Insert Page X of Y gone AND does not work anyway

[Tony]

Hi,

1 - If I chose the "Insert/Autotext" menu, the "Page X of Y" option is
no longer in such menu (it used to be there).

How to bring it back?

2 - If then I go to "Insert/Autotext/Autotext" and chose "Page X of Y",
I get the following instead of the expected "Page 1 of 1":

"Page { PAGE } OF { NUMPAGES }" (no quotes)

How to fix it?

Note: the weird thing is that if I copy/paste such string in this post
(using Panic Unison 1.5 newsgroup reader on Mac OS X 10.3.5) it pastes
it OK as "page 1 of 1". What is going on?

Thanks.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Hi Tony,

1 - If I chose the "Insert/Autotext" menu, the "Page X of Y" option is
no longer in such menu (it used to be there).

AutoText is style-dependent, so it generally only shows up if the cursor is
in a paragraph that matches the style for the AutoText. The Page X of Y
autotext is set for header/footer style, so is only designed to show up when
the cursor is in a header/footer paragraph. *Might* that be the problem?

2 - If then I go to "Insert/Autotext/Autotext" and chose "Page X of Y",
I get the following instead of the expected "Page 1 of 1":

"Page { PAGE } OF { NUMPAGES }" (no quotes)

You have Word set to show Field Codes (things in curly braces) instead of
Field Results. To toggle this, there's a checkbox under Prefs | View, or
the default keyboard shortcut should be Option-F9, or you can right-click
and select Toggle Field Codes, or custom icons/shortcuts keys can be
arranged.

Note: the weird thing is that if I copy/paste such string in this post
(using Panic Unison 1.5 newsgroup reader on Mac OS X 10.3.5) it pastes
it OK as "page 1 of 1". What is going on?

How nice that it reads the intended text instead of the field code.

Dayo

 

[Tony]

Dayo,

1 - Right!

2 - Absolutely right! Turning off "Word/Preferences/View/Show/Field
codes" fixed it.

Thanks --twice !



Now, I wonder why is Word so complicated. OK, I know all that about
"power users", but I guess for 99% of users out there all these bells
and whistles only cause trouble. I would suggest to Microsoft to at
least do not set them on-active by default. And even better: have an
option to "Simple Word" to automatically set all those features off in
preferences (one click), being also the default setting.

Thanks again.

---

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Now, I wonder why is Word so complicated. OK, I know all that about
"power users", but I guess for 99% of users out there all these bells
and whistles only cause trouble. I would suggest to Microsoft to at
least do not set them on-active by default.

Apparently they turn stuff on by default to ensure people know about them.
But I'm pretty sure that Field Codes is off by default, normally, though you
aren't the only person it's gotten randomly turned on for, who knows why.

But it's complicated because it's powerful--plus it's written for multiple
audiences (people who write 10K page technical manuals and people who write
short lists and have Word just before everyone does) and that's not an easy
interface to design. If MS would do a better job of publicizing the info
that the checkboxes under Preferences and AutoCorrect control 99% of the
annoyances, that would do a lot to make everyone's life easier. (perhaps
the assistant could pop up and say, "you've just installed Word! Do you
know about these two menus? And here's how to turn me off!" Though for all I
know that does happen in less obsolete versions than mine .

And even better: have an
option to "Simple Word" to automatically set all those features off in
preferences (one click), being also the default setting.

Excellent idea, that I think others have floated as well. Definitely Send
Feedback on that suggestion, if the mood hits. I would say not the default
setting but an option on first run, however.

Thanks again.

You're welcome.

Dayo