[Hidden-tech] Old Word question

[Don Lesser]

I have worked with nroff and LaTeX as well as RTF files, all of which
provide non WYSIWYG formatting. For most end users, a WYSIWYG word processor
is going to be easiest. (Modifying anything in nroff  was painful since all
comments had been removed from the me file I was using and making any
changes was hit or miss. I stopped using TeX when the manual said, in
response to some issue or other "there is no sentence that cannot be
improved by rewriting" and suggested rewriting the text in order to make it
fit.)

That said, save as into RTF seems like the best option--it preserves a lot
of formatting that many programs can read. Plain text is safest, but I have
also been in the unenviable position of having to reformat 100 pages of text
into headings, lists, etc. 

Don Lesser
Pioneer Training, Inc.
139B Damon Road, Ste 8
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 387-1040
(413) 586-0545 (fax)
dlesser at ptraining.com
www.ptraining.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Heller [mailto:heller at deepsoft.com] 
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 5:02 PM
To: Don Lesser
Cc: 'Dede Wilson'; 'Hidden-Tech Listserv'; Robert Heller
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Old Word question

At Mon, 2 Dec 2013 15:44:40 -0500 "Don Lesser" <dlesser at ptraining.com>
wrote:

> 
>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's
area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> Do you have to update? Can you open them using the latest version of Word?
> (You must have used Word or some other program rather than OS9 to 
> actually create the files.)  If you can open them, you can just leave 
> them alone. Or, convert them to make sure they are accessible going 
> forward. What is a lot of files? 10, 20, 50, 100? Think about having 
> to retype it if you need it or scan it or pay someone to do it for you.

The main problem with 'just leave them alone' is that at some point in the
future, the 'latest version of Word' will no longer open them. And given the
nature of Murphy's Law, *that* will be be when they need to be opened again.
:-(

> 
> If you get into Word, select Open, select the folder, then select all 
> of the files in the folder (click on the first, SHIFT+Click on the 
> last), then click Open, you will open them en masse. Then, you can 
> select Save As for each one. Slightly less painful than open and close 
> for each one. As for this being an MS Word evil, well, many programs 
> change their file formats over time to accommodate new features and 
> I'd rather have the option to update than not.

It is primarily a *word processing* evil, and less so a *desktop publishing*
evil. Actually it is an evil for any program using a binary proprietary
format. LaTeX/TeX for example uses *plain text* files. I once restored a
user manual written with LaTeX from an old MicroVax's backup (from 1990) and
*successfully* processed it on a Linux machine sometime around 2004 using a
modern version of LaTeX. Asside from a warning about using an old style
preamble, it compiled and I was able to print the manual out.

> 
> I would not convert them to PDFs. You can edit them (in the latest 
> version of Word, for example), but the process is much more painful 
> and converting from a PDF requires more steps. I converted a novel 
> written on a mainframe in 1981 to four different word processors over 
> the years and each time I was happy to be able to do it at all.

The *best* most future proofed format is *plain text*. Yes, you lose all
*formatting*, but the *text* is forever available for import into *any*
future program.

> 
> Don Lesser
> Pioneer Training, Inc.
> 139B Damon Road, Ste 8
> Northampton, MA 01060
> (413) 387-1040
> (413) 586-0545 (fax)
> dlesser at ptraining.com
> www.ptraining.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
> [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of 
> Dede Wilson
> Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 1:29 PM
> To: Hidden-Tech Listserv
> Subject: [Hidden-tech] Old Word question
> 
>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's
area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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