I still use a typewriter whenever I can. I don’t know how to use a PDF conversion thing, and really have no desire to learn.
I taught myself to touch-type in 6th grade (circa 1963), and my parents gave me a (somewhat already used) Royal portable typewriter. This was back in the days when Royal portable typewriters were actually sturdily built with metal frames, not cheapo plastic.
I still have that typewriter. I can’t remember when I last used it for anything, even so much as a mailing label. And not that I’ve looked, but does anybody even make typewriter ribbons any more? There used to be umpteen-dozen different kinds of ribbons, since every different make and model of typewriter had ribbons with different spools. Office supply stores had an entire aisle just for typewriter ribbons.
I don’t know about the new ribbons, but I have a kit that lets you “re ink” the old ribbons. Its probably from the early 1960’s. I remember my grandmother doing it once on her spare manual typewriter, and it was a messy process.
This. And not many other people are going to type it either. I would write legibly. Though I probably wouldn’t apply to a place stuck in the 19th century.
As someone old enough to have filled out a lot of forms on a typewriter, it isn’t that easy to line things up and make sure you don’t have typos.
When I did mine 35 years ago most PhDs were typed by grad student wives making extra money. As a Computer Scientist I wrote mine using runoff for formatting. Having seen a professor revise his by running it through an IBM Selectric terminal twice (once for text and the second time for subscripts/superscripts) I banished everything that couldn’t be easily printed from my thesis.
This was before laser printers. Now people have it easy.
There is one thing I do miss about typewriters - addressing envelopes. I know you can do them in a printer, but it is a pain, so I do them by hand. A nicely typed envelope looks much better.
New Zealand government requires Citizenship applications to be hand written (or at least they did 5 years ago)
Yeah, we had it for at least a year before the word got out about that. Incredibly useful. We have people coming in all the time with their resumes in pdf and they need to make changes - this is really a game changer.
Word may allow you to convert the PDF file into a Word document, which you can then edit, but it will not edit the PDF directly which is the main issue.
Any PDF I deal with needs to be exact. If you edit them in Word it changes the formatting from slightly to totally and then the original party more often than not refuses it.
We tried to keep our typewriter at work, but after it sat around for 10+ years without being used we finally dumped it. Same with the fax machine, although we have missed that a few times when dealing with government agencies.
While that is certainly an option, it is more work than simply printing it and filling it out with a typewrite, which the OP seems to be alluding to.
Total agreement…and the printer model I have doesn’t feed envelopes. I use mailing labels, which look…okay. At least semi-professional. But you’re very right: a typed envelope looks classy.
Any else here a fan of Robb White’s Our Virgin Island? I think I remember he soaked his typewriter ribbon in light machine oil to get more life out of it.
absolutely. I have a typewriter or two somewhere in the attic along with a turntable and a reel to reel. I think I have a new fax machine that’s never been used.
Probably lots of typewriters available at flea markets if the op thinks a lot of manual paperwork is a future possibility.
But the thread was discussed on a computer over the internet so I’m thinking the practical solution is going to be tied to that technology.
A 15 year old watching me type on an IBM Selectric II remarked “That is so cool! You can see what you’re printing as you print it.”
A four year old asked me, in a very hushed, reverent voice “Is that a typewriter?” I told her mother, who remarked “I didn’t know she knew the word.”
We haven’t exactly abandoned typewriters. They’re still going strong in India and other parts of the world.
Here in the States, there’s an enourmous typewriter subculture, with hundreds of blogs dedicated to using, buying, selling, and repairing the machines. It’s called the typosphere.
It seems like a hipster fad, but it’s much more than just the young, urban overeducated types. It’s global phenomenon.