Word unstable when pasting material

[davez]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

I am a writer (not a tech indy-er) trying to use a Mac, which seems to have been a foolish choice. Have read a few posts that "pasting" doesn't work well on MacWord. For a writer, this is like telling me that AirPort only works on Tuesdays. Am using 12.9.1, which hangs every 45 mins or so during a long day of editing (which is most days of work for me). Almost too unstable to use.
While this may be just a nuisance to the traditional Mac crowd, it is a must-fix for a wider audience, including myself. Any suggestions, fixes in the works, or should I just buy a PC and tell other writers to do the same?

 

[Rob Schneider]

Pasting works just fine for me in Word 2008 even with the newest Snow
Leopard. Exactly what problem are you having.

(I've used most every version of Word since it was a DOS program in the
1980's. Except for the lack of macros in Word 2008, it has become my
favourite flavour of Word!)

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dave:

Well, I am a Technical Writer, and I have been for about 30 years. I spend
all day and every day working in Word, and I don't get these problems.

However, I will admit that Word's reliability, on both PC and Mac, is very
dependent on how carefully and precisely you work It's a bit like
driving a car: many people follow too close and do not stay accurately
within their lanes, and the smash repairers love them for it

The only consideration in Mac Word is that Word 2008 is a "lite" version
that does not include VBA. Most people who use Word seriously use a small
VBA routine that overrides the default pasting behaviour, and we can't do
that in 2008.

Which means you have to use "Edit>Paste Special>Unformatted text..." and I
have to reach for the menu every time to do it. Which means I tend to use
Word 2004 for serious work.

I would suggest that you review your standard working practices: if you
avoid things such as pasting tracked changes into the middle of other
tracked changes, you will gain a lot of stability. Word to keep the
internal code of the document "clean" ‹ you will be rewarded. I never use
Tracked Changes, I apply the mark-up after I have finished editing, using
Compare Documents.

And you might want to check your update level. Go to Help>About Word and
check that your version is 12.2.0 and the latest installed update is 12.2.1.
I don't recognise "12.9.1", which may simply be a typo. If not: make sure
you are at the latest update level.

But the thing that is going to solve the problem for you (both of you...) is
"work precisely and neatly" ‹ aim to reduce the complexity of the code in
the document.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

I am a writer (not a tech indy-er) trying to use a Mac, which seems to have
been a foolish choice. Have read a few posts that "pasting" doesn't work well
on MacWord. For a writer, this is like telling me that AirPort only works on
Tuesdays. Am using 12.9.1, which hangs every 45 mins or so during a long day
of editing (which is most days of work for me). Almost too unstable to use.
While this may be just a nuisance to the traditional Mac crowd, it is a
must-fix for a wider audience, including myself. Any suggestions, fixes in the
works, or should I just buy a PC and tell other writers to do the same?

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]

 

[CyberTaz]

Don't know this to be the case for you, but another common pitfall is the
false sense of security some seem to find in letting their Mac & their apps
run 24/7. The behavior you describe is symptomatic of doing so. If you
aren't in the habit of doing so, shut down the Mac at least 2-3 times per
week & restart any program no less than once per day. Relying on 'perpetual
sleep' is a time bomb with a fast clock.

Keep in mind that Copy/Cut-Paste [as are Save, Open, Print, etc.] is a
service of the OS, not a function of the program you happen to be using at
the time the service fails to deliver as expected.

Most folks don't like to hear something like this... They prefer to accuse
the messenger of "defending" Microsoft & to fault the software rather than
admit to their own lack of understanding of how to properly use what they
claim to be an indispensible tool. I'm not saying that you're one of that
number, but simply allowing for the possibility that there may be aspects of
your usage that could be involved . Word 2008 most certainly has its
shortcomings, but crash or hang simply due to copy/paste isn't one of them.

As John suggests, if you're having consistent problems of this nature there
are definitely issues that need be addressed. There could be any number of
influencing factors contributing to the failures, but in order to narrow it
down you'd need to supply much more specific, detailed information about the
circumstances that precipitate the fatal errors.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[mdh]

The only consideration in Mac Word is that Word 2008 is a "lite" version
that does not include VBA.  Most people who use Word seriously use a small
VBA routine that overrides the default pasting behaviour, and we can't do
that in 2008.

Which means you have to use "Edit>Paste Special>Unformatted text..." and I
have to reach for the menu every time to do it. Which means I tend to use
Word 2004 for serious work.

John,
it is pretty straightforward to do a paste plain text in applescript
and give it a keyboard binding. If that's the only VBA script that
you're really missing, it's not too complicated:

To get the key bindings, you need to append some cruft on to your
filename (e.g., "Paste plain text.scpt \smV")

The script itself is pretty simple (not sure if anything better out
there):
tell application "Microsoft Word"
tell selection
set theClip to string of (the clipboard as record)
set newPoint to (selection start + (length of theClip))
set content of text object to theClip
set selection start to newPoint
set selection end to newPoint
end tell
end tell

I do use a different script when pasting in to tables, which bring
their own world of hurt.

Matt

 

[John McGhie]

John,
it is pretty straightforward to do a paste plain text in applescript
and give it a keyboard binding. If that's the only VBA script that
you're really missing, it's not too complicated:

To get the key bindings, you need to append some cruft on to your
filename (e.g., "Paste plain text.scpt \smV")

The script itself is pretty simple (not sure if anything better out
there):
tell application "Microsoft Word"
tell selection
set theClip to string of (the clipboard as record)
set newPoint to (selection start + (length of theClip))
set content of text object to theClip
set selection start to newPoint
set selection end to newPoint
end tell
end tell

I do use a different script when pasting in to tables, which bring
their own world of hurt.

Matt

Hi Matt:

Thanks for that: that looks like a useful script!

Sadly, it's not the "only" Macro I am missing: I have quite a few

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]

 

[Rod_Hagen]

Interesting comments, John.

Sometimes these things are out of the Mac user's control in a collaborative situation, though, and its very annoying that the program doesn't handle such things as elegantly as it should.

I regularly work on large docs (200 to 500 pages or more in length) in a collaborative situation with PC users. The "client" in this case establishes the manner in which documents are exchanged , and wants it done with tracked changes and comments throughout. Inevitably there is a lot of commenting on comments, changes to changes, etc etc., along the way, involving several participants. The docs also contain images produced using a variety of software on both the Mac and the PCs.

Usually it goes along swimmingly for the first couple of exchanges, but then the crashes start to occur on the Mac (the PC users don't seem to run into the problem) , sometimes in "copy and paste" situations, often when simply scrolling through the document.

Gets very frustrating after a while, and in my situation at least there really doesn't seem to be any simple solution.

Rod

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rod:

The "client" in this case establishes
the manner in which documents are exchanged , and wants it done with tracked
changes and comments throughout.

Yeah, my clients are the same. I still work with tracked changes turned OFF
and add all the changes as a single operation at the completion of the
process, using Compare Documents. Because "Word" adds the changes, it can
avoid planting one change within the scope of another change, and thus,
dramatically lessen the crashes.

Usually it goes along swimmingly for the first couple of exchanges, but then
the crashes start to occur on the Mac (the PC users don't seem to run into the
problem) , sometimes in "copy and paste" situations, often when simply
scrolling through the document.

The OC users will eventually get the same problem: but Word 2003 has a much
higher tolerance for pain than Word 2008. Interestingly, Word 2007 is not
quite as solid (but still well ahead of 2008).

My suggestion would be to upgrade to Word 2004 (yes: the PREVIOUS version)
for serious work. It's a lot more powerful and less buggy, and thus more
stable.

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]

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 4/10/09 12:46 PM, in article C6EE57AC.284C%[email protected], "John

My suggestion would be to upgrade to Word 2004 (yes: the PREVIOUS version)
for serious work. It's a lot more powerful and less buggy, and thus more
stable.

Seconded!

Rod, you may get some ideas on collaborative development of documents
(consistent with John's advice) from page 67 and onwards in some notes on
the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are
available as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

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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