atw: FW: Word 2002 - upgrade or abandon - LONG POST- includes interesting info re CHAR style
- From: <Debbie.Hope@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 12:17:36 +1100
I am a member of the WORD-PC list. The following very interesting post =
came
through this morning.
I am only forwarding this to Austechwriter as I know that it has been
discussed many times. I haven't contributed to this thread on WORD-PC, =
so
don't shoot the messenger!
Debbie
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie Brazier [mailto:Julie.Brazier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent: Tuesday, 4 November 2003 8:46=20
To: WORD-PC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Word 2002 - upgrade or abandon?
Hi Tony
We've been dealing with Microsoft quite extensively on this topic and =
have
learned a lot about the char problem. In summary:
1. Deliberate char functionality
Char styles are created when a style is applied to a section of a =
paragraph.
It is Microsoft's way of making a paragraph style behave as a character
style and these styles are supposed to be hidden from the user.
2. Bug v. deliberate char style behaviour
As a rule of thumb, any style with more than one char appended or with =
char
and a number, e.g. char1, is a bug
Any char style that displays in the Styles and Formatting Task Pane is a =
bug
Any instance where the char style replaces the original parent style =
thus
becoming a paragraph style in its own right e.g. new 'DocTxt Char' style
replacing DocTxt.
3. Combatting the bug
A post-SP2 patch has been released by Microsoft to their Premier clients
which stops the behaviour noted above. This would definitely be =
included in
SP3 but we have no idea if / when this would be available to the general
public as a separate patch.
4. Fixing documents with the problem
The official line from Microsoft is that Char styles should not be =
deleted.
We have tried removing them and have seen variable results. This is
especially true when using a complex style hierarchy. Renaming them is =
not
the answer but we're still working on a solution here as we are seeing =
them
have a major impact when they appear in our documents. For the moment =
we
would just recommend using a Find and Replace to replace all instances =
of
Char styles with their proper styles, then ignore remaining char styles =
in
the Styles list.
Hope that helps!
Julie
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Chu [mailto:tonychu72@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 12:24 AM
To: WORD-PC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Word 2002 - upgrade or abandon?
(message resent with non-blank subject field)
Keith - that's very interesting. At least I know I'm not going nuts.
Do you recall the circumstances under which this problem appeared - only
when deleting a Char style? or trying to replace it with another style? =
no
problems when working with regular styles (paragraph or character but =
not
both)?
I'm going to look this up in the Microsoft support site - has anyone =
else
heard of this?
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:08:39 -0500
From: Keith Soltys <Keith.Soltys@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Word 2002 - upgrade or abandon?
I ran into the problem where removing the Char styles deleted the text.
Unreal. I've also run into a problem where Word refuses to delete the
style.
I think the problem still exists in SP-2 although it may not be as
rampant.
In my case, I've gone to Adobe FrameMaker for big projects, which is
what
I should have been using in the first place.
Keith
--
Keith Soltys
Technical Writer, Quality Assurance
TSX Technologies
keith.soltys@xxxxxxx
(416) 947-4397
Hello all.
I need some advise re Word 2002 (basic - not SP1 or SP2). I'm getting
quite
frustrated with it. And I'm wondering whether I need to go forward to
SP1
or
SP2, or maybe I'd be better off going back to Word 2000 which seemed
more
reliable.
Please bear with me while I explain.
I've written to this group before and read a lot of useful postings
about
"Char" styles and I've been systematically trying to get rid of them
when
they occur. Although I must say they haven't been giving me any real
trouble, and I've been wondering whether I should just give up and leave
them.
But yesterday Word did something wacky to me. I have a basic paragraph
style called "docpara", but of course I found an old doc that had
"docpara
char". So I was painstakingly finding each instance of this, looking at
what it was, and converting it manually to "docpara". But when I
finished
and saved the doc,
the docpara paragraphs had disappeared on several pages. Not just the
formatting - the actual content. Gone. Vanished. And on some other
pages,
the text had a completely different format (very small font)!
Now, I can't figure out what I could have been doing that would have
deleted
the entire paragraph(s). I was using the style pane, and right clicking
on
docpara char to get the next instance, highlighting it in the doc, and
then
clicking on "docpara" to convert it...and checking in "docpara char" to
see
that the number of instances had decreased.
Seemed easy. So now I'm wondering if 2002 is just too buggy. My
questions:
1. Has anyone ever had this happen to them and know why?
2. I remember reading somewhere in a posting that 2002 SP2 "gets rid of
Char" styles. Is that right? What actually happens to a doc that has
Char
styles when you open it in SP2?
3. Has anyone worked with 2002, ended up with Char styles, and then
abandoned 2002 and gone back to 2000? What happens to the Char styles?
My
guess is they are still there, still called "Char", but probably marked
as
Paragraph or Character but not both. i.e. maybe more reliable and
easier
to
fix or live with???
Help.
Thank you
Tony Chu.
P.S. AAAAARGH
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
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