What I mean has already filled a few books. So let's only hit the high
points....
* A Word document is a "structure". It's like a set of Russian dolls, a
set of containers within containers.
* It is up to us, as users, to be aware of the kind of structure we are
copying, and the kind of container we are pasting it into.
For example, a "paragraph" pasted into a "Table" will not usually cause too
much bother, but a table pasted inside a cell that is inside another table
that is inside a text box will create some very complex code.
If there is "nothing else" wrong with the code, chances are you will get
away with it. But if the code contains a mess of tracked changes, keep
track of formatting, direct formatting, style formatting, and list
formatting, eventually the complexity rises to the point where you begin to
overflow internal buffers and the document goes bang.
Word document editing is one place where "Size really doesn't matter" ‹ it
is *complexity* that kills Word documents, not "size". Word 2008 will go up
to 5,000 pages in a single document, if you keep the structure simple. Or
it will crash and burn in two pages, if you don't.
I consider it essential to keep non-printing characters turned on all the
time when I am writing and editing, so I can see what I am doing. I usually
work in Draft View when doing serious editing, because it shows up the
internal structure better and gives me a more accurate view of what I am
doing (as opposed to seeing what it will look like when printed).
I only flip to Print Layout View when I am finalising a document for
publication. After I have the content right, THEN I want to lay it out for
printing.
Yes, there's quite a bit wrong with Word 2008: it was very much a "Version
1.0" product. I have high hopes that Word 2011 will be much, much better.
From what I can see, Word 2011 will be a good match for Word 2010, and again
allow me to take on serious document projects in Mac Word.
Cheers
You're right, the "recover text" resulted in garbage.
What do you mean by "careless editing"? Copying and pasting is a standard
function of Word, if I can't copy and paste, what's Word good for?
I think there's something wrong with this Word version. I've had two corrupted
files in two months, and I had never, ever had that problem in the ten years
or so that I've used Word.
--
The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or 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 | mailto:
[email protected]
