I am trying to post this to my project group, before they start waking up in a few hours but I don’t know the answer. Please help me ASAP!
Problem:
Our last group project ran into a problem with Word formatting. We all have different versions of Word. One person would create a document with a perfect layout and the next person to open it would see a totally disorganized document. Despite our best efforts, the final submission went to our professor looking stupid.
What we need:
How do we make it so that we can swap documents back and forth between versions as people write drafts and other people edit or proof read? Is there a box that needs to be checked off somewhere?
To help narrow down the possibilities for issues, I’ve giving instructions for everyone to start out with the same size and style font, theme, and paragraph spacing. But, I suspect the problem goes deeper than this.
Please, someone put me out of my formatting misery!
I had that problem years ago between “Words” and “Works”. Another student suggested saving our files as “Rich Text” format, which seemed to solve most of the problems.
Well, compatibility has been a problem for a Long Time.
Without knowing the details of what formatting problems you are having, it is hard to know where the biggest problems are.
For starters, pick a save version and have everyone use it. I prefer Word 97, but the only requirement is that you pick something everyone has access to. That generally means pick the oldest version in the group. Everyone will need to save as the next time they save and make sure they choose the correct file format. You can set the default save format in your preferences for documents being saved for the first time.
A more serious issue is the issue of styles. I am a big fan of styles, but like any powerful tool it can bite back. One person should take charge and clean out the document. Select all, and clear formatting. Make sure you are OK with your Normal (it can be redefined by any user, so if it is changed by one it can be a problem for all) and, a) go through by hand and manually define a consistent set of formatting, or b) go through and check every style to make sure it does what you expect. Both are a pain, but no worse that what you have to do every time you try to submit your doc now. Once you have it set correctly, make sure that each member of the group knows not to change any styles without understanding the implications.
The last step is probably where your major problem is, each member of the group is making formatting changes that they like and not realizing the implications. At least that is what happens to me.
Good advice all through. Also remember that the normal.dot file is copied into every document and in later versions of Word “updates” the latest user’s Normal.dot.
When all else fails, (and it will) open a “clean” document (after cleaning or removing the Normal.dot files–if it is missing, word automatically creates a new one on the Office default). Open the document you need to reformat. Go to the last page and last punctuation mark of the document, and place the cursor in front of the last period. Control-Shift-Home> Control C > move to clean doc, Control V. And begin your reformating. Delete the old document.
Good luck again. Word Perfect was so much easier to correct format bloat.
You could also look into using something like Google Docs, assuming it has appropriate formatting tools. That would have everyone working on the same actual document (AIUI).
If you need to submit in Word format, the last person to update should be able to save and submit it to your professor.
Please remember that sometimes having different default printers set can change the way Word formats a document - If one printer handles a font in one way, and another printer sets it up differently, it can seriously affect your document.
Make sure you choose a common universal font, like Arial, Times Roman, or Courier.
We have that problem in my group sometimes. I ended up publishing as a .pdf so everyone could see it, make recommendations, etc., then I made changes on the “master” Word document. Kind of a pain but it worked for us…
You can do all this with 5 keystrokes, all while holding down the control key, and without worrying where you are at in the document
(This assumes you haven’t remapped the default hot keys)
Control key pressed
A (Select entire document)
C (Copy)
N (Create new document)
V (Paste)
Control key released
I hate using the mouse when working with documents
You also may want to look at the different save options. I can’t remember exactly where they are at the moment, but there’s a way to save files for a specific version of Word. Pick the lowest version out of the one you have, and always save under that.
And, yes, consider saving as PDF in the future. Heck, with the right software, you can even use Word to edit them.
EDIT: I believe it’s under Tools -> Options -> Save in Word 2003 or earlier. I don’t know about 2007+.
I should have said pick the highest number all of you have, as it doesn’t appear that you can pick just any version. In fact, I suspect you will have to put it in Word 97 mode.
You may also want to try RTF, which I believe is still the same as it was quite a few years ago.
