[mso] Re: Document Version Control Using Word 2003?
- From: Ray Shapp <rayshapp@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 02:03:52 -0400
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the reply.
Your suggestion about the vertical text box in the margin will do the job
nicely.
I'm still unsure about pagination. How do you handle the case when the
amount of content on a page changes significantly? For examples:
If, say, page 5 needs to expand by 80 percent, I would want to display the
result onto pages 5 and 5-a. How does one ensure that the unrevised content
on the original pages 6 and beyond are still numbered 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...?
If page 8 needs to be reduced by half, do you leave the remainder of page 8
blank so as to retain the original pagination for pages 9 and beyond?
I omitted mention in my original note about including the revision date on
every page. Initially all pages in a chapter will have the same revision
date. This can be accomplished with ordinary text in the footer. In the
first example above, however, if the initial date is June 15, 2011, how can
I retain that date on all pages except pages 5 and 5-a? IOW, I'm not sure
how to interrupt the automatic propagation of the text showing revision date
in the footer for only one or several pages while retaining the propagation
for the pages that follow the interruption.
I will need to "sell" whatever device we use to all the authors and to the
editor. The simplest solution would be to indicate just the revisions with
the vertical bar, and sequentially re-number and apply a single revision
date to all the pages in a chapter. That's an adequate solution for an
online document, but it will meet lots of resistance from those people who
print the manual. Some chapters could contain 20 or more pages. In the first
example above, if I renumber sequentially, anyone who uses hard copy would
need to print pages 5 through the end of the chapter when the content on
original page 6 and beyond is all unchanged.
Ray Shapp
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 10:14 PM, Jonathan Drawer <jdrawer07@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> I use Word to maintain documents in a similar manner. I include a vertical
> line in the left margin to indicate changes by adding a long text box which
> can be positioned within the margin. I then just use Enter to step down the
> text box to add a vertical line (key above Enter) across from any line in
> the page that is changed. If the page is changed at a later date then I
> remove the existing vertical lines and only have a line next to the latest
> change.
> In the footer of a page that is changed I add the revision date of the
> change. In your case you would add a revision letter. To do this I use a
> separate Section break for each page so the footer is different for each
> page. I don't know if this would work for 200 pages. However, there is no
> reason that another text box could not be used in the proper position near
> where the page number is in the footer and the 'a","b', etc be added in that
> text box. I just checked and this was easy to do in Word 2000.
>
> Jonathan.
>
> --- On Tue, 5/24/11, Ray Shapp <rayshapp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> From: Ray Shapp <rayshapp@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [mso] Document Version Control Using Word 2003?
> To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 1:22 AM
>
> To All,
> Is there a native function within Word 2003 (with or without add-ons) that
> will allow me to show the revision date of every page of a 200 page
> document
> as individual pages are modified repeatedly into the future? A vertical bar
> or some other indicator needs to be shown in the margin next to any line(s)
> that contain the latest revision(s) on that page.
>
> The Track Changes function is not suitable because I want to show only the
> final accepted version with no distinctive color or style in the revised
> portions. I do, however, want to show a vertical bar like the one that
> Track
> Changes shows next to revisions.
>
> The document is a comprehensive manual assigned to about 40 people who have
> been trained to operate a wide array of equipment in an astronomical
> observatory. The manual currently contains 15 chapters, and is being
> expanded and overhauled to use common fonts and formats. One editor is
> responsible for overall content, but about 10 or 12 people will author and
> update various parts of the manual. Simultaneous collaboration is not
> necessary. Authors submit only to the editor. During a typical month, about
> a dozen changes will be made to the manual. Some pages will be revised
> multiple times. The manual is currently made available to the users only in
> hard copy, and usually only the editor has a current version. During the
> overhaul, as chapters are completed, the entire manual will eventually be
> posted online in PDF format (one file per chapter). Some users will print
> parts or all of the manual, but I suspect most users will refer to it
> online. When the editor sends me a chapter containing any revision(s), I'll
> replace the online chapter with the new PDF file.
>
> Pagination will be of the form "CC-nn-a" where "CC" is chapter number, "nn"
> is a sequential number assigned when the chapter is initially posted
> online,
> and "a" is initially blank but will progress through the alphabet as
> revisions are made. I'm not sure Word 2003 can handle automatic pagination
> which is not strictly sequential.
>
> I want to standardize on Word 2003 (plus some widely accessible add-on if
> necessary) because everyone working with this document is a volunteer, and
> Word 2003 is generally available to them. If this kind of document control
> is beyond the capability of Word 2003, please steer me to an application
> that will handle this task.
>
> Thank you for your advice.
>
> Ray Shapp
>
>
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