Re: how to handle large document organization
From: Charles Kenyon (msnewsgroup_at_remove.no.spam.addbalance.com)
Date: 04/05/04
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Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 14:01:43 -0500
Hi,
It sounds as if network speed may be your bottleneck. More RAM might still
help. Try maxing out one machine and benchmarking it against another doing
the same things. Scrolling through a large document in RAM is a very
different experience from doing the same using Windows disk paging.
If you have Norton AV software, disable the "Office Plug-In" as it can slow
document opening and processing.
In a document that size, if you can format it only using styles, that should
speed things up and will make editing much faster. Don't use empty
paragraphs for spacing. Each paragraph mark in a document with direct
formatting can contain over 50 formatting codes. I believe these are reduced
to one or two by style formatting.
As Dayo said, processing in normal view (with autopagination turned off)
makes Word much more responsive. Specify use of a draft font in normal view.
I mentioned the Fast Saves option. This _must_ be turned off. They are not
fast, they are disaster-prone. This is a hold-over from the days of very
slow disk drives and slow processors.
If you are working on the document on a network drive, the temporary files
are _not_ being saved locally. Word saves its main temporary document files
in the folder with the document. The automatic backup files (as well as the
autorecover files) will be saved to your network drive. If this folder is
restricted, that could be slowing Word down. (This last statement is
speculation, not knowledge.)
-- Charles Kenyon See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "Chip Orange" <chip.orange@psc.state.fl.us[remove-me-and-brackets]> wrote in message news:u1diSOzGEHA.2708@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl... > Thanks Charles for the response. > > We've already taken all your advice, and I've read many, if not most, of > those articles. > > I probably didn't make my problem clear enough; it's not how to convert from > WP to Word (yes, we've become very proficient with styles and use them > constantly), but, it's how to replace the WP master document feature. > > The need here, since Words master document feature is problematic, for > suggestions to help me improve the speed in dealing with very large > documents. Alternatively, someone might suggest to me that use of the > includetext field is the way to go. But for now, unless we break the > document down into parts without use of the master document feature, things > can get very slow at times, and as I understood your suggestions, none of > them pertained directly to the speed of Words operations. > > What we have is a document, created from scratch, defined in many sections > with liberal use of the heading style to make TOC and document map easy. > The text of the document is being pasted in, bit by bit, from WP copy/paste > operations, as unformatted text. > > As our Word document grows in size, it grows ever slower to operate on it. > > We have 1.8 ghz pcs with 512mb of RAM, and the only obvious slow item is > that our automatic backup files are set to go to a network server directory > (for reasons of recovery by network administrators). There is some > disagreement amongst the ITS folks here as to whether this is a good idea or > not. > > Obviously the temporary files directory is left pointing to the local hard > drive. > > The document being worked on is stored on a network drive. > > Any further suggestions would be appreciated. > > Chip > > > "Charles Kenyon" <msnewsgroup@remove.no.spam.addbalance.com> wrote in > message news:O5zstkyGEHA.1152@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl... > > Learn about styles first. Then apply Word's built-in heading styles to > your > > headings (change the formatting of the styles to suit your use). This will > > allow you to easily generate a Table of Contents with hyperlinks and let > you > > use the Document Map feature. > > > > The best way to improve the speed of handling is to add RAM to your > > computers. > > > > Make sure that the Fast Saves option is turned OFF. This will wreck your > > document. > > > > What follows is general advice on moving to Word from WP: > > > > Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each > program's > > methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these > > programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can > > easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take > > the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word > Pad. > > You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw > > power. > > > > See <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm> > > <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm> > > <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm> > > <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordPerfectConverters.htm> > > <URL: > > http://businesssoft.about.com/compute/businesssoft/library/blconvert.htm> > > for information on Word for Word Perfect users. > > > > For more: > > <URL: > http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm> > > <URL: > http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm> > > <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm> > > <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm> > > > > In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a > > special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like > > pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this. > > Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys() > > Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True > > End Sub > > > > Learn about Styles - really learn! I resisted for years and now regret > every > > day of those years because although that string was still very hard to > push, > > it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important projects > tied > > to it! > > > > In Word Perfect macros are often used to reproduce text. In Word you want > to > > use templates, AutoText and AutoCorrect for this. You can use FILLIN and > ASK > > fields or UserForms to query the user. For some form documents, Word's > > "online forms" work very well. For more about online forms, follow the > links > > at <URL: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm> > > especially Dian Chapman's series of articles. > > > > I would not recommend using converted documents long-term. They will be > > filled with formatting anomolies that will get you at the worst time. This > > is especially true of any documents containing automatic numbering or > > bullets. Try recreating form documents in Word using the following > process: > > > > In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your files as > > text files. > > > > Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your > > formatting to look. > > > > Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text file. Save > > this new document as a Word template. Format it the way you want using > > styles, not direct formatting. Save it again. > > > > To use a template within Word, use File => New and pick your template. > This > > will create a new document for you. > > > > -- > > > > Charles Kenyon > > > > See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome! > > --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- > > This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies > > and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn > > from my ignorance and your wisdom. > > > > "Chip Orange" <chip.orange@psc.state.fl.us[remove-me-and-brackets]> wrote > in > > message news:%23A5AcrxGEHA.3992@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl... > > > We're converting from wp to Word 2002. > > > > > > We decided, because of what we read, not to make use of Word's master > > > document feature, but to create one large 800 page document using > sections > > > and outline view. > > > > > > Our users have complained that this can be very slow at times, in > > > particular, using the undo feature can take 1 minute to undo a simple > > change > > > (and so can the automatic backup feature). > > > > > > Given that master document shouldn't be used; how should we organize a > > large > > > document which must have a table of contents and an index, and which is > > > frequently updated and viewed? We do not necessarily need the ability > to > > > update multiple portions concurrently. > > > > > > thanks for suggestions. > > > > > > Chip > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
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