My sister often wishes for a specific sarcasm font. Today’s title would be a good place to use it.
I have a Microsoft 365 subscription at home and a separate one for work. The subscription is now the only Microsoft Word option available. Once upon a time, you could purchase the program and own the right to use it for as long as you like. It wasn’t cheap, but once you got it set up like you wanted, you could use it that way forever (at least until Microsoft stopped supporting that version of the program.) With the 365 subscription, Microsoft updates Word periodically, changing the program whether or not you want it to.
You used to be able to avoid the update for a while by saying you didn’t want to do it, but Microsoft wised up to that tactic and now forces the updates on you automatically by catching you when you turn the computer off. One day I was trying to leave my office to head home, and my computer gave me the dreaded “updating” messages, including the exhortation not to turn my computer off. I did it anyhow. I felt so brave and bold defying the universe that way. The computer took it in stride, picking up immediately where it left off when I turned it back on.
Microsoft’s latest Word version has a most irritating option called AutoSave which automatically and continuously saves everything I am working on while I write. It sounds like a great idea, unless, like me, you tend to start most of your writing using something else you wrote as a template. Because AutoSave comes on automatically, if I pull up a blog post from two years ago because it has the format I want, before I know it, the computer saves whatever I am currently writing over the post from two years ago, leaving me without a copy of my original.
There are two work arounds to this that I know of. One is to disable AutoSave in your preferences, which is supposed to keep it from popping on without your knowing it. It helps, but certain documents still open with AutoSave due to some super-secret code hidden somewhere in the system. The second work around can be used if you store your files on Microsoft OneDrive. In that case, if the stars align correctly, right click on the file icon in the Internet Explorer window (the window that lists all your folders and files) and select properties and go to “previous versions.” If you’re lucky, the old version of the file (the one saved last before you opened it as a template) is listed there and you can click on it and restore that version. That doesn’t always work; I’m sure there is an explanation as to why sometimes I see versions and sometimes not. I just don’t know what it might be.
What word processing program do you use? What changes to your word processing program irritate you? Which ones have you found to be helpful?
Aw, Word. A writer's necessary evil.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm using an older document as a template, the first thing I do is Save As and give the new version a new name, even if it's as simple as adding the date at the end of the current file name. That way, my original is "safe." Or as safe as anything in Microsoft's world.
I do what Annette does, Save As, with a new name (rev for revised, date)
ReplyDeleteI usually follow Annette's approach. When I'm into my belt and suspenders approach, I go into explorer (Windows-based computer) and copy and paste the file, and then change the copied file name to the new name. That never fails to protect my earlier file.
ReplyDeleteI have been through so many word-processing programs over the years that I don't trust any of them. I do the same thing Annette does, putting a brilliant addendum like "old" on the name. In my mind, it's a small price to pay to not have to retype entire pages if I want to make a minor change, the way we had to do before computers.
ReplyDeleteYikes. I’m reasonably sure that nothing Microsoft does is for the end user’s benefit! I have a Word program I purchased years ago – and out outlook program, too. So far they haven’t removed my access, but I don’t know what will happen when I have to go to Windows 11! I’m nursing my old laptop along to avoid that.
ReplyDeleteAs for the overwrite problem – can you open an old document and do a save as before you make any changes? Good luck!
I agree that the thing I learned years ago with the FIRST time I lost something was save, save, save. Lately, I'm convinced technology was developed to give us one more thing to annoy us.
ReplyDeleteI use a Mac computer that uses Microsoft for Word. That gets even more complicated. Every time I create a new folder, my system freezes and I have to turn off the power to my computer and reboot. A real pain.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone made the switch to Windows 11? Was it successful or a royal pain?
ReplyDelete