose name begins
"Automatically..."

Specifically, in "Autoformat as you type" I turn off everything in the top
and bottom sections of the dialog. So everything in "Apply as you type" and
everything in "Automatically as you type".

Cheers


--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

Thanks John:

1. Are Preferences global in MS Word? Do "my" preferences rule if I open
a document created by someone else?

Most are, some are specific to the document. Your settings to global
preferences hold for any document on your computer. Anything in the
Compatibility and Security tabs is specific to the open document.[/QUOTE]

Got it.

It appears that some of those Preferences one can set and the settings
hold while others will only stay with the open document. For example, in
terms of the two Privacy Preferences (Preferences>Security>Privacy) I
could not get the first (Remove personal information from this file on
save) to hold but the second would. FWIW.

Quit Word: It's the ONLY way to save "Preferences"

I thought "Bend...." said one could use "Save All" but I may have
misread. I'll check.

It was called something else when he wrote it.

Don't think so. FWIW.

Yes: "Take the time to understand what each one does, then set them
appropriately for YOUR circumstances."

I was referring just to the Compatibility preferences in Word 2008. I
think some settings were added in Word 2008 and I thought there might be
some tips on that.

Appreciate the help.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hi Norm:

On 5/11/09 10:36 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Norm"

I very frequently select one or more sentences in a paragraph to cut and
paste special => unformatted into my document. That way the pasted-in text
is devoid of formatting applied by the originator, which almost always has
manually imposed formatting (i.e., rarely pure styles-based formatting).
With this setting unchecked, when I hold down the Command key and click in a
sentence, only the sentence is selected (or more than one sentence if I
drag). With the setting selected, the paragraph mark (hence unwanted
formatting) is included in the selection if it is the last one in the
paragraph.

If I want to select a complete paragraph, I either triple-click in the
paragraph or click in the left margin (there's a keyboard shortcut too, but
I forget what it is...). So nothing is lost.

<snip>

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

I was referring just to the Compatibility preferences in Word 2008. I
think some settings were added in Word 2008 and I thought there might be
some tips on that.

Sorry: I misread you. Yes, I have a recommendation for those: "Follow the
recommendations for the currently install version of Word".

All of those settings are local to the specific document. The settings are
saved in the document itself, not in Word.

That means that if you want to set them to something other than the
recommendations, you have to set them one-by-one, in every document.

The defaults are the settings recommended for the version of Word that
originally created the document. The intention is to make the document
format exactly the same in a later version of Word.

However, if I begin work on an old document, I check the setting and correct
it to the current default if needed.

My reasoning is that some of those settings make Word behave strangely, and
it does enough of that without making things worse. And the objective I am
after is how the document will print in the CURRENT version of Word. I
don't give a toss how it printed in previous versions, it was probably wrong
anyway. As part of my pre-press activity, I am going to correct all of the
formatting if needed, and to make that quick and efficient I want Word
behaving like "this year's model".

In a Corporate setting, you "might" consider leaving the Compatibility
settings as they are in the following scenario:

* Assume you have a substantial procedure manual (say, 500-odd pages, with
tables and diagrams and illustrations).

* Assume the document was originally produced in WordPerfect or Word 2. If
you change the compatibility options, the change in appearance will be quite
substantial.

* Assume the formatting techniques used in the document are from the old
WordPerfect/Typewriter days. In other words, the text is full of hard page
breaks so it will not re-flow properly, and you will have to do a lot of
fiddling to correct the pagination.

* Assume you want to make a very small change: for example, to update the
name of a government standard in a few places.

In that case, you might be tempted to run a Search/Replace for the name,
then print it and don't look too closely at the result. You're out of there
in less than an hour, and you will probably get away with it.

I recently worked on two such manuals for a mining company. They were both
originally created in WordPerfect in the 1980s. We had to make some major
changes.

The first one was un-touched. Several people had made efforts to update it,
ran out of time and given up. The document had originally been put together
by a typewriter-trained secretary. I am sure she did her best (and I should
not speak ill of the dead, it was that long ago...) but the document was a
toxic waste dump that would collapse at the drop of a comma and cause the
editor to emit substantial global warming.

The other had already been reformatted by a professional technical writer
using modern techniques. You could do anything you like to the second
manual and it would automatically and immediately repaginate correctly. In
that manual, I reset the Compatibility Options to turn them all off, so my
successor in another 20 years time will also suffer little pain.

Hope this helps

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

I was referring just to the Compatibility preferences in Word 2008. I
think some settings were added in Word 2008 and I thought there might be
some tips on that.

Sorry: I misread you. Yes, I have a recommendation for those: "Follow the
recommendations for the currently install version of Word".[/QUOTE]

Got it. Will do. And thanks.

All of those settings are local to the specific document. The settings are
saved in the document itself, not in Word.

Hope this helps

It does.

But I think I need to better understand whether the Compatibility
feature/preferences influences new documents or just prior non-Word 2008
docs and what it is doing. My prob and learning opportunity.

But the advice is helpful and followed. Thanks much.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

Read carefully when you get in this deep

"Compatibility options are stored locally in the open document". They
affect only the document you set them in.

When you create a new document, the compatibility options will be set to the
default settings recommended for the version of Word that created the
document.

In VBA-capable versions of Word, some people create a macro to automatically
set compatibility options when they create a document.

The only two I used to set are "Suppress extra line spacing at the top of a
page" and "Suppress Space Before after a hard page break or column break",
and I had a macro to set them on document creation.

Subsequently I have discovered that Word will do this automatically if you
don't use hard page breaks, so I don't bother.

Cheers

Sorry: I misread you. Yes, I have a recommendation for those: "Follow the
recommendations for the currently install version of Word".

Got it. Will do. And thanks.

All of those settings are local to the specific document. The settings are
saved in the document itself, not in Word.

Hope this helps

It does.

But I think I need to better understand whether the Compatibility
feature/preferences influences new documents or just prior non-Word 2008
docs and what it is doing. My prob and learning opportunity.

But the advice is helpful and followed. Thanks much.[/QUOTE]


--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

Hi Norm:

Read carefully when you get in this deep

This deep is definitely over my head but I'm trying to learn how to
tread water in this MS sea.

"Compatibility options are stored locally in the open document". They
affect only the document you set them in.

Now I'm getting it.

But haven't quite figured out the Compatibility Report selection and the
two buttons below.

When you create a new document, the compatibility options will be set to the
default settings recommended for the version of Word that created the
document.

Not sure I follow. If I create a doc using Word 2008 then it will set
options to just be compatible with Word 2008 unless I over-ride?

In VBA-capable versions of Word, some people create a macro to automatically
set compatibility options when they create a document.

Lost me.

The only two I used to set are "Suppress extra line spacing at the top of a
page" and "Suppress Space Before after a hard page break or column break",
and I had a macro to set them on document creation.

Lost me. I'm starting to sink.

Subsequently I have discovered that Word will do this automatically if you
don't use hard page breaks, so I don't bother.

Sunk.

Thanks for the help John. Appreciate.

Norm

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

Not sure I follow. If I create a doc using Word 2008 then it will set
options to just be compatible with Word 2008 unless I over-ride?

OK, you have not yet understood the purpose of Compatibility Options.

Compatibility options exist to cause the document to appear and print the
same, regardless of which version of Word is used to open that document, now
or in the future.

So the Compatibility Options are saved in the document as a "Set of
parameters" that record how Word's formatting engine was working when it
created the document.

If you open that document on a different version of Word ‹ say Word 2010 on
a PC ‹ Word 2010 will retrieve the Compatibility Options and use them to
tune its layout engine to show you exactly the same layout you saw today in
Word 2008 when you made the document.

In the future, all manner of improvements may be made to Word's ability to
render text. They will all be adjusted, using the recorded Compatibility
Options, to produce a view the same as you are seeing now.

Remember: The concept is to "store the settings for the layout engine in
the document." The purpose is so the document does not change appearance on
a different version of Word.

The most important thing to do with these settings as a user is "Nothing".
If you leave the settings alone, future versions of Word will be able to
display the document without layout changes.

If you make changes to the compatibility options when you create a document,
that document may NOT look right in the future versions of Word, or in past
versions of Word.

Yes, you could change the Compatibility Options to get Word's layout engine
behaving more to your liking while you are working today. But if you do,
Word's efforts to preserve the appearance of that document in the future are
going to be reduced.

So you need to have a very good reason for making each change, and
understand how it will affect all past and future versions of Word.

My advice? Leave them alone

Word is designed to be automatic. It will get things right if we stop
"trying to help". If we must interfere, THEN we need to make sure that we
really are "helping". Which means hitting the books and learning how all of
these mechanisms work, so we will know what is helpful and what is not.

Now you know the concept and purpose behind Compatibility Options, you will
understand that most of the time, you should do "nothing" with them. The
only time you might change them is when you want to disable Word's ability
to tell future generations how this document should appear.

Cheers


--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

Now you know the concept and purpose behind Compatibility Options, you will
understand that most of the time, you should do "nothing" with them. The
only time you might change them is when you want to disable Word's ability
to tell future generations how this document should appear.

Got it.

Thanks very much for taking the time to get through this thick skull.

Appreciate the help.

 

[Norm]

I'm in the process of applying the suggestions in "Bend Word to Your
Will" to my base settings in Word 2008. Finding it very helpful!

A couple of beginner questions on setting preferences:

1. Are Preferences global in MS Word? Do "my" preferences rule if I open
a document created by someone else?

Most are, some are specific to the document. Your settings to global
preferences hold for any document on your computer. Anything in the
Compatibility and Security tabs is specific to the open document.[/QUOTE]

Trying to determine if modifying the "default" Word 2008 Toolbars is
global or for the template? I hope that is the correct question.

I'm referring to the Standard Toolbar and the others listed in View.

In reading "Bend Word.." (I posted a similar question here but no
answer), it sounded like the Word 2008 customized default toolbars would
not carryover to any current or new templates that I create. But I think
I'm confused on this issue.

Any education on this appreciated.

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 14/11/09 8:57 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Norm"

... (I posted a similar question here but no
answer)....

Put it down to time zone differences, Norm, and the fact that I was unwell
in bed yesterday anyway...

I hope I have clarified the context better in my post just now on your
thread "Customizing Toolbars ?s" -- but as you'll see, devoid of any insight
into Word 2008, to which I have not downgraded.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[Norm]

Put it down to time zone differences, Norm, and the fact that I was unwell
in bed yesterday anyway...

Clive:

Sorry for not waiting for the sun to rise there. I got too excited.
Trying to get this wrapped up before "Steve" presents me with a new Mac.


More importantly, NO more of those bugs for you for the balance of 2009!
Must be due to too many US tourists leaving them during their journeys.

I hope I have clarified the context better in my post just now on your
thread "Customizing Toolbars ?s" -- but as you'll see, devoid of any insight
into Word 2008, to which I have not downgraded.

You have clarified. Very helpful. I suspect I could just take my
modified Standard and Formatting toolbars and replicate them.

I only wish I had saved the "out of the box" settings. Maybe "Bend.."
needs to be required reading prior to installations. But I still have
"the" box so maybe I'm OK. Plus I may get another chance.... if (whoops
when) I get that new Mac it will come with SL so maybe I'll install Word
2008 rather than migrate.

Take good care.

Thanks,

Norm

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

See my earlier.

The answer is "Toolbars can be stored in a document or a template." When
you modify them, you need to specify where you are saving them.

When you open the Customise dialog, in the bottom left there is a "Save in"
drop-down. That tells you where any modifications that you are about to
save will be saved.

That drop-down sets your "Customisation Context".

By default, it is set to Normal.dotm. If you change it, the change holds
for that editing session only.

You can choose only templates that are open. If you have a different
template open, and that is the only document open, Word will automatically
change it to the template that is open.

Hope this helps

Most are, some are specific to the document. Your settings to global
preferences hold for any document on your computer. Anything in the
Compatibility and Security tabs is specific to the open document.

Trying to determine if modifying the "default" Word 2008 Toolbars is
global or for the template? I hope that is the correct question.

I'm referring to the Standard Toolbar and the others listed in View.

In reading "Bend Word.." (I posted a similar question here but no
answer), it sounded like the Word 2008 customized default toolbars would
not carryover to any current or new templates that I create. But I think
I'm confused on this issue.

Any education on this appreciated.[/QUOTE]


--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

See my earlier.

The answer is "Toolbars can be stored in a document or a template." When
you modify them, you need to specify where you are saving them.

When you open the Customise dialog, in the bottom left there is a "Save in"
drop-down. That tells you where any modifications that you are about to
save will be saved.

John:

Feel that I missed the very obvious. A kinda "well ...duh". Thank you
much.

That drop-down sets your "Customisation Context".

By default, it is set to Normal.dotm. If you change it, the change holds
for that editing session only.

You can choose only templates that are open. If you have a different
template open, and that is the only document open, Word will automatically
change it to the template that is open.

If I have one document open, are you saying if I select that document
I'm changing the toolbars for the template on which it is based? or just
that single document (which may or may not be the template itself)?

Hope this helps

It does. Thanks very much.

BTW, is there a reason why the Customise dialog does not have a "Cancel"
option?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Norm:

Feel that I missed the very obvious. A kinda "well ...duh". Thank you
much.

No, you didn't. You missed the completely obscure. I spent several years
getting inexplicable results and corruptions until I learned to look for,
set, and manage the Customisation Context very carefully.

If I have one document open, are you saying if I select that document
I'm changing the toolbars for the template on which it is based?

No. You are changing the toolbars in the template TO WHICH IT IS ATTACHED.
That may be different (often is different) to the template used to create
it.

If the document has no other template attached, your customisations will be
saved in the Global Normal.dotm.

The only way to get toolbars into the document itself is to explicitly set
the customisation context to the document.

Ordinarily, you should make every effort to avoid placing toolbars in
documents: it leads to a world of issues and complexity you would need to
manage. When you fully understand Object Orientation, Context, and
Inheritance, you may discover a business requirement for doing so. But I
have not done so in the past ten years. When I see toolbars stored in the
document instead of the template, that usually turns out to be a symptom of
poor solution design (in other words, they wouldn't have done it if they had
known what they were doing...)

BTW, is there a reason why the Customise dialog does not have a "Cancel"
option?

Oversight, I suspect.

Cheers

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Norm]

Thanks John:

If I have one document open, are you saying if I select that document
I'm changing the toolbars for the template on which it is based?

No. You are changing the toolbars in the template TO WHICH IT IS ATTACHED.
That may be different (often is different) to the template used to create
it.
[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.... understand the words but not the total concept. That will take
a bit.

If the document has no other template attached, your customisations will be
saved in the Global Normal.dotm.

Can one tell if there is a template attached?

The only way to get toolbars into the document itself is to explicitly set
the customisation context to the document.

Ordinarily, you should make every effort to avoid placing toolbars in
documents:

Got it. That sounds like the bottom line for this beginner.

Thanks again,

Norm

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Norm,

Can one tell if there is a template attached?

Yes. Open the document, then click on Tools>Templates and Add-ins. The new
window that opens has a section that is called Document Template. If your
document is based on a specific template, the file path will be shown; if it
is based on the Normal template, you will see "Normal.dotm" (Word 2008) or
"Normal.dot" (Word 2004). You can also use this particular window to attach
a template to the document that is currently open.

 

[Norm]

Hi Norm,


Yes. Open the document, then click on Tools>Templates and Add-ins. The new
window that opens has a section that is called Document Template. If your
document is based on a specific template, the file path will be shown; if it
is based on the Normal template, you will see "Normal.dotm" (Word 2008) or
"Normal.dot" (Word 2004). You can also use this particular window to attach
a template to the document that is currently open.

Thanks much for that info.