System information in Word 2007

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

A few years ago I stumbled across the W2003 System Info button on the About
Microsoft Office Word dialog. It show great about my computer, operating
system, MS Office, Word, AND the active Word document.

It shows
Name Factor 3 Personnel and Staffing Approach.doc
Path C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxxx\My Documents\xxxxxx\xxxxxxxx\Factor 3
Personnel and Staffing Approach.doc
Size 178.5 KB
Create date 1/7/2009 11:13:00 AM
Author Pamelia Caswell
Last saved date 1/7/2009 11:14:00 AM
Last author Pamelia Caswell
Template C:\Documents and Settings\Pam Caswell\Application Data\Microsoft\
Templates\Normal.dot
Characters 22685
Characters (with spaces) 26278
Words 3739
Lines 819
Paragraphs 252
Pages 13
Sections 1
View Print view
Allow fast saves False
Window position Left: 0, Top: 0
Document contains Main text, Even pages header, Primary header, Even pages
footer, Primary footer, First page header, First page footer, Unknown,
Unknown, Unknown, Unknown

Among other things I found very useful, it also shows styles info for the
active document, such as

Autoformat as you type Define styles: False
Autoformat preserve styles True
Paragraph styles in use 20

Name: Action Caption Description: Caption + Font: Not Bold, Italic, Space
After: 10 pt
Base style: Caption Next style: Action Caption
Built-in: False No proofing: False
Automatically update: False

Name: Heading 1 Description: Normal + Font: (Default) Calibri, 16 pt, Bold,
Font color: Custom Color(RGB(255,251,240)), Kern at 16 pt, Indent: Left: 0",
Hanging: 0.3", Space Before: 13 pt, After: 3 pt, No widow/orphan control,
Keep with next, Level 1, Pattern: Clear (Custom Color(RGB(49,132,155))),
Outline numbered + Level: 1 + Numbering Style: 1, 2, 3, … + Start at: 3 +
Alignment: Left + Aligned at: 0" + Tab after: 0" + Indent at: 0.3"
Base style: Normal Next style: Normal
Built-in: True No proofing: False
Automatically update: False

Unfortunately, now that I have removed W2003 from my desktop, W2007 does not
provide any information about the active document. Do any of you know
whether MS intends to restore this function to Word? Perhaps in the
upcoming service pack or in W2010?

thanks,
Pam

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

My first paragraph should have read:
A few years ago I stumbled across the W2003 System Info button on the About
Microsoft Office Word dialog. It shows great info about the computer,
operating system, MS Office, Word, AND the active Word document.

Pam

 

[grammatim]

That's a lovely name, Pamelia -- is it traditional in your family, or
do you have grandmothers Pamela and Amelia, or some such?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It's still there: Office Button | Word Options | Resources: About brings up
the About Microsoft Office Word dialog, which has the System Info button as
before.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Thank you. No, it's not the name of anyone in my family. I thought my
parents had made it up—since they told me that they compromised because one
liked Pamela and the other Amelia—until internet searches proved the name is
much older than I am. But they never said where they'd heard it or who
they'd known with the name.

Pam

That's a lovely name, Pamelia -- is it traditional in your family, or
do you have grandmothers Pamela and Amelia, or some such?

A few  years ago I stumbled across the  W2003 System Info button on the About
Microsoft Office Word dialog.  It show great about my computer, operating

[quoted text clipped - 58 lines]

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Hi, Suzanne,

Yes, the button is there and you can get the same information about the
computer, system, Office, and Word, but not about the active document. No
list of styles in use, no info on the number of sections, page numbering,
headers and footers, how many tables there are in the document, etc. It all
says "Not available". Take a look in both of the versions you run. (I'm
pretty sure this was not in W2002, and very sure it wasn't in W2000.)

Pam

It's still there: Office Button | Word Options | Resources: About brings up
the About Microsoft Office Word dialog, which has the System Info button as
before.

A few years ago I stumbled across the W2003 System Info button on the
About

[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Are you using Word 2007 on a Vista machine?

The following may be relevant (although it;s possible it does not
describe quite the same problem):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926528

The article also suggest that although the utility worked with Word
2000, it did not do so if it was running on Windows 2000 (I can check
the Word 2000/Windows 2000 and Word XP/Win XP combinations if you are
interested, but not Word 2000+WinXP)

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Hi, Suzanne,

Yes, the button is there and you can get the same information about the
computer, system, Office, and Word, but not about the active document. No
list of styles in use, no info on the number of sections, page numbering,
headers and footers, how many tables there are in the document, etc. It all
says "Not available". Take a look in both of the versions you run. (I'm
pretty sure this was not in W2002, and very sure it wasn't in W2000.)

Pam

It's still there: Office Button | Word Options | Resources: About brings up
the About Microsoft Office Word dialog, which has the System Info button as
before.

A few years ago I stumbled across the W2003 System Info button on the
About

[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no information
about the active document.

Pam

Are you using Word 2007 on a Vista machine?

The following may be relevant (although it;s possible it does not
describe quite the same problem):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926528

The article also suggest that although the utility worked with Word
2000, it did not do so if it was running on Windows 2000 (I can check
the Word 2000/Windows 2000 and Word XP/Win XP combinations if you are
interested, but not Word 2000+WinXP)

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Hi, Suzanne,

[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It's rather odd. It tells me I have three documents open, but even when the
active document is one created in Word 2007, the Summary information I get
is about another document, one created in (and open in) Word 2003. And I get
the same disappointing results in Word 2003 (not surprisingly, I suppose).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no information
about the active document.

Pam

Are you using Word 2007 on a Vista machine?

The following may be relevant (although it;s possible it does not
describe quite the same problem):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926528

The article also suggest that although the utility worked with Word
2000, it did not do so if it was running on Windows 2000 (I can check
the Word 2000/Windows 2000 and Word XP/Win XP combinations if you are
interested, but not Word 2000+WinXP)

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Hi, Suzanne,

[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[Tony Jollans]

That MS KB Peter provided is amongst the least helpful I've seen recently.
It simply says you don't get the information on Vista and doesn't tell you
why or what you can do about it.

The System Information button just provides a way from Word to run the
Windows tool (otherwise available from Start > All Programs > Accessories >
System Tools > System Information). What you see depends on your Windows
version, although Windows may, in turn, query Word to be able to provide
Word-related information.

On XP, where I have several versions of Word installed, I do see all sorts
of information about Word 2003 and Word 2007 and an Active Document - but it
is decidedly confused, both about the document and the language it wants to
provide the information in. 2003 and 2007, and even Word 95, provide exactly
the same information (they are all running the sme tool). I don't have an XP
system with just 2003, or just 2007, to check. What do you see under Word
2007, Pam, if you have no document information?

Vista shows nothing Word-related at all.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no information
about the active document.

Pam

Are you using Word 2007 on a Vista machine?

The following may be relevant (although it;s possible it does not
describe quite the same problem):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926528

The article also suggest that although the utility worked with Word
2000, it did not do so if it was running on Windows 2000 (I can check
the Word 2000/Windows 2000 and Word XP/Win XP combinations if you are
interested, but not Word 2000+WinXP)

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Hi, Suzanne,

[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Oh dear. The active document should be the one the cursor was in when you
called up the system information. If it's different, then there are worse
problems than I thought.

Pam

It's rather odd. It tells me I have three documents open, but even when the
active document is one created in Word 2007, the Summary information I get
is about another document, one created in (and open in) Word 2003. And I get
the same disappointing results in Word 2003 (not surprisingly, I suppose).

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no information

[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Thanks, Tony.

Here's what I get when I click System Info from within W2007.

Word version 2007
System information
Office applications
MSO Word 2007

Summary:

Application name Microsoft Word
Version 12.0
Build 6331
Product ID 81605-903-4010097-65395
Application path C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12
Language English (United States)
System language designation English (U.S.)
Active printer Canon iP4200 on NE06:

Documents open 1
Document name Not Available
Document path Not Available
Document size Not Available
Document create date Not Available

The summary goes on to list the templates (5) and add-ons (4 of the 5) that
are loaded.

Active document:
Name Not Available
Path Not Available
Size Not Available
Create date Not Available
Author Not Available
Last saved date Not Available
Last author Not Available
Template Not Available
Characters Not Available
Characters (with spaces) Not Available
Words Not Available
Lines Not Available
Paragraphs Not Available
Pages Not Available
Sections Not Available
View Not Available
Allow fast saves False
Window position Not Available
Document contains Not Available
Notable Has password
Notable Has routing slip
Notable Master document
Notable Subdocument
Notable Protected for revisions
Notable Read only
Notable Read only recommended
Notable Password required to modify

All the other screens except startup folder, COM Add-ins, file converters,
fonts, and settings (which are Word instead of document settings) says "not
available".

That MS KB Peter provided is amongst the least helpful I've seen recently.
It simply says you don't get the information on Vista and doesn't tell you
why or what you can do about it.

The System Information button just provides a way from Word to run the
Windows tool (otherwise available from Start > All Programs > Accessories >
System Tools > System Information). What you see depends on your Windows
version, although Windows may, in turn, query Word to be able to provide
Word-related information.

On XP, where I have several versions of Word installed, I do see all sorts
of information about Word 2003 and Word 2007 and an Active Document - but it
is decidedly confused, both about the document and the language it wants to
provide the information in. 2003 and 2007, and even Word 95, provide exactly
the same information (they are all running the sme tool). I don't have an XP
system with just 2003, or just 2007, to check. What do you see under Word
2007, Pam, if you have no document information?

Vista shows nothing Word-related at all.

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no information

[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Tony seems to be experiencing the same anomaly.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Oh dear. The active document should be the one the cursor was in when you
called up the system information. If it's different, then there are worse
problems than I thought.

Pam

It's rather odd. It tells me I have three documents open, but even when
the
active document is one created in Word 2007, the Summary information I get
is about another document, one created in (and open in) Word 2003. And I
get
the same disappointing results in Word 2003 (not surprisingly, I suppose).

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I
am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no
information

[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I don't have an XP system with just 2003

The tool works fine here. Also on Win XP/Word XP and even Win2k/Word 2k.
"System info. is also available from Word Help even on Win 98/Word 97
and Win 95/Word 95, but no detail is provided for Word/other Office aps
in those case.

Something that probably affects the value of this tool significantly is
that if you have two instances of Word (even the same version), the tool
will only report on one instance. I guess it's doing something like a
GetObject, which will only get you one of them. In this case you may get
"instance 1" even when you run the tool from "instance 2."

That could well affect systems where you have both Word 2003 and 2007
running. Also, it's possible that using Outlook and its Word/pseudo-Word
editor may also cause this kind of problem.

Another obscure thing that /might/ affect the tool, assuming it is doing
a GetObject of some kind, is whether the current instance of Word has
been registered in the ROT (Running Object Table or some such).
Certainly in older versions of Word/Windows, Word would not necessarily
be registered in the ROT until you clicked outside the application, so a
GetObject would not see it. However, since you need to click the System
Info app. to get the info. about Word, I guess this is unlikely to be an
issue.

(I don't think that sheds any more light on the problem Pam is
reporting, but I don't have an XP/Word 2007 combination either).



Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

 

[Tony Jollans]

Thank you. I see it now, or, rather, I don't. I can only conclude that
Office 2007 appears to confuse Windows XP System Information - so much so
that Windows Vista System Information doesn't even bother to try and deal
with Office. I am not aware of anything else that provides all the
information, though it might be interesting to try to write something. Sorry
not to be more helpful!

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

Thanks, Tony.

Here's what I get when I click System Info from within W2007.

Word version 2007
System information
Office applications
MSO Word 2007

Summary:

Application name Microsoft Word
Version 12.0
Build 6331
Product ID 81605-903-4010097-65395
Application path C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12
Language English (United States)
System language designation English (U.S.)
Active printer Canon iP4200 on NE06:

Documents open 1
Document name Not Available
Document path Not Available
Document size Not Available
Document create date Not Available

The summary goes on to list the templates (5) and add-ons (4 of the 5)
that
are loaded.

Active document:
Name Not Available
Path Not Available
Size Not Available
Create date Not Available
Author Not Available
Last saved date Not Available
Last author Not Available
Template Not Available
Characters Not Available
Characters (with spaces) Not Available
Words Not Available
Lines Not Available
Paragraphs Not Available
Pages Not Available
Sections Not Available
View Not Available
Allow fast saves False
Window position Not Available
Document contains Not Available
Notable Has password
Notable Has routing slip
Notable Master document
Notable Subdocument
Notable Protected for revisions
Notable Read only
Notable Read only recommended
Notable Password required to modify

All the other screens except startup folder, COM Add-ins, file converters,
fonts, and settings (which are Word instead of document settings) says
"not
available".

That MS KB Peter provided is amongst the least helpful I've seen recently.
It simply says you don't get the information on Vista and doesn't tell you
why or what you can do about it.

The System Information button just provides a way from Word to run the
Windows tool (otherwise available from Start > All Programs > AccessoriesSystem Tools > System Information). What you see depends on your Windows
version, although Windows may, in turn, query Word to be able to provide
Word-related information.

On XP, where I have several versions of Word installed, I do see all sorts
of information about Word 2003 and Word 2007 and an Active Document - but
it
is decidedly confused, both about the document and the language it wants
to
provide the information in. 2003 and 2007, and even Word 95, provide
exactly
the same information (they are all running the sme tool). I don't have an
XP
system with just 2003, or just 2007, to check. What do you see under Word
2007, Pam, if you have no document information?

Vista shows nothing Word-related at all.

Peter, thank you very much for checking this. But I am using XP, and I
am
getting information about Office 2007 and Word 2007, just no
information

[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]

thanks,
Pam

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Thanks, everyone for your comments. To clarify, It's the active document
information that, as far as I recall, was new to W2003 or 2002, and it is
that same information that is missing from W2007.

My desktop computer only runs Office 2007; my laptop runs both Office 2003
(with the 2007 compatibility pack) and Office 2007. If I run System Info
from within W2007--on either computer--I get no active document information.
If I run System Info from within W2003, I get active document information on
both doc and docx files and through both the Office 2007 and Office 2003
picks. This says to me that the capabilities are Word version specific, which
is what I think you are also saying, Tony.

I gather that you folks haven't noticed this before and so haven't talked to
the MS about it. So I'll just have to wait and see whether they fix for
O2007 SP2 (is it still coming tomorrow?) or in O2010.

Kind regards,
Pam

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, now I'm trying again in Word 2003 with Word 2007 not open and I see a
new line item for Active Document, which I'm pretty sure was not there
before (if it was, I sure must have been blind). So I *can* still get that
in Word 2003 but apparently not while Word 2007 is open. <sigh>

Oops, now it's even weirder. If I open System Info in Word 2007 (after
closing it in Word 2003), I see the Active Document line item for both Word
2003 and Word 2007, but the document it's showing me for Word 2007 is the
document I was looking at in Word 2003, not the active document in Word 2007

If I close that document in Word 2003 and reopen System Info in Word 2007, I
get an Active Document line item for Word 2007, but the information it is
showing me is for Document1 (in Word 2003), not Document2 (Word 2007).

So the bottom line is that the info (such as it is) is available only for
Word 2003.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org