Word Document Version Object

[Evan Stone]

Is the Word Document Version Object a reliable means of maintaining versions
of a document?

I'm still working on the copy document issue, and was wondering if it would
be possible to establish a save point (a version), then make some changes,
show a print preview of the document in that state, then roll the document
back to the original state.

Hope that made sense. Does that sound plausible? Are there any potential
gotchas I need to worry about (like security, etc.)?

Thanks!

evan k. stone | software engineer

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Evan,

Is the Word Document Version Object a reliable means of maintaining versions
of a document?

I'm still working on the copy document issue, and was wondering if it would
be possible to establish a save point (a version), then make some changes,
show a print preview of the document in that state, then roll the document
back to the original state.

Mmmm. The feature would probably do what you envision. But in my opinion (and
experience), it's not very stable (i.e. a source of damaged documents). I
can't remember all the details about why you need to copy a document (sorry!).
If both on-screen original and copy would be "throw away" (IOW the original
file wouldn't be saved over), you'd probably be all right. If the original is
going to be retained and edited over a period of time, I'd be skeptical.

What you describe sounds, in a way, a lot like "Track changes". In newer
versions of Word you can display (and print) the original vs. the final
version (all change marking suppressed). This doesn't destabilize the file
structures to the extent Versions appear to. Although I might be concerned
about actually getting rid of the changes (the "roll back" part) IF the
document's internal structures were already damaged.

Could you outline what you need again, including the version(s) of Word it
needs to work with? What kinds of changes would you be making? Text and/or
formatting?

(Making notes to myself): if this is Word 2003, an XML transform might make a
lot of sense...

Hope that made sense. Does that sound plausible? Are there any potential
gotchas I need to worry about (like security, etc.)?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Evan Stone]

Hi Cindy,

But in my opinion (and
experience), it's not very stable (i.e. a source of damaged documents).

'nuff said. thanks!

evan k. stone | software engineer