Re: a mode where you ADD auto features to a default blank slate

While these articles go a long way toward helping users get rid of automatic
features, I think Amy's suggestion of a "bare bones" operating state, with a
Setup Wizard, is a good one.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"Jay Freedman" <jay.freedman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:o4n2f15pc7mnmkr8spe11899ldg9336d7i@xxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Amy,
>
> Have a look at these articles:
>
> http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm
> http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TameAutoFormat.htm
> http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/CustomizingWord2002.htm
>
> --
> Regards,
> Jay Freedman
> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
>
> On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:47:59 -0700, Amy <Amy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> >Office products, especially Word, do so much automatically that it often
> >behaves in unexpected ways and it is not clear how to "turn off" those
many
> >features. I would LOVE to be able to click on a button and switch the
default
> >mode to a COMPLETELY blank slate, where NOTHING would be done
automatically
> >except those things I purposefully turned on.
> >
> >In word, for example, you could start from a bare-bones mode that didn't
do
> >anything except display your typing in a paper with 1-inch margins. From
> >there, you could add proportional spacing, paragraph protocols, turn on
spell
> >check, grammar check, automatic list formats, etc......
> >
> >Years ago, I had a word processing program called "Write Now" that was
> >arranged this way - it didn't do anything "fancy" until you told it to.
This
> >meant that you could deal with features as you needed them and learned
about
> >them. It made trouble-shooting SO MUCH EASIER.
> >
> >Perhaps a "set up wizard" could be written that would ask you whether or
not
> >you want to use the various features? Clearly, it would take a long time
to
> >go through it, but it could also act as a mini-tutorial. For each
feature,
> >there could be a brief explanation and then you could choose to turn it
on or
> >off or set the default setting.
> >
> >----------------
> >This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
> >suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the
"I
> >Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
> >link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and
then
> >click "I Agree" in the message pane.
> >
>
>http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=6ef1e636-a
a89-4b0a-957c-a994d40f5223&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
>

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