Word 2008 Crashes When Comparing Two Large Documents

[WAMonsen]

The subject sort of says it all. When I try to compare two large documents
(~500 pages each), Word crashes. The documents are PC-based. A few tables, no
images. I have asked a co-worker to do the compare on a PC and there is no
problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Bill

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bill:

Compare documents is a severe test of Word's internals. It requires the
application to read very complex coding very quickly. Tables are a
particular challenge

Word 2008 is likely to tip over comparing two .docs. You may have more luck
with .docx files.

When I get this problem, I simply save both files as plain text, and compare
that. This method is extremely accurate: you can see exactly where the
differences are, and Word is very unlikely to fall over.

Cheers

The subject sort of says it all. When I try to compare two large documents
(~500 pages each), Word crashes. The documents are PC-based. A few tables, no
images. I have asked a co-worker to do the compare on a PC and there is no
problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Bill

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[WAMonsen]

John,

Thanks. I recently switched to using a Mac for work (I have had Macs at home
for many years) and am getting a little tense with some of the weaknesses in
the MS Office suite for Macs. This is disappointing since I was looking
forward to seeing how the Mac would operate in a heavy work environment...

Bill

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 11/11/08 3:56 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "WAMonsen"

I was looking
forward to seeing how the Mac would operate in a heavy work environment...

For that you need Word 2004, Bill (which is why most of us who do serious
work have not moved to Word 2008). And I'd be very surprised if the next
version isn't a big improvement, but I guess that's two years up the
track...

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)
====================================================
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====================================================

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bill:

Office 2008 is just rubbish for professional use. Buy yourself a copy of
Office 2004 and wait for Office 2010.

Office 2004 was bit feeble, but it will at least get the job done.

I have very high hopes for Office 2010

Cheers

John,

Thanks. I recently switched to using a Mac for work (I have had Macs at home
for many years) and am getting a little tense with some of the weaknesses in
the MS Office suite for Macs. This is disappointing since I was looking
forward to seeing how the Mac would operate in a heavy work environment...

Bill

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Tom_K]

I get the same thing with documents of around 60 - 70 pp. The poster who says 'Office 2008 is just rubbish for professional use' is being kind.