Re: How to keep Word from messing with me?

From: Bill Weylock (bill_at_nospam.net)
Date: 09/11/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 02:32:07 -0700

Good grief!

Am I to be flattered or insulted by this?

Could you guys argue over some other carcass? :)

Matt is exactly correct. Given a choice between being asked and being able
to prevent change on the one hand and not being asked and being unable to
prevent change on the other, I choose the one - probably maladroitly, but
sort of adeptly too, in a way, maybe.

In previous versions and in not too distant times, I do not think I was so
frequently presented with the question, and I do not remember corruption.

In fact, I was fishing for an option I thought I recalled from somewhere
that would allow me to talk Word out of saving changes to Normal altogether.
But Iım not sure that makes sense.

Where in the word help files does it explain exactly what Word is asking and
what the implications are of the choices? It probably is in there somewhere.

The ins and outs of this stuff ceased to fascinate me when MS decided to
stop documenting and explaining features and functions. There was a time
when there was precious little about this program I did not understand.

The exception was macros, which I still don't trust. Except for ones others
have built and tested, like your great little add in that arranges the
windows vertically instead of horizontally.

I have a lot of customizations, but they are almost all designed to bring
buried functionalities to the surface. I whip in and out of a lot of styles,
and I've been doing it with impunity for a long time. Only in the very
recent past have things gone wonky.

First thing I noticed was that calling styles by the shortcuts appended to
the names (bullet,b) did not always work as expected. No one has yet been
able to explain that one fully. It just happens sometimes and sometimes not.

I take the point of having all documents based on specific templates. What I
have always done rather than mess with templates is simply open a document
like the one I want to create, save as, and start working. Itıs close to the
same idea, I think.

Leaving town for a couple of days, so this is my last post for a while.

I knew as I was asking the questions that I didn't know what to ask about.
I've been keeping long hours and short fuses. I was shaking with anger and
frustration when I jumped in here to see if help was available on something
so vague.

In fact, I've received more and better help than I could have expected. I
even refined the question to something that you guys could argue about. Iım
sort of proud.

Thanks.

I guess I would just ask that if you are going to argue it would be a
kindness not to make my level of intelligence and expertise part of the mix.

Just figured out what OP means. Yeah, t'is I.

In all seriousness, I deeply appreciate the help you guys give. I know it
canıt have been easy to follow the threads to a decently comprehensive
understanding of all of this stuff. I trust you both have business reasons
for doing so, but Iım very glad you did, whatever the reason.

Best,

 - Bill

On 9/11/04 12:10 AM, in article
jemcgimpsey-732E34.01105311092004@msnews.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey"
<jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote:

> In article <1gjx635.1ydikgg1s14mxgN%matt@tidbits.com>,
> matt@tidbits.com (matt neuburg) wrote:
>
>> The first rule of teaching is to listen more deeply to the questioner
>> than his words; you must figure out what he *really* wants to know, for
>> that is the very thing he does *not* know.
>
> I agree. But that's *only* a first rule. There are others, many of which
> are more important.
>
> That's why suggesting something that explicitly does *not* do what the
> OP asks, is, based on *my* teaching experience, exceedingly likely to be
> ignored, along with the rest of one's suggestions, no matter how deep an
> insight one has gained into what the OP really needs. Hence my question.
>
> FWIW, what is a "clear implication" to you in the follow-on, is not at
> all clear to me. Perhaps that's because I read the sentence
>
>> I know I've seen the option somewhere, but I can't find it now.
>
> as implying that the OP is competent to evaluate the effect of "the
> option", rather than "express(ing) it clumsily".
>
> Also, given the OP's
>
>> I totally get styles. I hate macros. I hate multiple templates. I
>> donıt want palettes.
>
> it's not obvious to me that the OP is maladroit, as it is
> to you ("unless he is an adept...which, from the rest of his letter, he
> obviously is not").

Panther 10.3.5
Office 2004