Sluggish saving

[Gale_Gorman]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

When I save it takes minutes where it used to be just a moment.

Can someone explain the difference in .doc and .docx?

If I choose the default .docx will someone be able to open the document with an older version of Word?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Gale:

Are we talking about a "different" document, or the "same" document?

Some documents will take a long time to save, depending on their size and
the complexity of their contents.

If a previously-fast document becomes slow, that's a sign that it has
corrupted and may eventually fail to open or save.

A .doc file is coded internally in binary format. It's about four times the
size. It can be slow saving a .doc in Word 2008, because it has to convert
it two times.

A .docx is a compressed XML document, coded in Unicode. It's smaller,
simpler, and more reliable. Word 2008 should save a .docx a lot faster
because it's the native format, and it's a quarter the size.

Whether someone else can open either a .doc or a .docx depends on their
system. If they have kept up their updates, then yes, any version of Word
younger than Word 97 can open and save .docx.

I send everyone .docx. Most will never notice. If they complain and they
are paying customers, I send them a downgraded copy, along with a pointer to
the Microsoft update site.

If they are not paying customers, I just send the link

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

When I save it takes minutes where it used to be just a moment.

Can someone explain the difference in .doc and .docx?

If I choose the default .docx will someone be able to open the document with
an older version of Word?

--

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]

 

[Gale_Gorman]

Thanks, John,

I may have a corrupt file so how can it be cleaned up?

After saving to .docx I tried to center a line containing only 3 characters and it took 6 minutes.

Right now the file is 44 pages long with very little formatting.

I used UNIX for years and I'm considering writing this in VI.

Gale Gorman
Houston

 

[Gale_Gorman]

I fixed the sluggish saving with Disk Utility/repair disk and that resulted in reloading the operating system with the "archive"option.

Then I opened the same document and tried to get rid of ALL autoformatting.

I'm still not there but I'm gaining on it.

There has to be a better way.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Gale:

"Maggie" the document, or Save it as a Web Page.

The Maggie:

1. Create a new blank document
2. Carefully select all of the text in the bad document EXCEPT the last
paragraph mark
3. Copy it.
4. Paste in the new document.
5. Save under a new file name and close all, then re-open.

This technique for de-corrupting is known as "Doing a 'Maggie'", after
Margaret Secara from the TECHWR-L mailing list, who first publicised the
technique.

Save as Web Page

1. Open the document
2. File>Save As... And choose Web Page
3. In the bottom of the dialog, make CERTAIN ³Save entire file² is checked.
4. Save the file and close the document
5. Quit Word and re-start it
6. Open the Web Page version of the file
7. File>Save as and this time choose ³Document²
8. Give the file a different name, so you have the old one to go back to.
9. Check the file for missing bits.

If you choose ³Save Display information only² you strip out the code in the
file that enables Word to re-create a document from it later. By forcing
Word to re-express the file in a different format, you cause it to discard
any code it cannot understand. That fixes the problem, but it can lead to
missing text.

Hope this helps

I fixed the sluggish saving with Disk Utility/repair disk and that resulted in
reloading the operating system with the "archive"option.

Then I opened the same document and tried to get rid of ALL autoformatting.

I'm still not there but I'm gaining on it.

There has to be a better way.

--

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]

 

[Gale_Gorman]

John,

Both methods worked! I saved the file as different names and both have the text intact.

It was easy to see where the gaps were when I did the cut and paste method. I still have no idea what the gaps contained. Perhaps Word should come up with a "Reveal Codes" like Word Perfect had years ago.

Thank you!

Gale

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Gale:

The short answer is "A Word document does not contain any 'codes' to
reveal." It doesn't work that way.

See here:
http://word.mvps.org/fAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm

And here:
http://word.mvps.org/fAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm

You could think of Word as a Car Dealership. Out the back, there is a
"paint shop". You can have any colour of car you want, just send an
apprentice to grab a can of paint from the paint shop.

That's how Word formats text Each Paragraph contains only the name of a
"Style". A Style is a "named collection of formatting". There could be as
many as 1,200 separate pieces of information in a Style. The paragraph
contains only a number, which tells Word which can of paint that is...

If you want to see Word's codes, that is easy with the modern .docx format,
because it is human-readable.

Take your document (must be in .docx) and make a COPY of it.

Change the file extension to ".zip" and double-click it. You will get a
folder. Inside the folder is a little website. Poke around in there until
you find a file named "Document.xml". It should be in the "Word" folder.

Open "Document.xml" in TextEdit.

There you are! Those are Word's codes! If you know what you are doing, you
can change them to your heart's content...

Enjoy!

John,

Both methods worked! I saved the file as different names and both have the
text intact.

It was easy to see where the gaps were when I did the cut and paste method. I
still have no idea what the gaps contained. Perhaps Word should come up with a
"Reveal Codes" like Word Perfect had years ago.

Thank you!

Gale

--

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]