Microsoft Word 2004 & 2008 Problems

[Joseph_Berriman]

I bought the black MacBook for law school earlier this year, and went all out on software, upgrades, etc. I, of course, purchased Word 2004 for school. It has been the worst experience of my computer-related life. And, as Murphy's Law would have it, right after I buy my computer, Leopard and Word 2008 both are released... and I, of course, had to rush out and buy both, like the Apple enthusiast I am (But I'm quickly beginning to learn that both Microsoft and Apple both have their fair share of problems and bugs). I have been cursed with three main problems:

First, every time I try to bold one line of a document, Word bolds EVERYTHING! Same thing happens when I try to italicize, change the color, change the font, or do any other similar formatting (even outlining, as I'll talk about later).

Secondly, when I open a new document in Notebook layout, it automatically opens in double-spaced format... and thus the first, and every preceding line, is written not in between the lines of the notebook paper, but right on top of the line of the notebook paper.

Lastly, when I try to format a selected paragraph to outline, it outlines the entire document, not just my selection (similar to my previously mentioned formatting problem). It also includes empty lines as part of the outline... so where there is nothing written, it acts as if there is something written there and formats that, too.

So, after all this happened, I figured that I'm in so much debt from school as it is, that I would just go out and buy Office 2008 and install that to see if it fixes anything... and it didn't. But I have to say it was a HUGE improvement overall. If I could fix these formatting bugs, I would be very pleased with the updates in 2008.

On a side note, I was unable to register Office 2008... the website is not accepting my Product ID. Apparently, I'm not the only one with this issue, according to other posts I've read. So I'll just have to hold off on registering it. I would like to point out that ALL my software is legit and purchased directly through the Apple Store. The only software not registered is Office 2008, and, as mentioned, that's out of my hands for now. I purchased Apple Care, too.

PLEASE HELP ME! I have mid-terms coming up in law school, oral arguments, my memo and tons of others projects that are taking me forever to complete because of these bugs. If I have failed to adequately state my problem, please let me know and I'll do my best to elaborate. Thank you so much for your help, in advance.

Joseph Berriman
University of San Diego, School of Law
(e-mail address removed)

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Joseph:

Thanks for adding your name, it makes the whole place seem so much more
friendly!

It's difficult to answer this: other than to say that as a future legal
professional, you will make your living with Word for the rest of your life.
It will be one of your principle tools of trade. The documents you will be
expected to create will always be structured, and sometimes also lengthy.

So it will save massive amounts of your time if you spend an hour or two
now, learning to use a professional word processor. You may be thinking
"But I don't have time to learn all that stuff, I just want to do my
documents." Please believe me when I say that you do not have time NOT to
learn all of this

Unless you spend a couple of hours on this now, you are already out of time
to complete your assignments If you do invest the time now, your
assignments will be easy

If you study Word's Styles now, you will complete your written assignments
for your law course in about half the time that you will otherwise take. Of
all the calls on your time, that's one of the best investments.

A "style" is simply a collection of formatting properties to which you give
a name. For example, the "Normal" style usually contains all the formatting
you need to format a paragraph of ordinary text.

You only have two problems, and both of them are problems with the way you
have defined your styles (or perhaps, because you have NOT defined styles to
be the way YOU want them!)

The "whole document changes" problem is because you have the style you are
using, which is probably Normal style, set to Automatically update. So any
time you make a change to the text of any paragraph formatted with that
style, all of the paragraphs formatted with that style change. In your
case, this encompasses the whole document!

To correct this, in the Word help, see the topic " A style changed
unexpectedly."

Your Outline problem is the same issue: whatever you do to any paragraph
when Automatically Update is enabled for its style is going to affect all
other paragraphs in the document.

In Word, most formatting is a property of the paragraph. The fundamental
unit of a document in Word is the paragraph.

Word cannot have "blank" lines, it can only have paragraphs that have no
text in them. The empty paragraphs will have all the formatting of any
other paragraph that has the same style applied. If that style includes
outline numbering, the blank paragraphs will become members of the outline.

Adjust your style to give you the spacing you desire between paragraph and
lines. Then do not try to use blank lines for spacing, otherwise outlines
will indeed become uncontrollable

Your Notebook problem is a separate issue. The formatting for the notebook
styles is not customisable. However, if the font in use is the wrong size,
that would produce the problem. The font should be Verdana 12 point. Check
that it is.

You need an emergency course in how to drive a Word Processor. Try these
two: http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

http://addbalance.com/usersguide/

Hope this helps

I bought the black MacBook for law school earlier this year, and went all out
on software, upgrades, etc. I, of course, purchased Word 2004 for school. It
has been the worst experience of my computer-related life. And, as Murphy's
Law would have it, right after I buy my computer, Leopard and Word 2008 both
are released... and I, of course, had to rush out and buy both, like the Apple
enthusiast I am (But I'm quickly beginning to learn that both Microsoft and
Apple both have their fair share of problems and bugs). I have been cursed
with three main problems:

First, every time I try to bold one line of a document, Word bolds EVERYTHING!
Same thing happens when I try to italicize, change the color, change the font,
or do any other similar formatting (even outlining, as I'll talk about later).

Secondly, when I open a new document in Notebook layout, it automatically
opens in double-spaced format... and thus the first, and every preceding line,
is written not in between the lines of the notebook paper, but right on top of
the line of the notebook paper.

Lastly, when I try to format a selected paragraph to outline, it outlines the
entire document, not just my selection (similar to my previously mentioned
formatting problem). It also includes empty lines as part of the outline... so
where there is nothing written, it acts as if there is something written there
and formats that, too.

So, after all this happened, I figured that I'm in so much debt from school as
it is, that I would just go out and buy Office 2008 and install that to see if
it fixes anything... and it didn't. But I have to say it was a HUGE
improvement overall. If I could fix these formatting bugs, I would be very
pleased with the updates in 2008.

On a side note, I was unable to register Office 2008... the website is not
accepting my Product ID. Apparently, I'm not the only one with this issue,
according to other posts I've read. So I'll just have to hold off on
registering it. I would like to point out that ALL my software is legit and
purchased directly through the Apple Store. The only software not registered
is Office 2008, and, as mentioned, that's out of my hands for now. I purchased
Apple Care, too.

PLEASE HELP ME! I have mid-terms coming up in law school, oral arguments, my
memo and tons of others projects that are taking me forever to complete
because of these bugs. If I have failed to adequately state my problem, please
let me know and I'll do my best to elaborate. Thank you so much for your help,
in advance.

Joseph Berriman
University of San Diego, School of Law
(e-mail address removed)

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[MC]

It's difficult to answer this: other than to say that as a future legal
professional, you will make your living with Word for the rest of your life.
It will be one of your principle tools of trade.

"Legal professional" and "principle" in the same sentence?

Surely you mean "principal"!

 

[Joseph_Berriman]

Thank you for such a fast and intelligent reply, John! Greatly appreciated! I will work through everything you've recommended, and post my success when it's completed. Again, thank you!

~Joseph

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, while we're nit-picking, how about making the distinction between what
constitutes a *sentence* as opposed to a *paragraph*

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Phillip Jones]

a Sentence is a group of word put together to make an understandable
idea or though that end in a period (.) .

A paragraph can amount to one sentence depending upon the length. But
usually a Group of sentences. the very end of the paragraph contains
period from last sentence plus one or to returns (or enters if you have
a extended keyboard. To improve the looks if preferable use two returns.
;-)

Well, while we're nit-picking, how about making the distinction between what
constitutes a *sentence* as opposed to a *paragraph*

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Joseph_Berriman]

Worked like a charm! Thanks again, John. And you're right about the "Styles" tips and tricks. What a time saver! My next task is to master the rest of the tutorial you provided. You were a great help.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Joseph:

That's what we're here for.

If you can master styles this early in your career, you will have a
SUBSTANTIAL advantage of the majority of people we meet in the legal
profession

You will have other questions: keep coming back!

The associate that gets their argument onto the Partner's desk first,
correct, and neatly formatted is the one that makes all the money and gets
the girl and the firm

The guy who produced the Intermediate Guide is a fellow we see around the PC
Groups sometimes: he's an attorney in the USA, but he has an illness that
keeps him from practicing a lot of the time.

Ignore the "background noise" in here... Bob and Phillip are like a couple
of kids full of red cordial... Actually, we're all a bit mad at the moment
‹ it's been a rough month

Cheers

Worked like a charm! Thanks again, John. And you're right about the "Styles"
tips and tricks. What a time saver! My next task is to master the rest of the
tutorial you provided. You were a great help.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

<snip>

Ignore the "background noise" in here... Bob and Phillip are like a couple
of kids full of red cordial... Actually, we're all a bit mad at the moment
‹ it's been a rough month

<snip>

Here I am taking up for you & you come along poking me with a stick;-)

I should report you to the principal out of sheer principle!

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Phillip Jones]

Yes. I was think the same thing.

here some one asked a question about what was a sentence. And I obliged
with an answer. Then I get punched in the mouth because I did.

I didn't proof read may answer and left of a letter in a word here or
there, but should have been obvious what I was saying. ;-)

<snip>


<snip>

Here I am taking up for you & you come along poking me with a stick;-)

I should report you to the principal out of sheer principle!

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

It wasn't me, it was Bob... Really, it was Bob... AND he pulled Daiya's
hair, too.....

Yes. I was think the same thing.

here some one asked a question about what was a sentence. And I obliged
with an answer. Then I get punched in the mouth because I did.

I didn't proof read may answer and left of a letter in a word here or
there, but should have been obvious what I was saying. ;-)

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Ow! Ow!

It wasn't me, it was Bob... Really, it was Bob... AND he pulled Daiya's
hair, too.....

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry, John, but you're well beyond the "The Devil made me do it" stage;-)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[dr.nixon]

Styles are a great thing. Learning how to use Styles really helped me format my doctoral dissertation. Then I bought a Mac, only to learn that Mac Office cripples the Styles menus. My choices are "View available styles" and "View all styles". Where the heck is the "View styles in use" option? Would it really be that hard to implement it? If we have lawyers and PhDs using Macs, why can't Mac Office assume that we might be smart enough to handle having the same options as a Windows Office user? I am really getting tired of booting into Windows just to fix one or two things that Office 2008 has decided I can't do on a Mac.

 

[Bill Weylock]

You may never see this, but just in case....

I hope you know how incredibly exemplary and thoughtful you were in every
way during these posts. I know you needed help and anticipated the kind of
behavior that would get it for you, but you probably made a friend of
everyone who read your posts. You¹re obviously going to be an excellent
lawyer.

Let¹s see.... You actually described the problem with enough detail to get a
sure diagnosis. You used your name and were polite. You volunteered without
even being asked to come back and report on your progress, understanding
that people who give help really care and take their ³pay² from descriptions
of successful outcomes of following their advice.

I¹m sure you have hideous flaws somewhere, but none were on display just
now. I was fascinated. It was like a post someone would invent as the ³Good²
example in a course on online etiquette.

Apart from that, I hated it.

Worked like a charm! Thanks again, John. And you're right about the "Styles"
tips and tricks. What a time saver! My next task is to master the rest of the
tutorial you provided. You were a great help.

Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[John McGhie]

Hey Bill:

Many thanks!

Ummm... I should warn you... I started trying to make this a better place
to be in, about ten years ago. You know, trying to be encouraging and
supportive...

So then I got an email that said it was from Microsoft. Of course, I *knew*
that no email would ever come from Microsoft. So I sent back a reply that
would have peeled the paint from the walls

It WAS from Microsoft

They wanted me to become an MVP.

In the past ten years, that has gotten me into almost all the trouble there
is.

Let me give you a clear warning, Mr Weylock: we know who you are, and it
could happen to YOU!

Cheers

You may never see this, but just in case....

I hope you know how incredibly exemplary and thoughtful you were in every
way during these posts. I know you needed help and anticipated the kind of
behavior that would get it for you, but you probably made a friend of
everyone who read your posts. You¹re obviously going to be an excellent
lawyer.

Let¹s see.... You actually described the problem with enough detail to get a
sure diagnosis. You used your name and were polite. You volunteered without
even being asked to come back and report on your progress, understanding
that people who give help really care and take their ³pay² from descriptions
of successful outcomes of following their advice.

I¹m sure you have hideous flaws somewhere, but none were on display just
now. I was fascinated. It was like a post someone would invent as the ³Good²
example in a course on online etiquette.

Apart from that, I hated it.




Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50