atw: STraw poll
- From: Bill Parker <renew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:18:05 +0800
I notice the continuing discussion regarding the woes and occasional "not so
bads" about Word. Its always about the Windows versions. Am I the only MAC
person here? And from that, how different is Word 2011 for the Macintosh from
the last version for Windows?
Bill
On 19/07/2011, at 11:10 AM, Christine Kent wrote:
> Maybe we are using the work backup differently Neil. Let’s not be pedantic
> about that. I am in no way saying that people should not follow all normal
> and sensible precautions for backing up their files and their systems. I am
> saying that, given they have backed up their systems in normal and
> responsible ways, then the Word backup facilities (I am using the word
> generically) are, in my experience, pretty sound as a second line of defence.
>
> – The reason I use zip files for iterative backups is to give me TWO back-up
> copies on the same hard drive, instead of having two documents with the same
> file names (except that Windows 7 insists on adding a "(2)" to one of the
> files, thereby making the filename prefix different).
>
> My preferred process now for effecting this kind of security is to use
> offsite backups. I use Mozy Home to do a twice daily backup of everything on
> my nominated drives. That is what I consider to be a responsible backup
> system. In addition, when I am working on a document intensively, I drag and
> drop it into DropBox (also off-site), giving me multiple recent copies in a
> second off-site location. This gives me security that if my home computer
> goes down, I can pick up the document on a different computer, either from
> Mozy or from DropBox and keep working. My concern is for a crash of my entire
> computer, not a crash of Word, although the former covers the latter.
>
> – In relation to using Autosave in MS Word (refer to Christine's blog page as
> per the link below), everyone needs to be aware that Autosave DOES NOT save a
> full copy of the document you are working on, CANNOT be fully trusted to do
> what it is supposed to do (as advised by Microsoft, and from experience)
>
> Is this the case for dedicated 2007 and 2010 documents? Can you point to the
> documentation that explains exactly how and where Wra####.asd,
> Unsaved-####.asd and [name].bak files are saved. I was not aware that they
> were not dedicated complete files and I will certainly add that to my blog if
> that is the case. As documents can be fully recovered from these files, I had
> assumed they were complete files. My mistake for not being “technical”.
>
> , and my recommendation is to turn it OFF because when it is turned on, it
> sometimes (very rarely, but it does happen) causes the document being working
> on to crash. But, please note, I only recommend turning it off for those who
> are already in the habit of frequently doing a full save (i.e. a normal File
> - Save) while working.
>
> Even as an old hand, do you never forget? It would right royally piss me off
> to have to re-do even as little as 30 minutes work when I am intensively
> “finishing” a document, and that is the most likely time for me to get so
> focussed that I forget to save. For 2010 I see no reason at all for turning
> this off, and have never needed to. I can’t give the technical reasons for
> that, but as a user, it has never posed me with a problem. I will confess
> that I am working with a good system, and maybe these warnings might be
> necessary for systems that reach their overload levels easily.
>
> If you are not in the habit of doing that, then Autosave does offer a better
> level of protection against losing work. As Microsoft says
> (athttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/107686), the following words in capitals
> are mine for emphasis, and this applies to Word 97, 2000, 2003, 2007 or 2010,
> "AutoRecover or AutoSave DOES NOT REPLACE THE SAVE COMMAND. YOU SHOULD USE
> THE SAVE COMMAND TO SAVE YOUR DOCUMENT AT REGULAR INTERVALS and when you
> finish working on it."
>
> Well, that’s self-evident and in no way proves that AutoRecover or AutoSave
> cannot be trusted as a second line of defence. Please provide links to the
> documentary evidence of this.
>
> – I wasn't able to find anything on Christine's blog page (as per the link
> below) about a built-in back-up function in Word. Separate to what's on
> Christine's page, I'm aware that Word allows different versions to all be
> saved in the same document, but this is not really a back-up because you
> still end up with only a single file.
>
> How does it do this? Can you provide a link explaining it. I am not familiar
> with this so will add it to my blog.
>
> If Christine meant that Autosave and Autorecover are "back-up" tools (I'll
> allow Christine to answer that), then, sorry, they're not. If anyone out
> there knows of a back-up function in Word (even if it is only in 2007 or 2010
> and that's why I don't know about it, having "only" 2004), i.e. that produces
> separate backup files to a nominated location which is not necessarily the
> working directory and may be on separate physical media, please let me know.
>
> Backups, saved to location of original file. Location cannot be changed
>
> <image001.png>
>
>
> Autosave and Autorecover and Unsaved Files are all different. Read about
> what each does here and how to set your options so that you have all three
> functioning in case you do have a Word rather than a system crash.
> http://christinekent.blogspot.com/2011/05/recovering-lost-documents.html
>
> To change the paths for autosaved and the autosaved backup files
> http://christinekent.blogspot.com/2011/02/where-are-word-2010-file-paths.html
>
> There is NO user invoked version control in standalone Word, which may be
> what Neil is referring to. I think it would be a good addition to the
> product in the future. However, Word does save you a regular autosave file.
> “You can choose to keep the last AutoSaved version of a file in case you
> accidentally close that file without saving, so that you can restore it the
> next time that you open the file. Also, while you are working in your file,
> you can access a list of the AutoSaved files for your current session from
> the File tab, Backstage view.”
>
> I’ll expand in my material on my blog when I get the additional information
> from Neil. I pride myself in giving information that can be trusted, and if
> the information on my blog is not correct, I will certainly fix it.
>
> Christine
>
> On 18/07/2011 10:31 AM, Christine Kent wrote:
> On zip files
> As an aside, there is no point zipping .docx or .docm files. They already
> ARE zip files. If you rename a .docx to .zip, you can open it as a zip and
> see the component files. You cannot achieve much zipping a zip file.
>
> On backups
> Word itself has a very reliable way of ensuring you DO have backup files and
> I suggest you check out my blog at
> http://christinekent.blogspot.com/2011/05/recovering-lost-documents.html and
> make sure you get all your settings correct so you DO have the necessary
> range of backup files – automatically. You need a fairly substantial IQ to
> grasp and remember it all, so a better course of action may be to keep my
> blog address handy to remind you next time you need it – once you have set
> your settings.
>
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