MS Word —

Avoid Versioning When Switching Between Word 2004 and Word X

The Problem:

I saved several versions of a document using Word 2004 on my PowerMac, but when I open the document in Word X on my iMac, I can't see any versions. Where are they?

The Solution:

They're hiding. Word X has trouble identifying versions created by Word 2004. If it's any consolation, if you now save a new version or two using Word X, Word 2004 will be able to read them just fine (and when you open the document again in Word 2004, your original versions will still be there).

Do Away with the "Unknown Author"

The Problem:

When I'm editing with Track Changes on, Word suddenly starts identifying the text I insert as being by "Unknown Author" instead of me. Then it switches back to me. And then back to Unknown Author again. This is driving me up the wall!

The Solution:

This problem is usually triggered by an AutoCorrect change, so one workarounda poor oneis to disable AutoCorrect while Track Changes is on. A marginally better workaround is to open a new Word document, enter the full text of each change (and allow any AutoCorrect changes to be made), and then select the text and paste it into the document in which you're tracking changes.

The only long-term solution is to upgrade to Word 2004, which not only fixes this problem but also offers change balloons (as do Word 2003 and Word XP for Windows).

Move Your Word X Normal Template to Safety

The Problem:

Word X was acting up persistently, so I reinstalled Office. Everything's fine, exceptand it's a big "except"Word has wiped out all the changes I'd made in the Normal template and issued me a completely vanilla one.

The Solution:

Bad luck. When you reinstall Word X, your Normal template gets overwritten if it is in its default location. However, if you've checked the "Always create backup copy" box in the Save tab of the Preferences dialog box (Word » Preferences), there should be a backup copy of the last time you saved the Normal template. Quit Word, navigate to the /Applications/Microsoft Office X/Templates folder, and look for a file named Backup of Normal. Rename this to Normal, and restart Word.

To avoid losing customizations you've made to your Normal template from now on, move it to a different folder. Here's what to do:

  1. Quit Word. If it prompts you to save changes to the Normal template, save them.

  2. In the Finder, create a folder to hold your templates. For example, you might create a Microsoft User Data folder in the ~/Documents folder, which is what Word 2004 uses. Move the Normal template to this folder.

  3. Restart Word, choose Word » Preferences, click the File Locations tab, click the "User templates" item, and click the Modify button. Select the new folder, click the Choose button, and then click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog box.